Should You Avoid InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (ADR) (IHG)?

Judging by the fact that InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (ADR) (NYSE:IHG) has experienced declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there were a few money managers that decided to sell off their entire stakes last quarter. At the top of the heap, Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management dumped the largest stake of the 700 funds watched by Insider Monkey, comprising about $14.3 million in stock. Ken Griffin’s fund, Citadel Investment Group, also dumped its stock, about $0.4 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 1 funds last quarter.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (ADR) (NYSE:IHG). These stocks are Michael Kors Holdings Ltd (NYSE:KORS), Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc – Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:JAZZ), Towers Watson & Co (NYSE:TW), and JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ:JBLU). All of these stocks’ market caps resemble IHG’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 39.5 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $849 million. That figure was $38 million in IHG’s case. Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc – Ordinary Shares (NASDAQ:JAZZ) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Michael Kors Holdings Ltd (NYSE:KORS) is the least popular one with only 30 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (ADR) (NYSE:IHG) is even less popular than KORS. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.