Insider Buys and Sells: Weekly Wrap-up
Monday, September 7, 2009 | Tycoon StaffRating:
For all the analysts and pundits in the financial media, there is still no better judge of a company's health and future prospects than the owners and executives of those companies themselves, along with major institutional shareholders.
That's why insider buying and selling is a critical piece of data that is monitored by people who invest for a living.
As part of our continuing efforts here at The Tycoon Report to level the playing field between individual investors and the fat cats on Wall Street, we're keeping you informed -- on a daily basis and at no cost whatsoever -- of the most significant insider buying and selling.
Below is a weekly re-cap of the past week's activity of important insider buys and sells. We aim to publish this re-cap every Monday, and it can be accessed in your e-mail issues or on the Tycoon Report Web site.
Very important note: While these re-caps are available on the Tycoon Report Web site, if you want the most timely information we provide on insider buying and selling, be sure to read the e-mail issues that we send each weekday morning.
SELLSThat's why insider buying and selling is a critical piece of data that is monitored by people who invest for a living.
As part of our continuing efforts here at The Tycoon Report to level the playing field between individual investors and the fat cats on Wall Street, we're keeping you informed -- on a daily basis and at no cost whatsoever -- of the most significant insider buying and selling.
Below is a weekly re-cap of the past week's activity of important insider buys and sells. We aim to publish this re-cap every Monday, and it can be accessed in your e-mail issues or on the Tycoon Report Web site.
Very important note: While these re-caps are available on the Tycoon Report Web site, if you want the most timely information we provide on insider buying and selling, be sure to read the e-mail issues that we send each weekday morning.
America's Car-Mart (CMRT)
Chairman of the Board Tilman J. Falgout III SOLD $1.1 million in options. View details.
Axis Capital Holdings (AXS)
CEO and Pres, AXIS Re Bermuda, William A. Fischer SOLD $2.4 million in options. View details.
B.E. Aerospace (BEAV)
Chairman & CEO Amin J. Khoury SOLD $1 million in shares. View details.
Copano Energy (CPNO)
Chairman and CEO John R. Eckel Jr. SOLD $1.4 million in shares. View details.
C.R. Bard (BCR)
President and COO John H. Weiland SOLD $2.9 million in shares. View details.
Entergy Corp. (ETR)
Chairman and CEO J. Wayne Leonard SOLD $15.4 million in options. View details.
Exponent (EXPO)
Executive Chairman Michael R. Gaulke SOLD $1.3 million in options. View details.
Gilead Sciences (GILD)
President and COO John F. Milligan SOLD $2.7 million in options. View details.
Lubrizol Corp. (LZ)
SVP & COO Stephen F. Kirk SOLD $2.8 million in options. View details.
Macrovision Solutions (ROVI)
President and CEO Alfred J. Amoroso SOLD $1.2 million in shares. View details.
Microsoft (MSFT)
Chief Operating Officer Brian Kevin Turner SOLD $2.1 million in shares. View details.
Myriad Genetics (MYGN)
President, Myriad Genetic Labs, Gregory C. Critchfield SOLD $1.4 million in options. View details.
Pediatrix Medical Group (MD)
Director Michael Fernandez SOLD $3.6 million in shares. View details.
Raymond James Financial (RJH)
President, RJA, Dennis W. Zank SOLD $1.3 million in shares. View details.
Scripps Networks Interactive (SNI)
Chairman, President & CEO Kenneth W. Lowe SOLD $6 million in options. View details.
Service Corp. International (SCI)
Chairman of the Board R.L. Waltrip SOLD $2 million in options. View details.
Syniverse Holdings (SVR)
Chief Executive Officer Tony G. Holcombe SOLD $2.2 million in options. View details.
Williams-Sonoma Inc. (WSI)
President Laura Alber SOLD $2.8 million in options. View details.
Economic Calendar for the Week of Sept. 7-11
THURSDAY, SEPT. 10
8:30 a.m. Initial Claims
* Importance (A-F): This release merits a C .
* Source: The Employment and Training Administration of the Department of Labor.
* Release Time: 8:30 a.m. each Thursday (data for week ended prior Saturday).
* Raw Data Available At: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/main.htm
Initial jobless claims measure the number of filings for state jobless benefits. This report provides a timely, but often misleading, indicator of the direction of the economy, with increases (decreases) in claims potential signalling slowing (accelerating) job growth.
On a week-to-week basis, claims are quite volatile, and many analysts therefore track a four-week moving average to get a better sense of the underlying trend. It typically takes a sustained move of at least 30K in claims to signal a meaningful change in job growth.
Highlights
* Initial claims again disappointed the consensus as claims fell a minor 4K from last week to 570K in the week ending Aug. 29. Consensus expected claims to decline to 564K.
* Initial claims has bounced between 550K and 600K since the beginning of June and don't look to be trending down anytime in the near future.
* The 4-week moving average increased by 4K to 571.3K.
* Continuing claims also disappointed the consensus as claims rose approximately 100K to 6234K from 6142K. Consensus expected continuing claims to decline 12K.
* We've been expecting continuing claims to trend downward over the last few weeks as workers run out of unemployment benefits. An increasing number of continuing claims only verifies the terrible situation the labor market is in.
Key Factors
* If you are to believe that the U.S. economy is out of the recession and in a recovery period, then the recovery is most definitely a jobless one. For a non-jobless recovery to take place, we should expect to see claims numbers rapidly receding, which is not happening.
* For example, during the 1980-'83 recessionary period, claims hit its peak in September 1982 with roughly 670K. Three months later, as the recovery took hold, initial claims fell to 534K and then declined below 500K by April 1983. In the current recession, claims peaked at roughly 670K in March 2009, but three months later initial claims only declined to 617K. At 570K today, claims are roughly 100K more than they were during 1983.
Big Picture
* New claims continue to fall within the 550,000-600,000 range, well above the peak of 400,000 during the last recession. As major companies finish their labor restructuring, many of the newly unemployed are coming from smaller businesses. This tends to cause more hardship on Main Street as many of these workers are unprepared for their job loss.
8:30 a.m. International Trade
* Importance (A-F): This release merits a C .
* Source: The Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the Department of Commerce.
* Release Time: 8:30 a.m. Eastern around the 20th of the month (data for two months prior).
* Raw Data Available At: http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www/press.html
The trade report is most widely watched for trends in the overall trade balance. But trends in both exports and imports of goods and services bear watching as well. The export data in particular are important to watch for indications that a strengthening competitive position at home and/or strengthening economies overseas are boosting U.S. growth.
Imports provide an indication of domestic demand, but given the severe lag of this report relative to other consumption indicators, it is not particularly valuable for this purpose.
Highlights
* The U.S. trade deficit widened in June to -$27.0 billion (consensus -$28.7 bln) from -$26.0 billion in May.
* The breakdown of the report could be construed as good news since it fits the view that global trade is recovering from the depths of the downturn seen at the end of 2008 and the early part of 2009. To this end, exports increased $2.4 billion to $125.8 billion -- the second straight monthly increase -- while imports increased $3.5 billion to $152.8 billion.
* The real trade deficit narrowed to -$35.95 billion from -$36.27 billion in May. The June number brings the Q2 average to $37.45 billion versus the prior average of $38.19 billion.
Key Factors
* The last time imports increased on a month-to-month basis was in July 2008. This points to an improved situation in the U.S. It would be remiss not to add, however, that imports are still down 31% from the year-ago period, so we won't get carried away extolling the recovery process.
* The improvement in the real trade deficit in June will be thought of as a positive when contemplating revisions to the Q2 GDP data.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 11
9:55 a.m. University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index
* Importance (A-F): This release merits a B-.
* Source: The University of Michigan.
* Release Time: Preliminary: 10 a.m. Eastern on the second Friday of the month (data for current month); Final: 10 a.m. Eastern on the fourth Friday of the month (data for current month).
The Michigan index is almost identical to the Conference Board Consumer Confidence index, though there are two monthly releases, a preliminary and final reading. Like the Conference Board index, it has two subindexes -- expectations and current conditions. The expectations index is a component of the Conference Board's Leading Indicators index.
Highlights
* The Michigan Consumer sentiment dipped lower in August with a final reading of 65.7, down from 66.0 in July. However, the index came in higher than consensus expectations of 64.0.
* The current conditions index declined from 70.5 in July to 66.6 in August. The decline is fairly shocking considering the amount of attention the economic recovery is getting in the media.
* The economic outlook index rose to 65 from 63.2.
* Inflation expectations for both the 1-year and 5-year outlooks fell to 2.8% from 2.9% and 3.0%, respectively. There is still considerable fear in the market that inflation will hemorrhage out of control. The fairly low consumer expectations will provide some relief to the market.
Key Factors
* The consumer confidence numbers are a very poor indicator for predicting consumer spending. Even though the sentiment indicator was weaker in August, it does NOT change projections of stronger PCE spending.
Big Picture
* Sentiment readings are a reflection of a variety of events rather than an accurate tool for forecasting consumer spending. Gas prices and political events can have an outsized impact on sentiment. In general, these data are of very little economic value.
Source: Briefing.com
