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Insider Weekends: CEO of Guess Buys $1 Million Worth of Stock

  • July 26, 2020

Welcome to edition 527 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying decreased last week with insiders purchasing $99.17 million of stock compared to $120.09 million in the week prior. Selling increased significantly with insiders selling $1.29 billion of stock last week compared to $767.49 million in the week prior. With earnings season upon us, I would expect insider activity to be muted during the next few weeks as companies enter their earnings related quiet periods.

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 13.04. In other words, insiders sold more than 13 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 6.39.

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. Guess’, Inc. (GES): $10.55

CEO and Director Carlos Alberini acquired 100,000 shares of Guess, paying $10.17 per share for a total amount of $1.02 million. These shares were purchased indirectly through a trust.

There have only been a couple of times in the last 15 years when Guess’ has seen its stock drop into the single digit range. May 2017 and earlier this year were two such instances. I regretted not buying the stock coming off the lows of the Great Recession and off the May 2017 lows as the company is a well managed retailer in a very challenging retail environment. This time however I am more cautious as the current pandemic related drop in earnings is significant and it will probably take the company a long time to recover. The company reported a 52% decline in revenue to $260 million when it announced fiscal Q1 results for the quarter ended May 2, 2020. They also expect a similar decline in revenue in fiscal Q2 revenue. The company reported a loss of $2.40 per share in Q1 and Q2 earnings are likely to be negative as well.

Mr. Alberini was appointed Guess’ CEO in February 2019 and made his first insider purchases in June 2019 when he purchased 347,353 shares at an average price of $14.32 for a total amount of $4.97 million. While his current purchase is significant, it pales in comparison to his June 2019 purchases. The market viewed his recent purchase optimistically and the stock jumped nearly 14% last week after this purchase was filed with the SEC.

Mr. Alberini was the President and COO of Guess’ from 2000 to 2010. He left Guess’ to becomes the CO-CEO of Restoration Hardware until 2014 and then served as the Chairman and CEO of Lucky Brand from 2014 to 2019.

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

P/E: N/AForward P/E: 9.34Industry P/E: 37.73
P/S: 0.3Price/Book: 1.51EV/EBITDA: 11.1
Market Cap: $713.21MAvg. Daily Volume: 1,687,31452 Week Range: $3.64 – $23.58

2. FedEx Corporation (FDX): $165.04

Director Marvin R. Ellison acquired 2,200 shares of FedEx, paying $164.53 per share for a total amount of $361,966. Mr. Ellison increased his stake by 99.95% to 4,401 shares with this purchase.

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

P/E: 33.68Forward P/E: 13.36Industry P/E: 27.57
P/S: 0.62Price/Book: 2.36EV/EBITDA: 11.74
Market Cap: $43.23BAvg. Daily Volume: 2,721,97352 Week Range: $88.69 – $176.25

3. American Virtual Cloud Technologies, Inc. (AVCT): $3.71

Director Kent Mathy acquired 60,000 shares of this integrated IT solutions and managed services provider, paying $3.06 per share for a total amount of $183,600.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for American Virtual Cloud Technologies, Inc. here.

P/E: N/AForward P/E: N/AIndustry P/E: 45.43
P/S: N/APrice/Book: N/AEV/EBITDA: -14.25
Market Cap: $71.96MAvg. Daily Volume: 812,97752 Week Range: $1.45 – $11.25

4. Saratoga Investment Corp. (SAR): $16.89

CEO and Director Christian L. Oberbeck acquired 6,000 shares of this asset management company, paying $17.41 per share for a total amount of $104,459. Mr. Oberbeck increased his stake by 0.84% to 720,450 shares with this purchase.

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

P/E: 6.76Forward P/E: 7.38Industry P/E: 19.73
P/S: 3.21Price/Book: 0.67EV/EBITDA: N/A
Market Cap: $189.46MAvg. Daily Volume: 109,71452 Week Range: $5.94 – $28.7

5. The Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW): $34.94

Director Charles A. Ruffel acquired 2,854 shares of this financial advisory services provider, paying $34.91 per share for a total amount of $99,633. These shares were purchased indirectly through an IRA.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for The Charles Schwab Corporation here.

P/E: 14.62Forward P/E: 18.49Industry P/E: 19.73
P/S: 4.33Price/Book: 1.46EV/EBITDA: N/A
Market Cap: $44.98BAvg. Daily Volume: 10,955,04252 Week Range: $28 – $51.65

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

Notable Insider Sales:

1. BlackRock, Inc. (BLK): $570.62

Shares of this asset management company were sold by 3 insiders:

  • Chairman and CEO Laurence Fink sold 41,706 shares for $580.29, generating $24.2 million from the sale.
  • Senior Managing Director J. Richard Kushel sold 4,182 shares for $574.83, generating $2.4 million from the sale. 2,000 of these shares were sold indirectly through a trust.
  • Senior Managing Director Mark McCombe sold 3,000 shares for $580.16, generating $1.74 million from the sale.

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

P/E: 20.08Forward P/E: 17.46Industry P/E: 19.73
P/S: 5.79Price/Book: 2.68EV/EBITDA: 15.62
Market Cap: $87BAvg. Daily Volume: 1,334,19252 Week Range: $323.98 – $592.48

2. BeiGene, Ltd. (BGNE): $224.44

Shares of this biotech company were sold by 3 insiders:

  • Chief Executive Officer John Oyler sold 82,923 shares for $247.33, generating $20.51 million from the sale.
  • Director Xiaodong Wang sold 17,000 shares for $251.51, generating $4.28 million from the sale.
  • President & GM China Xiaobin Wu sold 3,300 shares for $249.22, generating $822,422 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for BeiGene, Ltd. here.

P/E: N/AForward P/E: -16.26Industry P/E: 1,542.57
P/S: 51.57Price/Book: 6.19EV/EBITDA: -12.62
Market Cap: $20.75BAvg. Daily Volume: 280,25752 Week Range: $114.41 – $256.01

3. J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT): $130.79

Shares of this surface transportation and delivery services provider were sold by 5 insiders:

  • Director Gary Charles George sold 148,380 shares for $135.30, generating $20.08 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by various entities.
  • Chairman of the Board James K. Thompson sold 15,000 shares for $135.00, generating $2.03 million from the sale.
  • EVP Dedicated Bradley W. Hicks sold 2,523 shares for $137.14, generating $346,000 from the sale.
  • EVP Highway Services Eric McGee sold 1,588 shares for $135.63, generating $215,381 from the sale.
  • VP, Treasurer Kevin Bracy sold 1,249 shares for $133.26, generating $166,445 from the sale.

You can view the list of recent insider transactions for J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. here.

P/E: 28.61Forward P/E: 22.24Industry P/E: 58.87
P/S: 1.49Price/Book: 5.77EV/EBITDA: 11.95
Market Cap: $13.8BAvg. Daily Volume: 840,36152 Week Range: $75.29 – $138.76

4. Medpace Holdings, Inc. (MEDP): $105.81

President & CEO August J. Troendle sold 101,012 shares of this clinical contract research organization for $107.41, generating $10.85 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by Medpace Investors, LLC.

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

P/E: 36.25Forward P/E: 29.72Industry P/E: 48.59
P/S: 4.2Price/Book: 5.2EV/EBITDA: 23.44
Market Cap: $3.74BAvg. Daily Volume: 283,37652 Week Range: $58.72 – $114.12

5. Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE): $96.32

Shares of this financial data & stock exchanges company were sold by 2 insiders:

  • Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey C. Sprecher sold 100,000 shares for $95.54, generating $9.55 million from the sale. These shares were sold indirectly by CPEX.
  • Director Jean Marc Forneri sold 3,000 shares for $96.01, generating $288,027 from the sale.

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

P/E: 25.77Forward P/E: 21.08Industry P/E: 19.73
P/S: 9.6Price/Book: 3.12EV/EBITDA: 17.87
Market Cap: $52.71BAvg. Daily Volume: 2,763,14652 Week Range: $63.51 – $101.93

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: 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.