Insider Weekends – September 24, 2010

  • September 26, 2010

Welcome to edition sixteen of Insider Weekends. Insider buying decreased significantly last week with insiders purchasing $9.15 million of their stock when compared to $16.7 million in the week prior. Selling also decreased with insiders selling $605.14 million worth of stock when compared to $889.33 million in the week prior.

Sell/Buy Ratio:

The insider Sell/Buy ratio is calculated by dividing the total insider sales in a given week by total insider buying that week. The adjusted ratio for last week went up to 66.12. In other words, insiders sold more than 66 times as much stock as they purchased. The ratio would have been even higher (93.33) had I removed the biggest insider purchase last week by a director of Ulta Salon (ULTA) Dennis Eck, which was not an open market insider purchase but a purchase from his son’s and daughter’s accounts for financial planning purposes. Even without this adjustment, the Sell/Buy ratio is the highest it has been since the end of April when it stood at 68.69. As some of you might recall, the S&P 500 index lost 13.83% from the end of April through July 2nd.

The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the week prior when the ratio stood at 53.26. We are calculating an adjusted ratio by removing transactions by funds and companies and trying as best as possible only to retain information about insiders and 10% owners who are not funds or companies.

Insider Sell Buy Ratio September 24 2010
Insider Sell/Buy Ratio September 24 2010

Note: As mentioned in the first post in this series Introduction to Insider Weekends, certain industries have their preferred metrics such as same store sales for retailers, funds from operations (FFO) for REITs and revenue per available room (RevPAR) for hotels that provide a better basis for comparison than simple valuation metrics. However metrics like Price/Earnings, Price/Sales and Enterprise Value/EBITDA included below should provide a good starting point for analyzing the majority of stocks.

Notable Insider Buys:

1. HEICO Corp. (HEI): $45.62

Shares of this aerospace/defense products & services company were acquired by nine insiders:

  • Co-President Victor Mendelson acquired 4,658 shares, paying $33.02 per share for a total amount of $153,806
  • Director Samuel Higginbottom acquired 2,166 shares, paying $33.02 per share for a total amount of $71,521
  • Director Alan Schriesheim acquired 2,163 shares, paying $33.02 per share for a total amount of $71,422
  • Director Mark Hildebrandt acquired 2,161 shares, paying $33.02 per share for a total amount of $71,356
  • Director Frank Schwitter acquired 1,600 shares, paying $44.59 per share for a total amount of $71,344
  • Director Mitchell Quain acquired 1,523 shares, paying $32.91 per share for a total amount of $50,199
  • COB & CEO Laurans Mendelson acquired 1,422 shares, paying $33.02 per share for a total amount of $47,615
  • Director Wolfgang Mayrhuber acquired 1,230 shares, paying $33.02 per share for a total amount of $40,614
  • Co-President Eric Mendelson acquired 657 shares, paying $33.02 per share for a total amount of $21,694

With the exception of Mr. Schwitter’s purchase, the rest of these purchases were at the same price. These purchases were of the Class A common shares (HEI-A), which are priced lower.  Since the price for all the Class A share purchases is the same, I checked the footnotes of the filings and the company website to see if these purchases were anything other than direct insider purchases and did not find any information to the contrary.  According to the company website, “HEICO has two classes of common stock traded on the NYSE. Both classes, the Class A Common Stock (HEI.A) and the Common Stock (HEI), are virtually identical in all economic respects. The only difference between the share classes is the voting rights. The Class A Common Stock (HEI.A) receives 1/10 vote per share and the Common Stock (HEI) receives one vote per share”.

P/E: 30.21Forward P/E: 26.07Industry P/E: 17.14
P/S: 2.45Price/Book: 3.21EV/EBITDA: 12.67
Market Cap: $1.50BAvg. Daily Volume: 115,21552 Week Range: $29.584 – $46.76

2. Tutor Perini Corporation (TPC): $19.9

Director Peter Arkley acquired 18,000 shares of this construction services company, paying $19.5 per share for a total amount of $351,000.

If Obama’s $50 billion infrastructure proposal comes to pass, companies like Tutor Perini that focus on public works projects like road and bridge construction could benefit. Another director also purchased more than half a million dollars worth of stock in June. My main concern has been that the CEO and Chairman is actively selling shares from his trust and has sold over $37 million worth of stock since June.

P/E: 8.69Forward P/E: 8.22Industry P/E: 14.17
P/S: 0.23Price/Book: 0.71EV/EBITDA: 3.58
Market Cap: $936.24MAvg. Daily Volume: 318,52552 Week Range: $15.56 – $25.48

3. MBT Financial Corp. (MBTF): $1.82

Shares of this bank holding company were purchased by three insiders:

  • Director Thomas Huner acquired 70,822 shares of this bank holding company, paying $1.41 per share for a total amount of $100,001.
  • Director Karen Wilson acquired 70,871 shares, paying $1.41per share for a total amount of $99,999.
  • Director Joseph Daly acquired 70,871 shares, , paying $1.41per share for a total amount of $99,999.

Insider purchases continued at this regional bank, which saw its stock spike more than 5% on September 23, 2010 on nearly 6 times average daily volume. Q3 earnings for MBT Financial are due out on Oct 28 and we may learn that the bank has turned a corner after raising the capital required to be in compliance with the FDIC. However until I see non-accruing loans (5.27% of assets as of Q2) drop, I am going to stay away from this bank. Low average daily volume would also make it difficult to build a meaningful position.

P/E: N/AForward P/E: 15.17Industry P/E: 14.73
P/S: 1.11Price/Book: 0.31EV/EBITDA: N/A
Market Cap: $29.54MAvg. Daily Volume: 35,78652 Week Range: $1.24 – $4.3

4. American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (AEO): $14.82

Director Michael Jesselson acquired 20,200 shares of this apparel chain, paying $14.31 per share for a total amount of $289,043.

P/E: 22.32Forward P/E: 13.47Industry P/E: 14.87
P/S: 0.93Price/Book: 2.05EV/EBITDA: 5.91
Market Cap: $2.90BAvg. Daily Volume: 5,021,82052 Week Range: $11.35 – $19.86

5. BGC Partners, Inc. (BGCP): $5.72

Chairman & CEO Howard Lutnick acquired 50,366 shares of this New York based brokerage firm that, paying $5.54 per share for a total amount of $279,028.

P/E: 68.92Forward P/E: 7.94Industry P/E: 19.98
P/S: 0.39Price/Book: 2.46EV/EBITDA: 2.71
Market Cap: $519.62MAvg. Daily Volume: 513,01552 Week Range: $3.72 – $6.97

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Oracle Corp. (ORCL): $26.96

CEO Larry Ellison sold 5 million shares of this enterprise software company at $27.14 per share, generating a total amount of $135.7 million.

Mr. Ellison’s shares were sold under a 10b5-1 plan adopted on April 22, 2010. It was interesting to see that these were the only sales by Mr. Ellison since that plan was adopted. A number of other insiders including co-President Safra Catz and EVP Thomas Kurien also sold a total of $87.58 million in stock but those sales were immediately preceded by options exercises.

P/E: 21.52Forward P/E: 12.31Industry P/E: 30
P/S: 4.66Price/Book: 4.24EV/EBITDA: 10.24
Market Cap: $135.53BAvg. Daily Volume: 34,762,60052 Week Range: $20.1 – $27.63

2. Tutor Perini Corporation (TPC): $19.9

Chairman & CEO Ronald Tutor sold 490,000 shares of this construction services company at $19.29 per share, generating a total amount of $9.45 million.

These shares were sold indirectly through the Ronald N. Tutor Separate Property Trust. An additional 500,000 shares were also sold by the trust on Sep 13. This is the first time the same company made it into both the buy and sell sections of the Insider Weekends post.

P/E: 8.69Forward P/E: 8.22Industry P/E: 14.17
P/S: 0.23Price/Book: 0.71EV/EBITDA: 3.58
Market Cap: $936.24MAvg. Daily Volume: 318,52552 Week Range: $15.56 – $25.48

3. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN): $160.73

Shares of this online retailer were sold by four insiders:

  • Senior Vice President Brian Valentine sold 54,000 shares at $149.11 per share, generating a total amount of $8.05 million. This was an options related sale.
  • Senior Vice President Michelle Wilson sold 3,300 shares at $150 per share, generating a total amount of $495,000
  • Director Tom Alberg sold 2,000 shares at $150 per share, generating a total amount of $300,000
  • Vice President Shelley Reynolds sold 860 shares at $150 per share, generating a total amount of $129,000

The shares sold by SVP Valentine were as a result of exercising options.

P/E: 66.55Forward P/E: 45.4Industry P/E: 23.18
P/S: 2.39Price/Book: 11.69EV/EBITDA: 38.96
Market Cap: $71.98BAvg. Daily Volume: 6,691,95052 Week Range: $88.27 – $160.89

4. CenturyLink, Inc. (CTL): $39.25

Shares of this integrated communications company were sold by two insiders:

  • CEO & President Glen F Post III sold 77,248 shares at $39 per share, generating a total amount of $3.02 million
  • Sr. VP-Operations Support David Cole sold 8,994 shares at $38 per share, generating a total amount of $341,772

Only 8,994 shares of the total 116,995 shares sold by Mr. Cole were unrelated to options exercises.

P/E: 11.79Forward P/E: 12.08Industry P/E: 17.84
P/S: 1.61Price/Book: 1.22EV/EBITDA: 5.13
Market Cap: $11.83BAvg. Daily Volume: 3,546,85052 Week Range: $14.16 – $39.49

5. Nxstage Medical, Inc. (NXTM): $18.59

Shares of this medical device company were sold by two insiders:

  • David Utterberg sold 381,970 shares at $17.56 per share, generating a total amount of $6.71 million
  • SVP Manufacturing Operations Thomas Shea sold 2,000 shares at $16.36 per share, generating a total amount of $32,720
P/E: N/AForward P/E: N/AIndustry P/E: 22.73
P/S: 5.45Price/Book: 11.27EV/EBITDA: -98.9
Market Cap: $903.86MAvg. Daily Volume: 408,58352 Week Range: $5.38 – $19

Voluntary Disclosure: I hold a long position in BGCP in my trading portfolio.