Insider Weekends: A Carnival Insider Joins The Saudis In Buying Shares

Welcome to edition 512 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying decreased last week with insiders purchasing $65.49 million of stock compared to $92.24 million in the week prior. Selling increased with insiders selling $442.63 million of stock last week compared to $387.38 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 purchases that week. The adjusted ratio for last week went up to 6.76. In other words, insiders sold almost 7 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 4.19. 

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. Carnival Corporation & Plc (CCL): $12.42

Director Randall J. Weisenburger acquired 1.25 million shares of this cruise line company, paying $8.00 per share for a total amount of $10 million. Mr. Weisenburger increased his stake by 997% to 1,375,352 shares with this purchase.

Even though the footnotes of the filing do not indicate it, this purchase appears to be related to the April 6th secondary offering of 71.9 million shares by the company priced at $8 per share. This is the first insider purchase at Carnival since the COVID-19 crisis started and follows news that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund now has a 8% stake in Carnival. The stock of Carnival and other cruise companies rebounded sharply on this news as you can see from the one week chart of the major cruise line companies below.

Most cruise line companies are incorporated offshore and hence it did not look like they could benefit from U.S. government bailouts. These companies rebounded so much because there now appears to be a lender of last resort in the form of sovereign wealth funds. There was also news about a majority of customers not cancelling their bookings altogether but instead getting a credit to sail next year.

The industry is likely to remain challenged for the near future and it will be interesting to see how many of them can survive this downturn.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Carnival Corporation & Plc here.

2. MGM Resorts International (MGM): $14.55

Shares of this resorts & casinos company were acquired by 4 insiders:

• Director Paul J. Salem acquired 195,000 shares, paying $10.40 per share for a total amount of $2.03 million. Mr. Salem increased his stake by 14.75% to 1,517,000 shares with this purchase.
• President, Commercial & Growth Atif Rafiq acquired 9,812 shares, paying $15.35 per share for a total amount of $150,614. Mr. Rafiq increased his stake by 112.00% to 18,573 shares with this purchase.
• Director Gregory M. Spierkel acquired 5,000 shares, paying $14.70 per share for a total amount of $73,500. Mr. Spierkel increased his stake by inf% to 5,000 shares with this purchase.
• Director Alexis Herman acquired 340 shares, paying $14.64 per share for a total amount of $4,977. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

This is the second week in a row MGM has made our list of top insider purchases. The stock is already up a lot since the last set of insider purchases we reported on last week. We wrote the following about the company last week,

MGM Resorts has seen its stock lose more than 2/3rd of its value over the last few weeks. Considering the amount of debt the company carries on its balance sheet and that casinos in Macau are expecting a big decline in customers for a third month in a row, these insider purchases could be premature. The company managed to survive the Great Recession following the bursting of the housing bubble but the stock dipped into the low single digits before rebounding.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for MGM Resorts International here.

3. Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC): $78.3

Chief Executive Officer Nazzic S. Keene acquired 14,300 shares of this information technology services company, paying $70.75 per share for a total amount of $1.01 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Science Applications International Corporation here.

4. The Simply Good Foods Company (SMPL): $15.79

Shares of this packaged foods company were acquired by 3 insiders:

• Director Nomi Ghez acquired 30,000 shares, paying $16.32 per share for a total amount of $489,460. Mr. Ghez increased his stake by 27.19% to 140,350 shares with this purchase.
• Director Clayton C. Daley acquired 10,000 shares, paying $16.77 per share for a total amount of $167,668. Mr. Daley increased his stake by 16.67% to 70,000 shares with this purchase.
• Director James E. Healey acquired 5,000 shares, paying $16.86 per share for a total amount of $84,300. Mr. Healey increased his stake by 9.96% to 55,178 shares with this purchase.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for The Simply Good Foods Company here.

5. Liquidity Services, Inc. (LQDT): $4.76

Chairman of the Board and CEO William P. Angrick acquired 167,674 shares of this liquidator of surplus electronic equipment, paying $4.38 per share for a total amount of $733,854.

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

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA): $262.95

Director Mark A. Stevens sold 100,000 shares of this semiconductor company for $264.32, generating $26.43 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by a trust.

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

2. Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (MPWR): $167.93

CEO Michael Hsing sold 113,721 shares of this semiconductor company for $170.00, generating $19.33 million from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. here.

3. SBA Communications Corporation (SBAC): $305.81

Shares of this wireless tower REIT were sold by 2 insiders:

• Executive VP/General Counsel Thomas P. Hunt sold 49,560 shares for $305.00, generating $15.12 million from the sale.
• EVP – Operations Mark R. Ciarfella sold 8,377 shares for $302.02, generating $2.53 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 SBA Communications Corporation here.

4. Black Knight, Inc. (BKI): $63.48

Director William P. Foley sold 250,000 shares of this integrated software, data, and analytics solutions provider for $61.98, generating $15.49 million from the sale.

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

5. Uber Technologies, Inc. (UBER): $27.11

Director Garrett Camp sold 510,000 shares of this software application company for $27.02, generating $13.78 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Expa-1, LLC.

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

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

The list of all insider purchases and sales by management people is only available to InsideArbitrage Premium and Plus members.

Disclaimer: I hold a long position in Liquidity Services (LQDT) and a short position via put options in Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL). Please do your own due diligence before buying or selling any securities mentioned in this article. We do not warrant the completeness or accuracy of the content or data provided in this article.