Matthews International Corp (MATW): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Gotham Asset Management, managed by Joel Greenblatt, assembled the most outsized position in Matthews International Corp (NASDAQ:MATW). Gotham Asset Management had $7.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Peter Muller’s PDT Partners also initiated a $0.4 million position during the quarter. The only other fund with a brand new MATW position is D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Matthews International Corp (NASDAQ:MATW) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Sohu.com Inc (NASDAQ:SOHU), Celestica Inc. (USA) (NYSE:CLS), Old National Bancorp (NYSE:ONB), and KapStone Paper and Packaging Corp. (NYSE:KS). All of these stocks’ market caps match MATW’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 15 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $158 million, while in MATW’s case that figure amounts to $73 million. KapStone Paper and Packaging Corp. (NYSE:KS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, Old National Bancorp (NYSE:ONB) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Matthews International Corp (NASDAQ:MATW) 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, such as KS, in this particular case.