The Tycoon Report

Insider Buys and Sells: Weekly Wrap-Up

Monday, May 19, 2008 | Tycoon Staff

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.

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 effort 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.  We publish this re-cap every Monday, and it can be accessed in your email issues or on the Tycoon Report website.

Very important note:  While these Monday re-caps are available on the Tycoon Report website, if you want the most timely information we provide on insider buying and selling you've got to be sure and read the email issues that we send each weekday morning.

BUYS

Owens Corning (OC)

Harbinger Capital Partners has purchased nearly $46 million worth of OC stock since the final few days of April.

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Cybex International Inc. (CYBI)

Two executives and one holding company each bought 295,000 chares of CYBI for a combined purchase value of $3.5 million.

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Vulcan Materials Co. (VMC)

A company director has purchased nearly $650,000 in VMC stock.

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Unifi Inc. (UFI)

A director-level executive at UFI has bought around $530,000 worth of company stock.

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Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. (ETP)

A company director has bought nearly $1.3 million in ETP stock.

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Rivus Bond Fund (BDF)

MBIA has purchased $266,000 worth of BDF stock.

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Contango Oil & Gas Co. (MCF)

Sellers Capital LLC. has purchased 51,900 shares of MCF for a total of $4,169,127.

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FBL Financial Group Inc. (FFG)

The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation has bought more than $2.2 million worth of FFG stock in May.

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Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (MMC)

President and CEO Brian Duperreault has bought 40,000 shares of MMC for just over $1.1 million.

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Ev3 Inc. (EVVV)

A director at EVVV has bought nearly $500,000 worth of company stock.

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SELLS

Dreamworks Animation Skg, Inc. (DWA)

Paul Allen has sold more than $35 million in DWA stock.

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Chevron Corp. (CVX)

Executive Vice President John Watson has sold around $33 million worth of CVX stock.

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Burger King Holdings Inc. (BKC)

Three separate sell transactions were recorded for just over $100,000,000 apiece, including two company directors and one capital management firm.

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GMX Resources Inc. (GMXR)

The CEO has sold 200,000 shares of GMXR, for a total value of more than $8.3 million.

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Waste Industries USA Inc. (WWIN)

COO Harry Habets has sold just over $1.1 million in WWIN stock.

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Americredit Corp. (ACF)

Chairman of the Board Clifton H. Morris has sold nearly $3.9 million in ACF stock.

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NVR Inc. (NVR)

Company Chairman Dwight Schar has sold just over $15.2 million in NVR stock.

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Exterran Holdings Inc. (EXH)

A company director has sold more than $3.8 million worth of EXH stock.

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W.W. Grainger, Inc. (GWW)

CEO Richard Keyser has sold more than $6.6 million in GWW stock.

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Regency Centers Corp. (REG)

Regency CEO Martin Stein, Jr. has sold nearly $2.5 million worth of company stock.

View Details Mark Your Economic Calendar: What's ahead for the week of May 19, 2008
Economic Calendar for the Week of May 19 to May 23

Monday, May 19

10:00AM - Leading Indicators

Release Details

• Importance (A-F): This release merits a C-.
• Source: The Conference Board.
• Release Time: 10:00 ET around the third week of the month for the month prior.
• Raw Data Available At: http://www.tcb-indicators.org/.

The index of leading indicators includes the ten economic statistics listed below ...

1. The interest rate spread between 10-year Treasury notes and the federal funds rate.
2. The inflation-adjusted, M2 measure of the money supply.
3. The average manufacturing workweek.
4. Manufacturers' new orders for consumer goods and materials.
5. The S&P 500 measure of stock prices.
6. The vendor performance component of the NAPM index.
7. The average level of weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance.
8. Building permits.
9. The University of Michigan index of consumer expectations.
10. Manufacturers' new orders for non-defense capital goods.

Tuesday, May 20

8:30AM - PPI, Core PPI

Release Details

• Importance (A-F): This release merits a B-.
• Source: Bureau of Labor statistics, U.S. Department of Labor.
• Release Time: Around the 11th of each month at 8:30 ET for the prior month.
• Raw Data Available At: http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/ppi.toc.htm.

The Producer Price Index measures prices of goods at the wholesale level. There are three broad subcategories within PPI: crude, intermediate, and finished. The market tracks the finished goods index most closely, as it represents prices for goods that are ready for sale to the end user. Goods prices at the crude and intermediate stages of production often provide an indication of coming (dis)inflationary pressures, but the closer you get to crude goods, the more that these prices track commodity prices which are already available in traded indexes such as the CRB (Commodity Research Bureau).

At all stages of production, the market places more emphasis on the index excluding food and energy, referred to as the core rate. Food and energy prices tend to be quite volatile and obscure trends in the underlying inflation rate. Though the market reaction is determined by the month/month changes, year/year changes are also noted by analysts. The index is not revised on a monthly basis, but annual revisions to seasonal adjustment factors can produce small adjustments to past releases.

Thursday, May 22

8:30AM - 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 ET 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.


Friday, May 23

10:00AM - Existing Home Sales

• Importance (A-F): This release merits a C.
• Source: The National Association of Realtors.
• Release Time: 10:00 ET around the 25th of the month (data for month prior).
• Raw Data Available At: http://www.realtor.org/research.nsf/pages/EHSdata.

The name speaks for itself - this report provides a measure of the level of sales of existing homes. The report is considered a decent indicator of activity in the housing sector. Housing starts precede this report each month, but starts are a supply rather than demand-side indicator. Existing home sales precede the other key demand-side indicator of housing - new home sales - thus boosting the visibility of this report. Sales are highly dependent on mortgage rates, and will tend to react with a few months lag to changes in rates. Sales are also determined by the level of pent-up demand for housing - immediately after a recession, sales are typically quite strong due to the demand which accumulated through the recession.