Analysts follow the buying trends of company insiders because, after all, they have more information about their companies than anyone else. If a company sees an increase in shares purchased from company insiders, it’s a signal to take a second look.
We ran a screen on small-cap stocks rallying above their 20-day, 50-day and 200-day moving averages for those seeing 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 top six 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 these insiders are calling it right on their companies? Use this list as a starting point for your own analysis.
List sorted by market cap.
1. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. (LGND): Operates as a biotechnology company. Market cap of $298.59M. The stock is currently trading at 8.22% above its 20-Day SMA, 17.86% above its 50-Day SMA, and 42.53% above its 200-Day SMA. Net insider shares purchased over the last six months at 121.60K, which is 0.88% of the company's 13.77M share float. The stock is a short squeeze candidate, with a short float at 5.35% (equivalent to 6.08 days of average volume). The stock has had a good month, gaining 23.72%.
2. STAAR Surgical Company (STAA): Designs, develops, manufactures and sells implantable lenses for the cataracts and refractive surgery. Market cap of $297.49M. The stock is currently trading at 9.88% above its 20-Day SMA, 33.60% above its 50-Day SMA and 47.67% above its 200-Day SMA. Net insider shares purchased over the last six months at 11.93K, which is 0.05% of the company's 25.00M share float. The stock has had a good month, gaining 21.04%.
3. Smart Balance, Inc (SMBL): Distributes various food products in the United States and internationally. Market cap of $295.88M. The stock is currently trading at 4.31% above its 20-Day SMA, 1.53% above its 50-Day SMA and 8.86% above its 200-Day SMA. Net insider shares purchased over the last six months at 33.0K, which is 0.07% of the company's 48.87M share float. The stock has gained 37.53% over the last year.
4. Conns Inc. (CONN): Operates as a specialty retailer of home appliances, consumer electronics, home office equipment, lawn and garden products, mattresses and furniture in the United States. Market cap of $266.87M. The stock is currently trading at 38.10% above its 20-Day SMA, 15.52% above its 50-Day SMA, and 49.37% above its 200-Day SMA. Net insider shares purchased over the last six months at 20.0K, which is 0.14% of the company's 14.34M share float. The stock is a short squeeze candidate, with a short float at 16.11% (equivalent to 12.83 days of average volume). The stock has had a couple of great days, gaining 11.26% over the last week.
5. Winmark Corp. (WINA): Operates as a franchisor of four retail store concepts that buy, sell, trade and consign merchandise. Market cap of $235.23M. The stock is currently trading at 4.17% above its 20-Day SMA, 4.93% above its 50-Day SMA, and 21.60% above its 200-Day SMA. Net insider shares purchased over the last six months at 2.62K, which is 0.12% of the company's 2.24M share float. The stock has gained 38.84% over the last year.
6. Agilysys Inc. (AGYS): Provides information technology (IT) solutions to corporate and public-sector customers primarily in North America. Market cap of $203.78M. The stock is currently trading at 6.76% above its 20-Day SMA, 4.37% above its 50-Day SMA, and 39.72% above its 200-Day SMA. Net insider shares purchased over the last six months at 1.46M, which is 9.63% of the company's 15.19M share float. This is a risky stock that is significantly more volatile than the overall market (beta = 2.38). The stock has gained 56.81% over the last year.
7. Citizens & Northern Corp. (CZNC): Operates as the holding for Citizens & Northern Bank, which provides various banking and mortgage products and services to individual and corporate customers in north central Pennsylvania and southern New York. Market cap of $193.18M. The stock is currently trading at 3.91% above its 20-Day SMA, 1.92% above its 50-Day SMA, and 3.87% above its 200-Day SMA. Net insider shares purchased over the last six months at 6.08K, which is 0.05% of the company's 11.88M share float. The stock has gained 34.75% over the last year.
8. GenMark Diagnostics, Inc. (GNMK): Operates as a molecular diagnostics company primarily in the United States. Market cap of $122.21M. The stock is currently trading at 8.03% above its 20-Day SMA, 12.68% above its 50-Day SMA, and 22.91% above its 200-Day SMA. Net insider shares purchased over the last six months at 25.50K, which is 0.16% of the company's 16.14M share float. The stock has had a good month, gaining 28.11%.
9. Mesa Laboratories Inc. (MLAB): Designs, manufactures and markets instruments and disposable products utilized primarily in healthcare, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, medical device and petrochemical industries. Market cap of $112.18M. The stock is currently trading at 2.06% above its 20-Day SMA, 1.69% above its 50-Day SMA, and 13.57% above its 200-Day SMA. Net insider shares purchased over the last six months at 1.70K, which is 0.07% of the company's 2.49M share float. The stock has gained 56.02% over the last year.
10. Eastern Insurance Holdings, Inc. (EIHI): Provides workers compensation insurance and reinsurance products in the United States. Market cap of $107.23M. The stock is currently trading at 1.50% above its 20-Day SMA, 0.78% above its 50-Day SMA, and 3.33% above its 200-Day SMA. Net insider shares purchased over the last six months at 11.0K, which is 0.19% of the company's 5.94M share float. The stock has gained 30.59% over the last year.
*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.
