What Do Hedge Funds Think of MedAssets, Inc. (MDAS)?

As aggregate interest increased, some big names have been driving this bullishness. Starboard Value LP, managed by Jeffrey Smith, created the most outsized position in MedAssets, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDAS). Starboard Value LP had $106.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Kenneth Squire’s 13D Management also made a $10.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new MDAS positions are Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management, Michael Doheny’s Freshford Capital Management, and Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as MedAssets, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDAS) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Tumi Holdings Inc (NYSE:TUMI), Penumbra Inc (NYSE:PEN), Sonic Corporation (NASDAQ:SONC), and Apollo Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to MDAS’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 21 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $182 million. That figure was $315 million in MDAS’s case. Sonic Corporation (NASDAQ:SONC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Penumbra Inc (NYSE:PEN) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. MedAssets, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDAS) 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 SONC might be a better candidate to consider a long position.