DJ United CEO Back in Market; That’s Been Harbinger — Market Talk
15:48 EDT – United Continental (UAL) CEO Jeff Smisek’s purchase of 20K shares Monday “bodes quite well” for the airline’s stock if his history of buying at bottoms the past several years was repeated this week, says Wolfe Research. The firm, which says the $792K purchase is the 6th-biggest insider purchase of the past quarter-century in the airline space, notes the top 10 by executives logged an average 41% return the next 6 months. For Smisek, his 5 other open-market buys saw his company’s stock outperform the industry the next 6 months by an average 14 percentage points. A nearly $1M purchase by him in August 2012 was followed by UAL roughly doubling the next year. UAL rises 5.8% to $41.46. (kevin.kingsbury@dowjones.com; @kevinkingsbury)