Should You Avoid Mattson Technology, Inc. (MTSN)?

Due to the fact that Mattson Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSN) has faced a declination in interest from the smart money, logic holds that there were a few hedgies that elected to cut their entire stakes heading into Q4. It’s worth mentioning that Israel Englander’s Millennium Management dropped the largest investment of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $0.8 million in stock. Andy Redleaf’s fund, Whitebox Advisors, also dropped its stock, about $0.6 million worth of shares. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest dropped by 9 funds heading into Q4.

Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Mattson Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSN). These stocks are FIRST FINANCIAL NORTHWEST, INC. (NASDAQ:FFNW), TESSCO Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TESS), Cidara Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CDTX), and Inventure Foods Inc (NASDAQ:SNAK). This group of stocks’ market caps are similar to Mattson Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSN)’s market cap.

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 7 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $26 million. That figure was $11 million in Mattson Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSN)’s case. Cidara Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CDTX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, FIRST FINANCIAL NORTHWEST, INC. (NASDAQ:FFNW) is the least popular one with only 6 bullish hedge fund positions. Mattson Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSN) is not the most popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal, but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard, Cidara Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CDTX) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.