With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Balyasny Asset Management, managed by Dmitry Balyasny, created the biggest position in Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (NYSE:LPX). Balyasny Asset Management had $11.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. David Keidan’s Buckingham Capital Management also made a $10.6 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new LPX investors: Douglas Dillard Jr. and Raj D. Venkatesan’s Standard Pacific Capital, D E Shaw, and Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management.
Let’s now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (NYSE:LPX) but similarly valued. These stocks are Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPWR), Rowan Companies PLC (NYSE:RDC), WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC), and Laredo Petroleum Inc (NYSE:LPI). This group of stocks’ market values resemble LPX’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| MPWR | 16 | 220382 | 0 |
| RDC | 21 | 481508 | -3 |
| WCC | 20 | 351076 | -3 |
| LPI | 20 | 226912 | -3 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 19.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $320 million. That figure was $327 million in LPX’s case. Rowan Companies PLC (NYSE:RDC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPWR) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (NYSE:LPX) 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 RDC might be a better candidate to consider a long position.
