Insider buying can often be a strong indicator of an imminent rebound, especially in stocks that have underperformed over recent weeks.

With that in mind, we created a screen for stocks trading near 52-week lows that have seen significant insider buying during recent weeks.

For this screen, we only looked for companies that have seen insider buying that exceeds 1% of the total share float.

In addition, all of these stocks have seen extremely negative media coverage, based on a proprietary sentiment algorithm that we have developed. Extreme sentiment is often a contrarian signal, especially at extreme highs and lows.

We've sorted the list based on the distance from the 52-week low.

1. Federal-Mogul Corp. (FDML)

Background: Federal-Mogul Corporation supplies powertrain and safety technologies worldwide.

52-week Range: Currently trading 5.70% above its 52-week low.

Media Sentiment: Negative sentiment at 30% vs. Positive sentiment at 14%

Insider Buying

Q3 2012 Earnings Call

February 11, 2013 5:00 pm ET

Executives

Kerry Farrell

Daniel Patrick McGahn - Chief Executive Officer, President and Director

David A. Henry - Chief Financial Officer, Principal Accounting Officer, Senior Vice President and Treasurer

Analysts

Benjamin Schuman - Pacific Crest Securities, Inc., Research Division

Carter W. Driscoll - Ascendiant Capital Markets LLC, Research Division

JinMing Liu - Ardour Capital Investments, LLC, Research Division

Pavel Molchanov - Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Research Division

Presentation

Operator

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the AMSC conference call. This call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] With us on the call this afternoon are AMSC President and CEO, Daniel McGahn; Senior Vice President and CFO, David Henry; and Manager of Corporate Communications, Kerry Farrell. For opening remarks, I'd like to turn the call over to Kerry Farrell.

Kerry Farrell

Thank you, Angela, and welcome, everyone, to our

While the financial markets hang on Warren Buffett's every word and traders and arbitrage players follow Carl Icahn religiously, there is one super-investor that is relatively unknown. It is quite astonishing how little known this stock picking guru is considering his most impressive track record over the past dozen years. Our mild mannered and all but invisible investing superhero is Kevin Douglas. Stealthily flying under everyone's radar, he has garnered one of the most impressive stock picking track records, placing him at the top of our list of gurus to follow.

Making his initial money as the founder and Chairman of Douglas Telecommunications, a VoIP company, his talent for stock picking should make all but the best investment minds blush with envy. For example, Mr. Douglas had accumulated 18.5% of the outstanding shares of Westport Innovations (WPRT) at prices up to $20 per share. The shares rocketed to over $50

By Herman Trabish

The debut GTM Research and Azure International China Wind Market Quarterly called 2012 “the best of times and the worst of times.”

The industry passed the 50 gigawatt cumulative installed capacity milestone and will likely set a new record for annual installed capacity at more than 12 gigawatts. Yet analysts believe the industry will be lucky to build 3 gigawatts and hold onto two-thirds of its workforce in 2013.

(click to enlarge)

The PTC Bleeding and the Deal

One: “This bleeding must stop!” AWEA CEO Denise Bode declared last spring in calling for renewal of the vital $0.022 per kilowatt-hour production tax credit (PTC). But it has not been renewed and the bleeding has worsened.

Two: Thousands of manufacturing and supply chain jobs have been lost. Sinovel, Goldwind and Ming Yang (MY) each recently let hundreds go. Vestas, Gamesa and Iberdrola have cumulatively dismissed thousands.

By Herman K. Trabish

AMSC (AMSC), still struggling against international and domestic economic and political headwinds, has taken steps to cut costs and increase liquidity.

China’s Supreme People’s Court heard one of the AMSC copyright infringement cases against Sinovel on October 26. It is one of the smaller of AMSC’s efforts at legal recourse in China following Sinovel’s alleged abrogation of contracts and criminal violations of AMSC intellectual property (IP) rights. That the Chinese court heard the case at all could be a sign the wheels of justice are rolling. However, almost a month later, no decision has been rendered.

AMSC cut its workforce by 25 percent and is consolidating office space to lower operating costs and enhance liquidity. The changes will cut into AMSC's wind and grid business operations and be imposed across all its international locations. AMSC expects the moves to reduce annual expenses by approximately $10

When insiders add to their holdings, this can often be a very compelling reason for investors to keep their eyes on the corresponding company stock. Usually operating as directors, large owners, and officers with greater insight into the company than the typical individual investor, insiders often have a better sense of when to move their money to capture value. For this reason, I want to focus on a few cases of significant (although somewhat odd) insider purchases made over the last week.

A Case For A Speculative Buy

Lady Luck has strayed far away from American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC), a global provider of wind and power grid products and services. In 2011, the company fell victim to one of the worst cases of corporate sabotage in recent history, as it was undermined by former Chinese customer Sinovel. Since then, the company has struggled to stay afloat after being

Q2 2012 Earnings Call

November 06, 2012 10:00 am ET

Executives

Jason Fredette - Managing Director of Corporate Communications

Daniel Patrick McGahn - Chief Executive Officer, President and Director

David A. Henry - Chief Financial Officer, Principal Accounting Officer, Senior Vice President and Treasurer

Analysts

Aaron Chew - Maxim Group LLC, Research Division

Benjamin Schuman - Pacific Crest Securities, Inc., Research Division

JinMing Liu - Ardour Capital Investments, LLC, Research Division

Pavel Molchanov - Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Research Division

Presentation

Operator

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the AMSC conference call. This call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] With us on the call this morning, AMSC President and CEO, Daniel McGahn; Senior Vice President and CFO, David Henry; and Vice President of Communications and Marketing, Jason Fredette. For opening remarks, I would like to turn the call over to Jason Fredette.

Jason Fredette

Thank you,

Maxwell Technologies (MXWL) recently reported second quarter (Q2 2012) earnings. Revenue growth was sluggish (for Maxwell), up 6% year on year and 1% below estimates. The culprit was continued weakness in ultracapacitor revenue, which was down slightly from Q2 2011 because of weakness in Europe.

Earnings, on the other hand, surprised strongly to the upside, at 9 cents per share, compared to estimates of only one cent, based on strong cost control and improving product mix. Strong growth in Maxwell's Chinese hybrid bus and wind turbine businesses continue to drive profits.

Crucially, management maintained its 15% to 20% revenue growth guidance, although now it seems to be putting more emphasis on the bottom end of the range. However, the stock price fell so precipitously (by about two-thirds) in response to lowered growth guidance after the Q1 2012 conference call that I believe further guidance cuts were already priced in.

Q1 2012 Earnings Call

August 02, 2012 10:00 am ET

Executives

Jason Fredette - Managing Director of Corporate Communications

Daniel Patrick McGahn - Chief Executive Officer, President and Director

David A. Henry - Chief Financial Officer, Principal Accounting Officer, Senior Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer

Analysts

James Ricchiuti - Needham & Company, LLC, Research Division

Benjamin Schuman - Pacific Crest Securities, Inc., Research Division

Aaron Chew - Maxim Group LLC, Research Division

Pavel Molchanov - Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Research Division

Philip Lee

Presentation

Operator

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the AMSC Conference Call. This conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] With us on the call this morning are AMSC President and CEO, Daniel McGahn; Senior Vice President and CFO, David Henry; and Vice President of Communications and Marketing, Jason Fredette. For opening remarks, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Jason

Do you consider yourself a contrarian investor? If so, we ran a screen on the clean energy industry that you may be interested in.

We began by screening a universe of stocks that use or produce clean sources of energy for those that are being highly shorted, with float shorts above 10%.

Then we screened for those with bullish changes from short sellers over the last month, with significant decreases in shares shorted month-over-month. This indicates that short sellers are less bearish on these names than they were a month ago.

For an interactive version of this chart, click on the image below. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.

Tool provided by Kapitall (kapitall.com).

Do you think these stocks will continue to see strong short covering? Use this list as a starting point for your own analysis.

List sorted by decrease in shares shorted as a percent

FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCEL), together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, production, and sale of high temperature fuel cells for clean electric power generation. It offers Direct FuelCell Power Plants that electrochemically produce electricity using various fuels, including gas, methanol, diesel, biogas, coal gas, coal mine methane, and propane. The company markets its products to electric utilities and independent power producers; universities; government installations; wastewater treatment facilities; oil production and refining; gas transmission; food and beverage processors, and agricultural operations, as well as landfill gas markets; various commercial, industrial, and municipal customers; and government customers, including food processing plants, government buildings, hotels, and military installations.

It is scheduled to report its Q2 FY2012 results on June 6, 2012, before the market opens.

Recent EPS Actuals vs. Estimates

The company has exceeded analyst estimates in last four quarters. In the last quarter it reported ($0.05) loss per share, beating

The technology sector finished the day level after a bearish run in the morning. The sector was finished at 0.00% at the close of the day after being down more than 1.50% in the early hours of the day. Initially, it fell after Dell (DELL) reported disappointing earnings and fell more than 17% pulling several other companies in the PC business down a few percent as well.

In the later hours of the day, the sector was pulled up by a bullish Apple (AAPL) which gained 2.44% through the course of the day. The Nasdaq suffered due to the tech sector's initial fall. However, it finished positive after tech's recovery in the later hours of the day.

Top Gainers

• School Specialty (SCHS) up 23.46%
• Accelr8 Technology Corporation (AXK) up 17.33%
• American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) up 12.71%
• Silicon Graphics International Corp (SGI) up 12.17%
• Splunk (SPLK) up 10.31%

Top Losers

• Dell

"Clean Money - Picking Winners in the Green-Tech Boom," by John Rubino (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009)

This book is a must read for all investors as well as those interested in learning about technological advances in the alternative energy. It is comprehensive in the sense that it covers all areas of clean and green technologies. It is brief in the sense that it explains only the information needed by any investor to be well aware of anything green before making an investment decision. The book uses less technical jargon and is an easy read.

Transformation of Oil Economies to Green Economies

First part of the book conveys a strong message that humans need to adapt again to old ways of living. We have been using earth's resources unscrupulously and at an accelerating pace to fulfill our insatiable lavish living lifestyles. It is a harsh realization that the resources

There comes a moment in every ambitious investor's career when they just simply wish they could limit their loss potential while still retaining much of the upside capacity of a given transaction. For investors that utilize Long-Term Equity Anticipation Securities (LEAPS), such a possibility exists with the acceptance of additional risk. The following basic strategy utilizes the use of long-term call options and remains ill-advised for those who lack the understanding of how such investment tools function.

Though it's often not recommended for investors to "bet the farm" on a given equity, the very mentality can be more safely applied with the use of LEAPS. For those who are speculatively bullish on a particular company, buying to open such long-dated call options can initiate a position at a fraction of the cost for a near-equivalent return possibility over a well-defined time period. The use of LEAPS are in many

VIX - Market Sentiment:

Wednesday S&P futures were off to the races early climbing 6 handles to the 1376 level before drifting back towards the open. A lack of negative news out of Europe combined with a good GDP number had markets off to the races in early trading. Although yesterday was the first close above 1370 for the S&P and 13K on the DOW today some traders took profits.

Amazingly to start the day the spot CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was crushed even when the selling came into today's market as people continue to refuse to bid up the index puts. Volatility ETF's (VXX) and 2x volatility (TVIX) were down early as futures traded down but recovered towards the end of the day as selling pressure increased driving the front month VIX futures slightly higher with back month fading just a touch. VIX futures are listed below.

Yesterday

• March

Insiders reported on Thursday that they bought and sold stock in over 350 separate transactions in over 170 different companies. These transactions have to be reported within two days of the trade, so the transactions occurred sometime this week. We culled through these 350 or so insider buys and sells (based on SEC Forms 3, 4, and 5 filings), as part of our daily and weekly coverage of insider trades, and present here the most notable trades reported on Thursday (ex-healthcare and technology sectors that are discussed separately in another article that can be accessed from our author page); notable based on the dollar amount sold, the number of insiders selling, and based on whether the overall buying or selling represents a strong pick-up based on historical buying and selling in the stock:

BB&T Corp. (BBT): BBT operates as a financial holding company for Branch Banking

Q3 2011 Earnings Call

February 09, 2012 10:00 am ET

Executives

Jason Fredette - Managing Director of Corporate Communications

Daniel Patrick McGahn - Chief Executive Officer, President and Director

David A. Henry - Chief Financial Officer, Principal Accounting Officer, Senior Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer

Analysts

James Ricchiuti - Needham & Company, LLC, Research Division

Elaine Kwei - Jefferies & Company, Inc., Research Division

Timothy M. Arcuri - Citigroup Inc, Research Division

Benjamin Schuman - Pacific Crest Securities, Inc., Research Division

Carter W. Driscoll - Capstone Investments, Research Division

JinMing Liu - Ardour Capital Investments, LLC, Research Division

Craig E. Irwin - Wedbush Securities Inc., Research Division

Alex Morris

Jeremy Hellman - Divine Capital Markets LLC, Research Division

Presentation

Operator

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the AMSC Conference Call. This call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] With us on the call this morning are AMSC President

A couple months ago, in " Living On The Edge: Selling Puts On 5 Stocks ," I offered ideas for selling put options on any of five stocks that were trading under $5 per share and were of companies that at the time had negative earnings per share. As I mentioned at the time, "these stocks take the meaning of risk to a whole new level" and were only appropriate for investors with very high risk tolerances.

As a brief review, here are the five trades from the previous article:

Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) - sell the January 2012 $1 puts. Potential annualized return: 60%

USEC (USU) - sell the January 2012 $1 puts. Potential annualized return: 60%

Savient Pharmaceuticals (SVNT) - sell the December 2011 $2 puts. Potential annualized return: 52%

American Superconductor Corp. (AMSC) - sell the December 2011 $3 puts. Potential annualized return: 40%

The future must entail clean, renewable energy. Drilling for oil isn't sustainable and is increasingly getting dangerous as companies move offshore. Natural gas prolongs the inevitable and requires significant infrastructure changes. Nuclear energy has always been a double-edged sword from both a political and environmental standpoint. Coal remains a cigarette in the mouth of the world. As a result, there are only a few alternatives, all of which have their advantages and their setbacks. Solar energy, Biofuels, Geothermal energy, Hydropower, and Wind energy stand as the known core alternatives to the hydrocarbon-based energy standard we have today.

Investors of today may be disappointed by much of their choices when it comes to direct investment in sustainable energy. The most stable and profitable companies remain the conglomerates who derive a small portion of their profits from such sources. As for the direct players, nearly all have been victim to the latest