Should You Buy Acadia Healthcare Company Inc (ACHC)?

As aggregate interest increased, specific money managers have been driving this bullishness. Sabby Capital, managed by Hal Mintz, created the biggest call position in Acadia Healthcare Company Inc (NASDAQ:ACHC). Sabby Capital had $24.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Benjamin A. Smith’s Laurion Capital Management also made a $17 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP, Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management, and Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Acadia Healthcare Company Inc (NASDAQ:ACHC) but similarly valued. These stocks are National Fuel Gas Co. (NYSE:NFG), Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:DLB), Allison Transmission Holdings Inc (NYSE:ALSN), and Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ADR) (NYSE:ASR). All of these stocks’ market caps match ACHC’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 23 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $633 million. That figure was $449 million in ACHC’s case. Allison Transmission Holdings Inc (NYSE:ALSN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ADR) (NYSE:ASR) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. Acadia Healthcare Company Inc (NASDAQ:ACHC) 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 ALSN might be a better candidate to consider for a long position.

Disclosure: None