Analysts and investors follow the buying trends of company insiders because they know more about their companies than anyone else. If company insiders start buying more company stock, it’s a sign to take a second look.
Here we screened small-cap companies that are reporting Q2 earnings this week. We screened these companies for those that have seen significant net insider buying over the last six months.
Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the stocks mentioned below. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.
We also created a price-weighted index of the stocks mentioned below, and monitored the performance of the list relative to the S&P 500 index over the last month. To access a complete analysis of this list's recent performance, click here.
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Do you think insiders are calling it right on their companies? Use this list as a starting point for your own analysis.
List sorted by net insider purchases as a percent of share float.
1. Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. (SNTA): Diagnostic Substances Industry. Market cap of $189.37M. Earnings to be released on 08/04. Net insider purchases over the last six months at 1.55M, which is 5.98% of the company's 25.84M share float. This is a risky stock that is significantly more volatile than the overall market (beta = 2.54). The stock is a short squeeze candidate, with a short float at 8.28% (equivalent to 15.53 days of average volume). The stock has gained 45.48% over the last year.
2. Geeknet, Inc. (GKNT): Internet Software and Services Industry. Market cap of $155.23M. Earnings to be released on 08/03. Net insider purchases over the last six months at 218.98K, which is 4.50% of the company's 4.87M share float. The stock has gained 89.54% over the last year.
3. Red Lion Hotels Corporation (RLH): Lodging Industry. Market cap of $143.45M. Earnings to be released on 08/04. Net insider purchases over the last six months at 239.44K, which is 2.04% of the company's 11.74M share float. It has been a rough couple of days for the stock, losing 5.27% over the last week.
4. US Concrete Inc. (USCR): General Building Materials Industry. Market cap of $100.12M. Earnings to be released on 08/05. Net insider purchases over the last six months at 149.41K, which is 1.86% of the company's 8.04M share float.
5. Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ANTH): Drug Manufacturers Industry. Market cap of $261.73M. Earnings to be released on 08/03. Net insider purchases over the last six months at 279.79K, which is 1.33% of the company's 20.97M share float.
*Insider data sourced from Yahoo! Finance, all other data sourced from Finviz.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.
