Insider Buying 01-24-25 Contrarian Investors Pay Attention

The market made new highs last week. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose by 3.4 points in December to 105.1, the second consecutive month above the 51-year average of 98 and the highest reading since October 2018.  Trump has promised to fix everything that is wrong with this country, bring down interest rates, lower the price of gasoline, and tame inflation all the while lowering taxes and government spending.  Hoorah! like the Marines say.  What’s there not to like?  Maybe corporate insiders are just a we bit skeptical.  Combined with 4th quarter earnings blackout- well, there just isn’t much to write about.   Perhaps the most telling is the investment advisor for the Mexico Fund and ASA Gold and Precious Metals are some of the scarce notable insider buys last week.

Name: Timothy Patrick Flynn
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2025-01-17 Shares Bought: 1,000 Average Price Paid: $511.57 Cost: $511,575
Company: Unitedhealth Group Inc (UNH)

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is a wellness and healthcare company committed to enhancing the healthcare system for everyone and assisting individuals in leading better lifestyles. By enhancing access, affordability, results, and experiences for the individuals and organizations they are fortunate to serve, Optum and UnitedHealthcare—two separate but complementary businesses—are attempting to contribute to the creation of a contemporary, high-performing healthcare system. They can offer more inventive products and comprehensive, end-to-end offerings for many of the most important healthcare issues of the time to patients, consumers, care providers, businesses, communities, and governments thanks to their capacity to analyze complex data and apply in-depth healthcare knowledge and insights. 

Timothy P. Flynn has joined UnitedHealth Group’s board of directors. Tim Flynn joined the company in January 2017 and brings with him 37 years of experience managing and working with many global companies in regulated settings, along with solid financial and business strategy insights and knowledge. Flynn served in several high-level leadership roles over his 32-year tenure with KPMG. Mr. Flynn received a BA/BS in Economics from the University of Massachusetts and an MPA/MBA in Public and Business Finance from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner/Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

Opinion: Is this a contrarian Director taking advantage of an unmerited decline in the company’s share price? Or is it a board of directors’ obligatory requirement to own company stock.  According to the Company’s most recent proxy, April 2024, all directors were in compliance with their requirements regarding company stock ownership. I can see with moderate confidence then that this is a contrarian opportunistic purchase. The Insiders Fund has bought a 1% position.

Name: Corley Jesse Anderson
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2025-01-16 Shares Bought: 3,210 Average Price Paid: $31.15 Cost: $100,004
Company: RxSight Inc. (RXST)

RxSight Inc., a commercial-stage medical technology firm, is dedicated to enhancing patients’ vision after cataract surgery. The RxSight Light Adjustable Lens system, the first and only premium cataract technology commercially accessible, enables physicians to optimize and adapt their patients’ visual acuity post-operatively. The RxSight Light Delivery Device, RxSight Light Adjustable Lens, and accessories comprise the RxSight system.  Before undergoing surgery for competitive premium IOLs, patients must determine their visual priorities and be willing to accept the many optical trade-offs that result from those decisions. 

Mr. Corley joined the Board in January 2015 and has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors since July 2015.  In addition, Mr. Corley has been a partner at Flying L Partners since 2016 and a board member of Neurolenses, Inc. since 2012, where he is currently the Chairman of the Board. In addition, Mr. Corley co-founded Chiron Vision Corp., a firm dedicated to advancing laser eye surgery, in 1987, and served as General Manager of the Refractive Surgery Division until December 1997. Mr. Corley earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Georgia Southern University.

Opinion: HIghly speculative play with great disruption potential in the cataract surgery space. We own it.

Name: Alexander Merk
Position: COO
Transaction Date: 2025-01-16 Shares Bought: 31,248 Average Price Paid: $21.99 Cost: $687,128
Company: ASA Gold & Precious Metals Ltd (ASA)

ASA Gold and Precious Metals Limited is a publicly held investment manager. The firm invests in public equities markets around the globe. It primarily invests in equities of companies that explore, mine, or process gold, silver, platinum, diamonds, and other precious minerals. It also invests in exchange-traded funds. To build its portfolios, the business uses fundamental analysis and a bottom-up methodology. The company obtains external research to supplement its in-house research. The firm focuses on the metals and mining industries. This record reflects ASA Gold & Precious Metals Limited investing preferences and overall investment strategy. ASA Gold and Precious Metals Limited was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in Portland, Maine.

Axel Merk is the President and Chief Investment Officer of Merk Investments, which manages the Merk Funds. He earned a B.A. in Economics (magna cum laude) and an M.Sc. in Computer Science at Brown University.

Opinion: Never been a gold bug but it seems we’re entering an age of uncertainty and speculation. Why not?

Name: Alberto Osorio
Position: President and CEO
Transaction Date: 2025-01-22 Shares Bought: 15,000 Average Price Paid: $13.53 Cost: $203,019
Company: Mexico Fund Inc (MXF)

The Mexico Fund, Inc., a closed-ended equity mutual fund. Impulsora del Fondo México, S.C. is the company that founded and manages its primary investment in Mexico’s public equities markets. The fund aims to allocate its investments across a variety of industries. With its headquarters in Maryland, the United States, The Mexico Fund, Inc. was established on June 1st, 1981. 

Mr. Osorio has presided over the Fund as its president and chief executive Since March 2014. He held the positions of Senior Vice President and Treasurer from 2002 until March 2014. He also holds the positions of Chairman of the Board and Director General of Impulsora del Fondo México, S.C., the Fund’s investment adviser, where he has been active since 1991 and currently holds the majority stake. 

Opinion: Now we’re talking contrarian.  Hoorah!

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This blog is solely for educational purposes and the author’s own amusement. IT IS NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE.  Think of the blog as part of my personal investment journal that I am willing to share with the DIY investor. There are also many parts that I am not willing to share if I think it could influence trading action or be detrimental to the Fund’s partners. We could be long, short, or have no position at all in any of the stocks mentioned and express no written or implied obligation to disclose any of that.  Nothing contained here constitutes a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal, and past performance is not indicative of future results.

“The insomniac hedge fund guy” is a moniker Harvey Sax, the portfolio manager for The Insiders Fund” has used from time to time on email, blog ,and social media posts. While Mr. Sax is the portfolio manager of The Insiders Fund, these posts are not communications from, nor endorsed by, Alpha Wealth Funds, LLC or any of its managed funds. References to Alpha Wealth Funds or its affiliates are for identification only and do not imply sponsorship or approval.

The Insiders Fund and its blogs and posts are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of the companies mentioned herein. All company names, logos, and trademarks belong to their respective owners. The use of company logos is solely for descriptive and illustrative purposes under fair use.  Any information provided is based on publicly available data and should not be considered financial, investment, or legal advice. Readers should conduct their own research or consult with a professional before making any investment decisions. Insiders sell the stock for many reasons, but they generally buy for just one – to make money. You’ve always heard the best information is inside information.  Everyone with any stock market experience pays close attention to what insiders are doing.  After all, who knows a business better than the people running it?  Officers, directors, and 10% owners are required to inform the public through a Form 4 Filing of any transaction, buy, sell, exercise, or any other within 48 hours of doing so.

This info is available for free from the SEC’s Web site, Edgar, although we subscribe to SECForm4  as they provide a way to manage and make sense of the vast realms of data. I’ve tried a lot of vendors. SECForm4 is one of the smaller ones, but I like supporting Frank. He is not arrogant. He’s helpful and has great prices. He also trades on his own data, so I like people that eat what they kill. The bar is different from selling because the natural state of management is to be a seller. This is because most companies provide significant amounts of management compensation packages as stock and options. Therefore, we analyze unusual patterns with selling, such as insiders selling 25 percent or more of their holdings or multiple insiders selling near 52-week lows. Another red flag is large planned sale programs that start without warning. Unfortunately, the public information disclosure requirements about these programs, referred to as Rule 10b5-1, are horrendously poor. Also, planned sales that pop up out of nowhere are basically sales and are seeking cover under this corporate welfare loophole.

I also generally ignore 10 percent shareholders as they tend to be OPM (other people’s money) and perhaps not the smart money on which we are trying to read the tea leaves. I say generally because some 10% shareholders are great investor, think Warren  Buffett and others.  Of course, insiders can also be wrong about their Company’s prospects. Don’t let anyone fool you into believing they never make mistakes.  Do your own analysis. They can easily be wrong, and in many cases, maybe most cases, have no more idea what the future may hold than you or me. In short, you can lose money following them.  We have, and we curse aloud; what were they thinking!We like Fly on the Wall for keeping up with what events might be happening, analysts’ comments, and whatever else could be moving the stock.  Dow Jones news service is an essential tool, but many services pick up their feed like they do Bloomberg. She probes the 10k for a reasonable description of the business. I’ve found that to be the most accurate and succinct place to find out what a business actually does. When I have time, over the weekend, I’ll add some preliminary analysis to the Opinion at the end. It is largely done now by my AI. Sometimes I won’t update this for a couple of weeks or more.  A good way to use this blog is as I do, it’s a reference point and filing cabinet for various stocks with notable insider buying. It’s one of many tools I use.