INSIDERS BETTING ON REBOUND; BARGAIN HUNTERS LOOK AT OWN FIRMS.Byline: Deborah Adamson Daily News Staff Writer In this bear market, corporate insiders are acting quite bullish. While sellers continue to outpace out·pace tr.v. out·paced, out·pac·ing, out·pac·es To surpass or outdo (another), as in speed, growth, or performance. outpace Verb [-pacing, buyers in the broad stock market, corporate executives have been buying their own companies' shares in the past few weeks. As of Friday, 82 percent of all insider trades executed in the past 30 days were stock purchases in the open market and 18 percent were sales, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. The Insiders newsletter in Deerfield Beach Deerfield Beach, town (1990 pop. 46,325), Broward co., SE Fla., on the Atlantic coast; inc. 1925. The development of high-technology industry and commerce expanded the town and more than doubled its population between 1970 and 1990. , Fla. The five-week moving average shows that 56 percent are buys. ``It's a very bullish sign,'' said George Shirk shirk In Islam, idolatry and polytheism, both of which are regarded as heretical. The Qu'ran stresses that God does not share his powers with any partner (sharik) and warns that those who believe in idols will be harshly dealt with on the Day of Judgment. III, the newsletter's managing editor. ``Insiders on the balance believe this market is going to rebound.'' But there's still room for buying activity to grow before it reaches levels that historically signal a market upturn. After the stock market crash of October 1987, the five-week moving average rose to 90 percent before ushering a market surge, Shirk said. After the Persian Gulf War Persian Gulf War or Gulf War (1990–91) International conflict triggered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Though justified by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on grounds that Kuwait was historically part of Iraq, the invasion was presumed to be , the average rose to the mid-80s prior to a market rebound. While executives might sell stock for many reasons, such as needing funds for a major purchase or to rebalance their portfolio, ``there's only one reason they buy - they believe their stock prices are going higher,'' Shirk said. Stock buybacks Stock buyback A corporation's purchase of its own outstanding stock, usually in order to raise the company's earnings per share. stock buyback See buyback. - in which the companies, not individual executives, repurchase their stock in the open market to take advantage of low prices, boost their share price or get additional stock for options plans - have surged as well. In August, the amount of stock repurchases Stock repurchase A firm's repurchase of outstanding shares of its common stock. rose to $20 billion, according to Trim Tabs.Com, a Santa Rosa-based mutual fund liquidity tracking firm. That compares with $10 billion in August 1997. This year so far, buybacks have amounted to $100 billion, compared with $58 billion in the like period a year ago. ``Companies think their stock is cheap,'' said Charles Biderman, chief executive of Trim Tabs.Com. On Friday, Highland Bancorp said it increased its stock buyback program to 6.4 percent of outstanding common stock, or 150,000 shares. The Burbank-based institution previously approved a repurchase of 5 percent. A lower stock price is one of the reasons for the increase, a company official said. Among individual executives, those in regional financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. companies, gold and precious metals Precious Metals Valuable metals such as gold, iridium, palladium, platinum, and silver. Notes: Investing in precious metals can be done either by purchasing the physical asset, or by purchasing futures contracts for the particular metal. firms, and real estate businesses and investment trusts are the heaviest buyers, Shirk said. The highest selling activity is in discount retailer and drugstore stocks. The technology sector also shows a lot of selling, but the industry typically has a heavier amount of trading activity since stock options are a more popular form of compensation among its executives. Who's buying: Callaway Golf executives. Founder Ely Callaway bought 100,000 shares and six other insiders purchased 60,000 shares of the Carlsbad golf club maker in late July. The average price was $13.25 a share. Shares of Callaway Golf closed at $9.625 on Friday. Who's selling: Circuit City Group, the Richmond, Va.-based consumer electronics chain. In the past three months, there were 12 sellers but no buyers. Insiders sold 430,000 shares at prices ranging from $46.25 to $53. On average, executives liquidated DAMAGES, LIQUIDATED, contracts. When the parties to a contract stipulate for the payment of a certain sum, as a satisfaction fixed and agreed upon by them, for the not doing of certain things particularly mentioned in the agreement, the sum so fixed upon is called liquidated damages. (q.v. half of all their Circuit City stock holdings. Circuit City closed at $30.8125. CAPTION(S): 2 Charts CHART: INSIDER ACTIVITY: Company insiders have been doing a lot more buying that selling recently. (1) BUY (2) SELL SOURCE: Insiders Daily News |
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