Is Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (APOG) A Good Stock To Buy?

Hedge funds and other investment firms that we track manage billions of dollars of their wealthy clients’ money, and needless to say, they are painstakingly thorough when analyzing where to invest this money, as their own wealth depends on it. Regardless of the various methods used by elite investors like David Tepper and Dan Loeb, the resources they expend are second-to-none. This is especially valuable when it comes to small-cap stocks, which is where they generate their strongest outperformance, as their resources give them a huge edge when it comes to studying these stocks compared to the average investor, which is why we intently follow their activity in the small-cap space. In this article we will take a look at hedge fund sentiment towards Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) to determine whether it makes sense to do more research on the stock.

Our calculations show that Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) has experienced an increase in hedge fund interest of late. The change in hedge fund popularity isn’t the only variable you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Natus Medical Inc (NASDAQ:BABY), Gogo Inc (NASDAQ:GOGO), and Olin Corporation (NYSE:OLN) to gather more data points.

How have hedgies been trading Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 20 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of 5% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management has the most valuable position in Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG), worth close to $18.3 million, accounting for 0.2% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Columbus Circle Investors, led by Clifford Fox, holding an $16 million position; 0.1% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining professional money managers that hold long positions consist of Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors and Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management.

As industrywide interest jumped, key hedge funds have jumped into Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) headfirst. Hutchin Hill Capital, managed by Neil Chriss, established the biggest position in Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG). Hutchin Hill Capital had $2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Gray and Steve Walsh’s Bryn Mawr Capital also initiated an $0.4 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a new position in the stock is Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle’s Springbok Capital.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) but similarly valued. These stocks are Natus Medical Inc (NASDAQ:BABY), Gogo Inc (NASDAQ:GOGO), Olin Corporation (NYSE:OLN), and Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFLY). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to APOG’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 24.75 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $300 million. That figure was $66 million in APOG’s case. Olin Corporation (NYSE:OLN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Gogo Inc (NASDAQ:GOGO) is the least popular one with only 18 bullish hedge fund positions. Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) 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 OLN might be a better candidate to consider a long position.