Why Shares of Chico’s FAS, Inc. (CHS) Are Down on Thursday

As industry-wide interest jumped, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Point72 Asset Management, managed by Steve Cohen, assembled the most valuable position in Chico’s FAS, Inc. (NYSE:CHS). Point72 Asset Management had $12.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. James A. Mitarotonda’s Barington Capital Group also initiated a $10.5 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are John Tompkins’s Tyvor Capital, Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital, and Gregg Moskowitz’s Interval Partners.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Chico’s FAS, Inc. (NYSE:CHS) but similarly valued. We will take a look at TESARO Inc (NASDAQ:TSRO), Express, Inc. (NYSE:EXPR), Diplomat Pharmacy Inc (NYSE:DPLO), and RBC Bearings Incorporated (NASDAQ:ROLL). This group of stocks’ market values resemble CHS’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 17 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $165 million. That figure was $257 million in CHS’s case. Express, Inc. (NYSE:EXPR) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand RBC Bearings Incorporated (NASDAQ:ROLL) is the least popular one with only four bullish hedge fund positions. Chico’s FAS, Inc. (NYSE:CHS) 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 EXPR might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

Disclosure: None