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Insider Buying Week 05-03-24 Insiders are Putting their Toes back in the Water

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At least half of the quarterly earnings are behind us, and the blackout window is opening. This week, insider buying has steadily picked up. We have some large insider buys this week in Marquis names. There could be some gems here, and I’m giving you my first crack at them.  Meanwhile, if it weren’t for the massive amount of Government spending already added to the cake from Covid handouts, the Inflation Reduction Act, and Infrastructure Acts ,the Fed’s high-interest rate regime would already be bringing the economy to its knees, in my opinion. You can be an insider, too– by … Read more

Insider Buying Week 03-15-24

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Insider buying has been noticeably scarce in this bull leg of a market making all-time highs. The small amount of buying is not performing particularly well either.  You might find this news surprising from a hedge fund manager who has made a living reading these tea leaves for 23 years. Name: Ole G Rosgaard Position: President and CEO Transaction Date: 2024-03-08 Shares Bought: 4,914 Average Price Paid: $67.00 Cost: $329,235 Company: Greif Inc (GEF) Greif Inc. is a top global provider of industrial packaging goods and services, with operations in over 35 countries. The company provides a wide range of … Read more

Insider Buying Week 12-08-23 Energy Swooned, Some Insiders Stepped Up

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As we go into the final turn of the year, expect some modest profit-taking in the Magnificent Seven. I expect some good opportunities if mortgage rates drop enough for people trapped in their homes to make a move. The purchase this week by National Storage’s Co-Chairman adds some credence to this. The stock has already rallied significantly, but storage should grow if we pick up the American tradition of musical chairs and home swapping. As EV demand wanes and the threat of hydrocarbons being replaced by renewables seems more like fantasy than policy, oil prices fall to levels not seen … Read more

Insider Buying Week 6-23-23- The Fed Plays Whac-A- Mole

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The Stock Market is not supposed to go up for some perverse logic when the Fed tightens. Maybe because wealth is really intrinsically undemocratic in the mind of the elites. They want to kill any chance of their status being threatened. The market has been looking for a sign-  TO SELL. The Fed gave them one last week.  TO PROFIT, TO MORTALLY WOUND THE OPPONENT, A KICK IN THE FACE, EGOMANIAICAL ADVANTAGE. The Federal Reserve Chairman and his cohorts of rate-hiking Whac-a-Molers provided some fuel that ignited the latest bout of interest rate hike anxiety. Ironically the curve is the … Read more

The Bull Charges as Bears Run in Disbelief Insider Buying Week 3-31-23

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It may be the calm before the storm but the bulls are running. The Fed’s rapid interest rate hikes came to a screeching halt last week. The Fed’s favorite inflation indicator, the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price (PCE) Index came in below expectations Friday.  Hiking interest rates has been one of the key policy tools used by the Fed to cool the economy and ease inflationary pressures. Many investors have been concerned about whether the pace of rate hikes and keeping rates higher for longer could drag the U.S. economy into a recession. That all came to a sudden and unexpected … Read more

Federal Reserve Chairman Powell is a Dangerous man

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I wrote to clients in the February update that  Federal Reserve Chairman Powell is a dangerous fellow.  Last week he proved that causing a run on the banking system.  Ironically if the creation of a new Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP)had been in place the week before, Silicon Valley Bank might have avoided failure and bankruptcy. Powell’s rapid hike in interest rates as a cure for the supply-side inflation shock is likely to be as successful as the ancient but now discredited medical practice of bleeding the patient. If Powell was the CEO of a public company, activist shareholders would … Read more

‘t want to go down.

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Despite the best efforts of banking emperors like Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan or all-knowing market strategists like Mike Wilson of Morgan Stanley, this stock market refuses to go down.  Last week’s market rally has already numbed the pain from February’s losses. The bulls are stomping their hoofed feet at the fences, dying to bust out. An insomniac lies awake at night, Puzzling over a conundrum so tight; the answer eludes them, it’s out of sight, And the puzzle keeps them up till daylight. They toss and turn, and they try to sleep, But the puzzle is just too deep; … Read more

Insider Buying Week 2-17-23

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When I started developing the Insiders Fund’s strategy in 2001, I knew I would miss out on some of the all-time greatest investments since founders of disruptive companies are loaded to the gills with their own company’s stock and don’t need to buy more of it. That was all right with me. I was willing to miss the potential home runs if by avoiding companies without insiders buying, I could avoid the scams, frauds, and charlatans that populate the financial world.  Generally, crooks and cons don’t buy their own stock, but there are exceptions to that as well.  Insiders may … Read more

No Bottom in Sight Insider Buying Week 10-14-22

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Curious about how well insiders are doing with their buys? Scroll through the blog posts and see for yourself It’s been over nine months since the bear market began.  That is about the average time most bear markets end, but there is nothing average about this bear market.  There are just too many unsettling things for the investor’s animal spirits to soar.  Years of interest rates held at artificially low levels near zero and the Fed on an unpredictable and reckless path of rapid interest rates hikes. The dividend yield of the S&P 500 is 1.79% versus Friday’s 4% Treasury … Read more

Insider Buying Week 9-30-22

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Curious how well insiders are doing with their buys? Scroll through the blog posts and see for yourself September secured its reputation as the cruelest month in the market with a bone-crushing loss S&P 500 loss of 9%. It also set a 52-week low to cap off its worst month since March 2020.  We are deep into the quarterly earnings blackout, and most insiders are restricted from buying their company’s stock for two more weeks, at least until the middle of October.  All bear markets in the last 20 years have ended with a crescendo of insider buying.  As you … Read more

Insider Buying Week 9-23-22 Look Out Below

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Curious how well insiders are doing with their buys? Scroll through the blog posts and see for yourself The market declined every day last week, but on Wednesday last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell opened the gates of hell for equity investors when he pronounced that not only would the FED  hike rates into the 4%-5% or higher ranges but they were determined to keep them there for the foreseeable future until inflation was clearly on a path to their 2% per annum target.` I often say that making money in the market is all about people with conviction taking … Read more

‘s 5% Decline

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  Curious how well insiders are doing with their buys? Scroll through the significant buys of the last year. The S&P 500 lost over 6% points last week after losing 5% in the previous week. Stocks don’t fall like this unless there is something really wrong. I’m trying to figure that out and the only thing that I can come up with is that the Fed has been bullied into raising interest rates into a weakening economy. Raising interest rates to bring down the price of oil or to untangle the supply chain disruptions is an act of lunacy.  The … Read more

Insider Buying Week 6-10-22 The Mood Darkens as the Earnings Blackout Envelopes

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  Curious how well insiders are doing with their buys? Scroll through the significant buys of the last year. The S&P 500 lost 5% points in what was one of its most bruising outings this past week. It’s almost a foregone conclusion we will test the lows of 2022 and enter “bear market territory”.  At the cost of being labeled a Perma bull, I will proffer that that that is the time to add, rather than retreat. As painful as it may be, this is where insiders’ buying adds some confidence to a fragile and shaken market. Unfortunately, we are … Read more

Insider Buying Week Ending April 9th- Market making new highs without help from insiders

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For trade details click on this link to the trades % Trade Date Company Ticker Change Applied Molecular Transport Inc. AMTI 16.50% DELCATH SYSTEMS Inc DCTH 7.07% JOANN Inc. JOAN 4.49% REPUBLIC SERVICES Inc RSG 4.13% Howard Hughes Corp HHC 2.85% Science Applications International Corp SAIC 1.04% TCW STRATEGIC INCOME FUND INC TSI 0.07% TCW STRATEGIC INCOME FUND INC TSI 0.05% GREIF INC GEF -1.45% There was very little insider buying of note this last week.  If you rule out the almost daily offerings of new  SPACS which are for the most part future mediocre to poor investments by self-dealing … Read more

Insider Buys Week of April 2nd 2021

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For trade details click on this link to the trades Company Ticker GTY Technology Holdings Inc. GTYH You Harry L. Director 10% Owner 61.83% Designer Brands Inc. DBI SCHOTTENSTEIN JAY L Chairman 10% Owner 21.37% Designer Brands Inc. DBI Schottenstein Joseph A. Director 20.34% Green Brick Partners Inc. GRBK Brandler Harry Director 12.61% RHYTHM PHARMACEUTICALS Inc RYTM Meeker David P CEO 10.26% CASI Pharmaceuticals Inc. CASI He Wei-Wu CEO Chairman 9.76% APARTMENT INVESTMENT & MANAGEMENT CO AIV CONSIDINE TERRY Director 9.71% Epizyme Inc. EPZM MOTT DAVID M Director 8.23% REV Group Inc. REVG Rushing Rodney M CEO 6.95% RENT A … Read more

Everyone is talking about Tesla and not Tupperware- go figure.

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For trade details click on this link to the trades MUSTANG BIO Inc up 16.35% TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORP up 11.58% Asana Inc. up 3.80% CROWN CASTLE INTERNATIONAL CORP up 2.52% First, the market.  It definitely feels heavy to me and admittedly I’m nervous going long into tax season.  Lots of investors sold stock last year to lock in lower capital gains rates in fear of the Biden administration raising the tax rate on long-term capital gains or perhaps any gains. The first two weeks in April are tough. They usually are as people sell stock to pay for their taxes.  … Read more

$INTC Intel is on a tear

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We wrote last week tipping you off on insider buying at Intel. We’re up 10% on that trade.  The question you have to ask is why aren’t you an insider too? Intel, Intel, the gift that keeps on disappointing.  We lost money trading Intel last quarter but we’re back at it again.  Like a lot of people including Third Point’s Dan Loeb, we can’t believe America’s chip giant has sunken so low.  There is a worldwide glut of chips- how can Intel have missed the wave by such a wide margin.  The stock briefly rallied 8% after Third Point, an … Read more

”s Who Did

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For the trade details click on this link to the trades   We all know by now or should that this is a very overextended and disconnected from reality market. Extraordinary liquidity and compassionate finance largess from the Federal Reserve keeps the rally alive. Value is hard to come by and insiders are telling you as much.  There will always be something of value to buy but the companies insiders are still buying into are increasingly obscure.           Allied Esports Entertainment up 26.17% was the standout performance-wise for the week.  Knighted Pastures LLC bought 552,862 shares … Read more

Massive Insider Buy in Selecta Biosciences $SLB and other Notable Buys Week Ending October 23, 2020

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For trade details click on this link to the trades Selecta Biosciences up 23.20% Carnival Corp up 9.32% Del Taco Restaurants up 8.61% CITIGROUP up -0.32%   Director Timothy Springer has been on a buying binge with Selecta Biosciences.  This past week alone, Springer purchased 1,887,696 shares at an average price of $2.30 and 3,644,692 shares at $2.62 per share.  Between these two buys he shelled out $13.89 Million.  That’s on top of the $6 million he spent the prior week buying shares between $1.77-$1.99 a piece. So he more than doubled down on this buy and paid as much … Read more

The Week Democrats Found Religion and Republicans Found Science

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POTUS tweeted he tested positive for Covid-19.  Tellingly it was the most liked Trump tweet ever.  The President’s demand for loyalty is now looking like it could extend to death as Trump conducts super spreader events and legions of followers succumb to the virus. The market had its worst September in 9 years.  Insider buying was anemic.   In spite of the headlines, the market was up 1.52% for the week.  Our notable insider buys were up 5.12% STEELCASE INC up 14.44% At Home Group Inc. up 12.10% PHILLIPS 66 PARTNERS LP  up 5.12% GOLUB CAPITAL BDC Inc. up 5/09% Douglas … Read more

Insiders Kill it Again- Largely Led by Cassava Sciences $SAVA a potential 200 Bagger

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CASSAVA SCIENCES INC up 28.59% CORPORATE OFFICE PROPERTIES TRUST up 2.57% GOLUB CAPITAL BDC Inc. up 0.54% HARTFORD FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP Inc down 0.50% BROADCOM INC down -1.29% Casssava was up 28.59% on the week while the S&P notched its 4th consecutive week in decline, down 0.52%. There is an old adage on Wall Street, Sell Rosh Hashana buy Yom Kippur.  Historically it does show some uncanny consistency but perhaps it’s more from the fact the Jewish Holiday routinely falls toward quarter end when insiders are blacked out from buying their own stock than observant Jews absent from the trading … Read more

The Home is Hot, but Not Much Else- Insider Buying Tapers off with 3rd Quarter Earnings Blackout

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The market has been trending lower, all major averages are testing the 50 day moving average.  In this kind of juiced up market, technical traders have an unwarranted influence. My guess is that we will undercut the moving average in a test of investor faith but this could go on for weeks if not months. Investors that lack confidence bail easily.  Short sellers know that- and they also know that corporate insiders are blacked out. Most companies have self-imposed restrictions on buying or selling their companies’ stock insider thirty days from quarter end. The following companies had large insider buying last week.  We are digging … Read more

Tech Stocks Long Overdue Comeuppance – Insiders are the Ultimate Value Buyer

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Nothing like a thousand point drop in the Dow to remind you that stocks don’t go up forever.  Neither do insiders blindly chase their stock price higher.  Just the opposite. They are the ultimate “value” buyer. Tech crashed and burned last week all because an impulsive Japanese billionaire, Masayoshi Son, gambled $45 billion in call options on big tech names. At least that’s what they’d like you to believe.  According to traders, there have been mammoth options trades that include buying call options on stocks like Amazon.com Inc., Adobe Inc., Netflix Inc., Facebook Inc. Microsoft Corp, generating chatter across Wall Street.The following companies … Read more

The Best August since 1984 but Insider Buying Slows Down Some

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The following companies had large insider buying last week.  We are digging in to see what they see. For timely updates, follow us on Twitter. Pacific Ethanol Inc  PEIX Director Gilbert bought 72,800 shares at $3.55.  Ethanol has been a perennial bad investment but that seems to be changing.  Two things are shaking up the dynamics; the coronavirus has created unprecedented demand for alcohol based sanitizer and the prospects of a Democratic environmentally focused administration will increase the use of bio-fuels.  Even Archer Daniels ADM Director bought 11,100 shares at $44.75. PIEX is the leading producer and marketer of low-carbon renewable fuels in … Read more

The Frenzied Bull Charges On- Insider Buys Week of Aug 21, 2020

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Last week we sounded the bell on Rocket Mortgage. We said to own the 600 LB mortgage gorilla when it rolled over on the dud of an IPO.  RKT made our week, popping 30%. Follow us on Twitter .That’s where we post the most- 280 characters is perfect for trading.  The pick of the week goes to an obscure biotech company you’ve never never heard of, Verrica Pharmaceuticals VRCA.  It went ballistic after two insiders bought stock, closing the week up 50% -not bad for a couple of days trading action. The pin action makes little sense to me as they … Read more

Insiders Who Nailed Market Bottom Are Starting to Sell Stocks – Notable Insider Buys 7-24-20

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According to Bloomberg, as U.S. stocks climb to their most expensive levels in two decades, the executives in charge of the companies benefiting from the rally are showing signs of anxiety.Corporate insiders, whose buying correctly signaled the bottom in March, are now mostly sellers. Almost 1,000 corporate executives and officers have unloaded shares of their own companies this month, outpacing insider buyers by a ratio of 5-to-1, data compiled by the Washington Service showed. Only twice in the past three decades has the sell-buy ratio been higher than now. Source: Insiders Who Nailed Market Bottom Are Starting to Sell Stocks … Read more

Bobok til you drop: South Koreans roar back to malls as coronavirus curbs ease – Reuters

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Perhaps there is some hope that shoppers will come back to U.S. beleaguered malls. Macerich (MAC) and Simon Property Group (SPG) insiders certainly hope so as they have bought millions of dollars worth of their company’s stock. (Reuters) – At a glitzy Chanel boutique in downtown Seoul, Kim Soo-yeon joined dozens of others in festive shorts and flare dresses, her eyes out for a clutch purse she had coveted for weeks during the coronavirus pandemic.A woman wearing a mask to avoid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) shops at a luxury shop in a department store in Seoul, South … Read more

‘s

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We blogged on this subject matter two weeks ago.  We bought Dominion Resources and the XLU utility ETF. Utility stocks might be more than a defensive investment.  Utility Stocks could be the new bluechips . Our opinion: Dominion Resources, in particular, has rallied sharply. In the past, it’s one utility that has had a fair share of insider buying.  The last significant purchase was back in September 13, 2019 when a director purchased 21,400 at $77.84.  Insiders have been more recently selling stock in the first part of March at $85 and $87.50.  Dominion closed at $73.51 Thursday. I wouldn’t … Read more

What were insiders buying during this historic market sell-off?

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This was a week like none other- well, that’s not quite correct, a week like only 4 others in terms of market losses since 1945.  The Coronavirus put the stock market into intensive care. It remains to be seen if the general population follows it into the sick ward. The Dow  closed Friday, 357 points, or 1.4%, lower, on its seventh day in the red. At its worst, the index was down nearly 1,086 points. It dropped 3,583 points this week, including its worst one-day point drop in history on Thursday. On a percentage basis, Thursday’s 4.4% slump was the worst performance since … Read more

Amyris- what the heck? $AMRS Notable Insider Buys Week 2-7-20

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  Simply Good Foods’s SMPL Director Brian Ratzan bought 10,000 shares at $22.98.  The newly capitalized Atkins brands has found what seems to be permanent shelf space in grocery stores and drug store chains.  Insiders have had a steady diet of SMPL shares, the largest being the Chairman of the Board’s purchase of $1.7 million at back in November 2019 at $24.62 .  Atkins bars might be causing me indigestion, I had a followed his lead. The stock is down 17% on concerns over missing consensus growth expectations According to Fly on the Wall –“Goldman Sachs analyst Jason English added … Read more