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Insider Weekends – March 23, 2012

  • March 24, 2012

Welcome to edition ninety four of Insider Weekends. Insider buying declined with insiders purchasing $19.6 million of their stock last week compared to $42.7 million in the week prior. Selling also decreased with insiders selling $781.3 million worth of stock last week compared to $1.75 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 declined slightly to 39.9. In other words, insiders sold almost 40 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares favorably with the week prior when the ratio stood at 41. 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 March 23, 2012
Insider Sell Buy Ratio March 23, 2012

Note: As mentioned in the first post in this series, 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. OPKO Health Inc. (OPK): $4.87

CEO & Chairman Phillip Frost M.D. acquired 656,000 shares of this medical appliances & equipment company, paying $4.97 per share for a total amount of $3.3 million. These shares were purchased indirectly by Frost Gamma Investments Trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for OPKO Health Inc. Common Stock here.

P/E: N/AForward P/E: N/AIndustry P/E: 23.07
P/S: 50.83Price/Book: 8.84EV/EBITDA: -70.22
Market Cap: $1.44BAvg. Daily Volume: 1,683,38052 Week Range: $3.15 – $5.85

2. Quidel Corporation (QDEL): $17.77

Shares of this diagnostic testing solutions manufacturer were acquired by 2 insiders:

  • Director Jack W. Schuler acquired 65,815 shares, paying $16.60 per share for a total amount of $1.09 million. Mr. Schuler increased his stake by 2.03% to 3,311,465 shares with this purchase. These shares were acquired indirectly through a living trust.
  • President & CEO Douglas C. Bryant acquired 10,000 shares, paying $16.55 per share for a total amount of $165,462. Mr. Bryant increased his stake by 5.43% to 194,098 shares with this purchase.

Another director also picked up a small amount of shares earlier this month and a cluster of insiders purchased shares last Summer at prices ranging from $13.01 to $15.18 as you can see from this page. While net income has been low or even negative in some quarters, the company managed to generate $47 million in operating cash flow last year.

When the company reported fourth quarter results, revenue came in better than expected and increased 21% year-over-year. Quidel has $13 million in net cash on the balance sheet and trades for 11.4 times operating cash flow.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Quidel Corporation here.

P/E: 78.28Forward P/E: 36.27Industry P/E: N/A
P/S: 3.67Price/Book: 3.16EV/EBITDA: 17.47
Market Cap: $587.60MAvg. Daily Volume: 169,51852 Week Range: $11.6 – $19.09

3. Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (APC): $79.41

Director Charles W. Goodyear acquired 10,000 shares of this oil and gas company, paying $84.19 per share for a total amount of $841,877. Mr. Goodyear increased his stake by 1371.74% to 10,729 shares with this purchase.

Mr. Goodyear was appointed to Anadarko’s board of directors as of March 1, 2012. New directors generally tend to purchase shares in their companies and hence I would not read much into this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation here.

P/E: N/AForward P/E: 15.82Industry P/E: 18.05
P/S: 2.81Price/Book: 2.15EV/EBITDA: 6.59
Market Cap: $39.58BAvg. Daily Volume: 3,748,90052 Week Range: $57.11 – $88.7

4. American DG Energy Inc. (ADGE): $1.8399

Director Charlest Maxwell acquired 400,000 shares of this on-site energy systems provider, paying $1.50 per share for a total amount of $600,000. Mr. Maxwell increased his stake by 90.02% to 844,339 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for American DG Energy Inc. Common here.

P/E: N/AForward P/E: N/AIndustry P/E: 15.37
P/S: 13.64Price/Book: 6.56EV/EBITDA: -35.86
Market Cap: $84.41MAvg. Daily Volume: 12,97052 Week Range: $1.11 – $2.32

5. Genie Energy Ltd. (GNE): $9.85

Shares of this energy company were acquired by 3 insiders:

  • Chairman of the Board Howard S. Jonas acquired 52,000 shares, paying $9.90 per share for a total amount of $514,800. Mr. Jonas increased his stake by 2.43% to 2,195,624 shares with this purchase.
  • CEO Claude Pupkin acquired 5,350 shares, paying $9.42 per share for a total amount of $50,397. These shares were purchased through an IRA account.
  • CFO and Treasurer Avi Goldin acquired 1,900 shares, paying $9.69 per share for a total amount of $18,411. These shares were purchased through an IRA account.

Genie Energy was spun out of IDT Corporation (IDT) last October and closed its first day of trading at $8.64. It is interesting to see this cluster of insider purchases less than six months after the company went public. Mr. Jonas serves as the Chairman of both Genie Energy and IDT. The company has a lot of net cash on its balance sheet but beyond that the numbers don’t look particularly attractive.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Genie Energy Ltd. Class B Commo here.

P/E: 246.25Forward P/E: N/AIndustry P/E: 18.05
P/S: 1.13Price/Book: 1.78EV/EBITDA: 12.44
Market Cap: $226.12MAvg. Daily Volume: 85,62252 Week Range: $6.68 – $11.18

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST): $57.11

Vice Chairman and CEO Michael Balmuth sold 258,066 shares of this discount retailer for $55.90, generating $14.43 million from the sale.

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

P/E: 19.97Forward P/E: 15.52Industry P/E: 17.84
P/S: 1.48Price/Book: 8.52EV/EBITDA: 9.99
Market Cap: $12.69BAvg. Daily Volume: 1,975,06052 Week Range: $33.5 – $57.59

2. Tech Data Corporation (TECD): $54.13

Shares of this software and IT hardware distributor were sold by 2 insiders:

  • Director Steven A. Raymund sold 150,000 shares for $54.66, generating $8.2 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
  • SVP/Corp Controller Joseph B. Trepani sold 10,227 shares for $54.54, generating $557,781 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Tech Data Corporation here.

P/E: 11.62Forward P/E: 8.66Industry P/E: 11.59
P/S: 0.08Price/Book: 1.13EV/EBITDA: 4.42
Market Cap: $2.23BAvg. Daily Volume: 380,84852 Week Range: $38.21 – $59.29

3. Sanderson Farms, Inc. (SAFM): $53.81

Shares of this poultry company were sold by 2 insiders:

  • CEO, Chairman of Board Joe F. Sanderson sold 131,138 shares for $53.93, generating $7.1 million from the sale.
  • Treasurer & CFO Michael D. Cockrell sold 20,000 shares for $54.22, generating $1.1 million from the sale.

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

P/E: N/AForward P/E: 10.15Industry P/E: 16.67
P/S: 0.58Price/Book: 2.4EV/EBITDA: -16.35
Market Cap: $1.20BAvg. Daily Volume: 319,48052 Week Range: $38.07 – $55.05

4. Riverbed Technology, Inc. (RVBD): $27.56

Shares of this network products company were sold by 2 insiders:

  • Director James R. Swartz sold 180,000 shares for $27.61, generating $4.9 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Burn3 LLC.
  • Chief Technology Officer Steven Mccanne sold 90,666 shares for $26.50, generating $2.4 million from the sale. 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 Riverbed Technology, Inc. here.

P/E: 72.53Forward P/E: 21.2Industry P/E: 19.1
P/S: 5.95Price/Book: 6.07EV/EBITDA: 31.49
Market Cap: $4.34BAvg. Daily Volume: 3,727,88052 Week Range: $18.33 – $41.83

5. Adobe Systems Incorporated (ADBE): $33.815

Shares of this software company were sold by 3 insiders:

  • Director John E. Warnock sold 120,000 shares for $33.60, generating $4.03 million from the sale.
  • SVP, General Counsel & Secretary Karen O. Cottle sold 41,251 shares for $33.30, generating $1.37 million from the sale. These shares were sold as a result of exercising options immediately prior to the sale.
  • SVP WW Field Operations Matthew Thompson sold 32,334 shares for $33.70, generating $1.09 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Adobe Systems Incorporated here.

P/E: 21.69Forward P/E: 12.62Industry P/E: 24.56
P/S: 3.93Price/Book: 2.78EV/EBITDA: 10.62
Market Cap: $16.71BAvg. Daily Volume: 4,182,14052 Week Range: $22.67 – $35.99

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