Are Hedge Funds Losing Faith in Tenneco Inc (TEN)?

Judging by the fact that Tenneco Inc (NYSE:TEN) has faced bearish sentiment from hedge fund managers, it’s easy to see that there is a sect of hedgies who sold off their positions entirely by the end of the third quarter. It’s worth mentioning that D E Shaw dropped the biggest position of the “upper crust” of funds followed by Insider Monkey, valued at an estimated $2.9 million in stock. Gregg Moskowitz’s fund, Interval Partners, also cut its stock, about $1.6 million worth. These moves are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 3 funds by the end of the third quarter.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Tenneco Inc (NYSE:TEN) but similarly valued. These stocks are PDC Energy Inc (NASDAQ:PDCE), LaSalle Hotel Properties (NYSE:LHO), Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT), and Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to TEN’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 $230 million. That figure was $201 million in TEN’s case. Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand LaSalle Hotel Properties (NYSE:LHO) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Tenneco Inc (NYSE:TEN) 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 FIT might be a better candidate to consider a long position.

Disclosure: None