Insider Weekends – May 27, 2011

Welcome to edition fifty one of Insider Weekends. Insider buying more than doubled with insiders purchasing $91.44 million of their stock last week when compared to $42.03 million in the week prior. Selling decreased sharply with insiders selling $815.15 million worth of stock compared to $2.35 billion 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 purchases that week. The adjusted ratio for last week dropped to 8.91. In other words, insiders sold nearly 9 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the week prior when the ratio stood at 55.8. 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. Furiex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (FURX): $16.98

Director Fredric N. Eshelman acquired 264,516 shares of this pharmaceutical company, paying $15.32 per share for a total amount of $4.05 million. Mr. Eshelman increased his stake by 24.45% to 1,346,203 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Furiex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. here.

2. Swisher Hygiene Inc. (SWSH): $6.03

Shares of this cleaning supplies and services company were acquired by 2 insiders:

• Director Harris W. Hudson acquired 600,000 shares, paying $5.97 per share for a total amount of $3.6 million. Mr. Hudson increased his stake by 197.57% to 903,689 shares with this purchase.
• SVP – Operations Charles Jeffery Rhodes acquired 17,500 shares, paying $5.64 per share for a total amount of $98,627.

Mr. Hudson was appointed to the board of Swisher Hygiene on January 28, 2011. He was the founder of a waste management company in the 80s that was acquired by Republic Services (RSG), one of the largest waste management companies with annual revenues exceeding $8 billion. He then went on to serve as the Vice Chairman, Secretary and Director of Republic Services from 1995 to 2008.

With a string of losses, the company fails to inspire much confidence and I would avoid Swisher despite these insider purchases.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Swisher Hygiene Inc. here.

3. NuStar Energy L.P. (NS): $63.35

Director William E. Greehey acquired 53,345 shares of this oil & gas pipelines company, paying $62.70 per share for a total amount of $3.3 million. Mr. Greehey increased his stake by 4.05% to 1,370,290 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for NuStar Energy L.P. here.

4. Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI): $29.18

VP, Human Resources & Administration James E. Street acquired 72,800 shares of this oil & gas pipelines company, paying $28.41 per share for a total amount of $2.07 million. Mr. Street increased his stake by 87.41% to 156,090 shares with this purchase.

Kinder Morgan completed its IPO in February and we mentioned the company on April 1 following a 100,000 share purchase by the CEO.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Kinder Morgan, Inc. here.

5. Medtronic, Inc. (MDT): $40.31

Director Jack W. Schuler acquired 25,000 shares of this medical appliances & equipment company, paying $40.70 per share for a total amount of $1.02 million. Mr. Schuler increased his stake by 5.07% to 518,267 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Medtronic, Inc. here.

You can view the full list of purchases from this Insider Buying page.

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Concho Resources, Inc. (CXO): $95.13

SVP & Chief Operating Officer Joseph Wright sold 152,976 shares of this oil & gas drilling & exploration company for $93.80, generating $14.3 million from the sale. 94,976 of these shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Concho Resources, Inc. here.

2. Qlik Technologies, Inc. (QLIK): $32.85

Shares of this business intelligence software company were sold by 2 insiders:

• Director Bruce Golden sold 150,000 shares for $32.37, generating $4.9 million from the sale.
• Director Alexander Ott sold 75,000 shares for $31.66, generating $2.4 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Qlik Technologies, Inc. here.

3. Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc. (LL): $26.23

Chairman of the Board; Founder Thomas D. Sullivan sold 239,240 shares of this specialty retailer of hardwood flooring for $26.11, generating $6.2 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc. here.

4. GameStop Corp. (GME): $28.21

Executive Chairman Daniel A. Dematteo sold 200,000 shares of this video game retailer for $27.74, generating $5.5 million from the sale.

A favorite amongst several value investors I know, the stock has seen a nice run-up in recent months after the company reported strong revenue and earnings growth for its fiscal year ending January 2011. First quarter fiscal 2012 results were also better than expected at 56 cents per shares but the second quarter forecast of 20 to 23 cents was below expectations.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for GameStop Corp. here.

5. Arch Capital Group Ltd. (ACGL): $33.8

Director John M. Pasquesi sold 130,503 shares of this property & casualty insurance company for $34.59, generating $4.5 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Arch Capital Group Ltd. here.

You can view the full list of sales from this Insider Sales page.