Welcome to edition forty four of Insider Weekends. Insider buying rebounded with insiders purchasing $84.92 million of their stock last week when compared to $21.65 million in the week prior. Selling also picked up with insiders selling $817.87 million worth of stock when compared to $742.56 million in the week prior.
While not reflected in the headline numbers, insider buying dwindled considerably in the last couple of weeks. The increase in insider buying this week is primarily on account of 10% owner, Kevin Douglas, purchasing a large amount of American Superconductor (AMSC) stock following a precipitous plunge in the stock last week.
Sell/Buy Ratio:
The insider Sell/Buy ratio is calculated by dividing the total insider sales in a given week by total insider purchases that week. The adjusted ratio for last week dropped to 9.63. In other words, insiders sold almost 10 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the week prior when the ratio stood at 34.3. 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.
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. Excel Trust, Inc. (EXL): $11.63
Chairman of the Board / CEO Gary B. Sabin acquired 53,983 shares of this commercial and retail REIT, paying $12.10 per share for a total amount of $653,194. These shares were acquired indirectly through Excel Realty Fund, which is 100% owned by Mr. Sabin.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Excel Trust, Inc. here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: 10.67 | Industry P/E: N/A |
P/S: 10.55 | Price/Book: 0.98 | EV/EBITDA: 61.72 |
Market Cap: $182.16M | Avg. Daily Volume: 62,875 | 52 Week Range: $10.77 – $13.72 |
2. Preferred Apartment Communities (APTS): $9.9101
Shares of this apartment REIT that went public last week were acquired by 4 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Preferred Apartment Communities here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: N/A | Industry P/E: N/A |
P/S: N/A | Price/Book: N/A | EV/EBITDA: N/A |
Market Cap: $356.76K | Avg. Daily Volume: 76,417 | 52 Week Range: $9.19 – $10.05 |
3. MDC Partners Inc. (MDCA): $17.12
Shares of this advertising and marketing company were acquired by 3 insiders:
Mr. Nadal purchased shares several times over a nine month period last year. When I wrote about the company last September, I mentioned,
“The CEO of this Canadian company has been buying stock on and off since March and we have mentioned the company in the past. The pace of his purchases has crept up recently even as the stock price has gone up from $9.50 when Mr. Nadal first started buying, to its current $13.03. The BusinessWeek article Mad Man about a MDC Partners subsidiary called Crispin Porter + Bogusky is definitely worth reading.”
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for MDC Partners Inc. here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: 45.05 | Industry P/E: N/A |
P/S: 0.71 | Price/Book: 8.12 | EV/EBITDA: 12.32 |
Market Cap: $505.69M | Avg. Daily Volume: 86,489 | 52 Week Range: $10.07 – $19.08 |
4. AnnTaylor Stores Corp. (ANN): $30.67
Director Daniel W. Yih acquired 9,000 shares of this retail apparel company, paying $29.71 per share for a total amount of $267,349. Mr. Yih increased his stake by 61.15% to 23,717 shares with this purchase.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for AnnTaylor Stores Corp. here.
P/E: 24.71 | Forward P/E: 14.54 | Industry P/E: 17.41 |
P/S: 0.82 | Price/Book: 3.91 | EV/EBITDA: 6.55 |
Market Cap: $1.67B | Avg. Daily Volume: 2,501,430 | 52 Week Range: $14.59 – $30.95 |
5. Conns Inc. (CONN): $5.98
Shares of this specialty retailer of home appliances were acquired by 2 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Conns Inc. here.
P/E: N/A | Forward P/E: 11.73 | Industry P/E: 9.64 |
P/S: 0.22 | Price/Book: 0.49 | EV/EBITDA: 9.33 |
Market Cap: $189.95M | Avg. Daily Volume: 167,762 | 52 Week Range: $3.12 – $10.33 |
You can view the full list of purchases from this Insider Buying page.
Notable Insider Sales:
1. Apollo Group Inc. (APOL): $42.11
Shares of this for-profit education company were sold by 3 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Apollo Group Inc. here.
P/E: 15.85 | Forward P/E: 13.12 | Industry P/E: 17.72 |
P/S: 1.21 | Price/Book: 4.57 | EV/EBITDA: 3.4 |
Market Cap: $5.96B | Avg. Daily Volume: 2,462,180 | 52 Week Range: $33.75 – $66.69 |
2. Tempur Pedic International Inc. (TPX): $57.17
Shares of this mattress and bedding products company were sold by 5 insiders:
All these sales were as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale. Mr. Montgomery exercised options to purchase 60,000 shares and sold 100,000 shares.
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Tempur Pedic International Inc. here.
P/E: 26.47 | Forward P/E: 18.03 | Industry P/E: 11.89 |
P/S: 3.17 | Price/Book: 27.71 | EV/EBITDA: 15.41 |
Market Cap: $3.93B | Avg. Daily Volume: 1,161,620 | 52 Week Range: $25.56 – $59.98 |
3. VeriFone Systems, Inc (PAY): $52.16
Shares of this electronic payment solutions provider were sold by 5 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for VeriFone Systems, Inc here.
P/E: 38.44 | Forward P/E: 24.04 | Industry P/E: 31.3 |
P/S: 4.44 | Price/Book: 17.89 | EV/EBITDA: 29.22 |
Market Cap: $4.61B | Avg. Daily Volume: 2,087,820 | 52 Week Range: $15.62 – $58.88 |
4. Guess? Inc. (GES): $39.46
Shares of this apparel and fashion accessories retailer were sold by 2 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Guess? Inc. here.
P/E: 12.69 | Forward P/E: 10.17 | Industry P/E: 17.41 |
P/S: 1.48 | Price/Book: 3.49 | EV/EBITDA: 6.66 |
Market Cap: $3.64B | Avg. Daily Volume: 1,423,890 | 52 Week Range: $30.54 – $51.53 |
5. Middleby Corp. (MIDD): $91.87
Shares of this commercial food processing equipment company were sold by 2 insiders:
You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Middleby Corp. here.
P/E: 23.14 | Forward P/E: 16.83 | Industry P/E: 13.65 |
P/S: 2.4 | Price/Book: 4.05 | EV/EBITDA: 13.46 |
Market Cap: $1.70B | Avg. Daily Volume: 114,797 | 52 Week Range: $50.68 – $96.25 |
You can view the full list of sales from this Insider Sales page.