Should You Avoid Exponent, Inc. (EXPO)?

Seeing as Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) has witnessed falling interest from hedge fund managers, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few funds that elected to cut their full holdings last quarter. At the top of the heap, Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP said goodbye to the biggest position of the “upper crust” of funds monitored by Insider Monkey, valued at about $2.6 million in stock, and Chao Ku’s Nine Chapters Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $0.8 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds last quarter.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO). We will take a look at Crestwood Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:CMLP), NovaGold Resources Inc. (USA) (NYSEMKT:NG), Insmed Incorporated (NASDAQ:INSM), and Eagle Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:EGRX). This group of stocks’ market caps match EXPO’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 13.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $188 million. That figure was $68 million in EXPO’s case. NovaGold Resources Inc. (USA) (NYSEMKT:NG) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Crestwood Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:CMLP) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Exponent, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPO) is not the least popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard NG might be a better candidate to consider a long position.