Insider Buying Week 05-17-24 Biotech Bonanza

I was a little late in finishing the blog, as there were many more names to research. Most of the quarterly earnings are behind us, and it is heartening to see that insider buying has picked up a little. Speculative biotech is heating up.

 

Name: F Thomson Leighton
Position: Chief Executive Officer
Transaction Date: 2023-05-14 Shares Bought: 22,000 Average Price Paid: $92.68 Cost: $2,038,960
Company: Akamai Technologies Inc (AKAM)

Akamai aims to empower and defend life online. Since 1998, Akamai has created and delivered technologies to help global businesses design, deliver, and protect their digital experiences on their widely distributed worldwide network. This platform, known as Akamai Connected Cloud, has an edge and cloud architecture, as well as an underlying network for cloud computing, security, and content delivery services. Akamai Connected Cloud has over 4,100 edge points of presence in about 130 countries and nearly 750 cities, as well as 1,200 network partners. Akamai Connected Cloud’s scale and distribution allow to see and understand traffic volumes, congestion, attack patterns, vulnerabilities, and other activities across the internet’s complex intersections of networks and systems. Akamai Connected Cloud also provides a range of computing services designed to help you build, deploy, and protect high-performance applications and workloads with single-digit millisecond latency and global reach.

Dr. Tom Leighton co-founded Akamai Technologies in 1998 and served as the company’s Chief Scientist until becoming CEO in December 2012. Under Dr. Leighton’s leadership, Akamai has grown from a content delivery network to the world’s largest dispersed cloud platform, offering industry-leading solutions for content delivery, cybersecurity, and cloud computing. He has served on several government, industrial, and academic advisory panels. Dr. Leighton was one of 18 CEOs called to the White House in 2017 to start the American Technology Council, which will develop ideas to modernize and safeguard the US government’s IT infrastructure. He is a big supporter of the Akamai Foundation, which promotes mathematical education, and he led the establishment of the Akamai Technical Academy, an innovative program designed in-house to prepare diverse non-technical workers for technological employment. In 1978, he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University.

Opinion: The data center is now the computer, according to Nvidia CEO, Jensen Huang. So what does that make the content delivery network? If you can answer that correctly, its all you need to know about Akamai. As A models and datasets become larger and more complex, CDN’s can experience a renewed growth spurt much like the beginnings of the Internet that required a massive amount of bandwidth for multimedia data retrieval in a world that had mostly been text.  CEO Leighton’s largest open market purchase since its founding merits more analysis. I listened to the latest earnings webcast. It was uninspiring since revenues are in decline but he did confirm that they are already seeing business from inference from AI. The problem is the content delivery business seems to be in secular decline and the security and the compute business are growing.

Name: Jared Isaacman
Position: Chairman & CEO / 10% Owner
Transaction Date: 2023-05-14 Shares Bought: 85,916 Average Price Paid: $67.09 Cost: $5,764,465
Company: Shift4 Payments Inc. (FOUR)

Shift4 Payments, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is based in Centre Valley, Pennsylvania. Shift4 Payments, Inc. offers software and payment processing solutions in the United States and abroad. The company provides a payment platform, omnichannel card acceptance, and processing solutions for a variety of payment types, including credit, debit, contactless cards, Europay, MasterCard, Visa, QR Pay, mobile wallets, and alternative payment methods. It also provides technology solutions, including SkyTab POS to scale business and improve operational efficiency; VenueNext, which provides mobile ordering, countertop POS, self-service kiosk, and digital wallet to facilitate food and beverage, merchandise, and loyalty; and Lighthouse, a cloud-based suite of business intelligence tools comprises customer engagement, social media management, online reputation management, scheduling, and product pricing, as well as extensive repo. The company sells its solutions through independent software vendors, an internal sales and support network, businesses, and value-added resellers.

Jared Isaacman established Shift4 in 1999, when he was sixteen years old, in the basement of his parents’ home. Shift4 has constantly pushed the boundaries under his guidance, delivering cutting-edge payment technologies and solutions that benefit businesses in a variety of industries. Shift4 became publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange in 2020. Isaacman was selected EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2021 for his leadership at Shift4 and his ability to generate long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, and growth.

Opinion: Watch the Network special starring Shift4 Payments s CEO Jared Isaccman about the launch of the first civilian civilian space crew to orbit the earth.  If he’s not the most impressive person you’ve ever seen, I don’t know who could be.  I’m voting with my pocketbook.

Name: Global GP LLC
Position: General Partner
Transaction Date: 2023-05-13 Shares Bought: 30,000 Average Price Paid: $42.46 Cost: $1,273,800
Company: Global Partners LP (GLP)

Global Partners LP was created in 2005 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Global Partners LP buys, sells, gathers, blends, stores, and transports gasoline, gasoline blendstocks, distillates, residual oil, renewable fuels, crude oil, and propane to wholesalers, retailers, and commercial clients. The corporation operates in three segments: Wholesale, Gasoline distribution and station operations, and Commercial. The Wholesale division sells home heating oil, branded and unbranded gasoline, gasoline blendstocks, diesel, kerosene, and residual oil to home heating oil and propane merchants, as well as wholesale distributors. This segment also delivers materials by railcars, barges, trucks, and/or pipelines. The Commercial division sells and supplies unbranded gasoline, home heating oil, diesel, kerosene, residual oil, and bunker fuel to public-sector clients as well as commercial and industrial end-users; it also sells custom blended fuels.

Opinion: I don’t know why you buy this stock since it just reached levels last seen in 2015.

Name: Gregory Bailey
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2023-05-13 Shares Bought: 15,000 Average Price Paid: $34.19 Cost: $512,877
Company: Biohaven Ltd. (BHVN)

Biohaven Ltd. is a global clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to studying, developing, and commercializing life-changing therapies for patients suffering from chronic neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, particularly rare ones. The company’s highly qualified management team has a track record of obtaining novel drug approvals for conditions such as migraine, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. They are developing therapies for diseases with few or no treatment options, such as Kv7 ion channel modulation for epilepsy and neuronal hyperexcitability, glutamate modulation for OCD and Spinocerebellar Ataxia, myostatin inhibition for neuromuscular diseases, and brain-penetrant Tyrosine Kinase 2/Janus Kinase 1 inhibition for immune function.  The company has recruited a highly qualified team of senior executives and neuroscience drug developers who combine a quick-thinking, results-driven biotech strategy with pharmacological research and development expertise.

Dr. Bailey has worked in the healthcare industry as an entrepreneur, leader, and financier for the past 15 years. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Portage Biotech Inc. and has previously served on the boards of 16 public businesses. He was a former director and founder of Medivation Inc., as well as a co-founder of Ascent Healthcare Solutions, VirnetX Inc., an internet security company, and Duramedic Inc., a medical product company. Before positions in the investment and financial services sector included Managing Director of Gilford Securities Inc., Managing Director of Knightsford Bank Corp, Senior Managing Director positions at Viscogliosi Brothers and the LXV Prosperity Fund, Founder and General Manager of the ABN Private Equity Fund, Co-Founder of Euro-American Mercantile Bancorp, and Co-Founder and CEO of V-Fund Investments, Ltd. Dr. Bailey earned his medical degree from the University of Western Ontario and then worked as an emergency department physician for ten years.

Opinion:  These guys like to buy their stock and its proved prescient. Go Biohaven.

Name: Joseph W Brown
Position: Chief Executive Officer
Transaction Date: 2023-05-13 Shares Bought: 8,000 Average Price Paid: $32.47 Cost: $259,745
Company: Global Indemnity Group LLC (GBLI)

Global Indemnity Group, LLC was created in 2003 and is based in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. Global Indemnity Group, LLC and its subsidiaries provide specialty property and casualty insurance and reinsurance products worldwide. The company has two business segments: Penn-America and Non-Core Operations. The company distributes property and general liability products to small commercial businesses through a network of wholesale general agents, as well as property and general liability specialized products via program administrators with specific binding power. They also offer third-party treaty reinsurance to casualty insurance and reinsurance firms through brokers and intermediaries. In addition, the company provides property and general liability products distributed through company-owned systems, as well as collectibles, digital direct-to-consumer insurance coverage for collection owners, and VacantExpress, insurance coverage for property owners under construction, renovation, vacant, or rented, distributed through wholesale general agents and retail agents.

Joseph W. Brown has been a director since December 2015. Until December 2017, Mr. Brown was on the board of directors of MBIA, Inc. and he was the company’s CEO until September 2017. He returned to MBIA, Inc. as Chairman and CEO in February 2008, and remained in that position until May 7, 2009. He was appointed Executive Chairman on May 6, 2004, and departed from that position on May 3, 2007. Until May 2004, he was Chairman and CEO. He joined MBIA, Inc. as CEO in January 1999, after serving as a Director since 1986, and was appointed Chairman in May 1999. Before joining MBIA, Inc., Mr. Brown was Chairman of the Board of Talegen Holdings, Inc. from 1992 until 1998. Before joining Talegen, Mr. Brown served as President and CEO of Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company. In October 2022, Jay became the CEO of GBLI | Global Indemnity.

Opinion: This stock has returned nothing in 10 years. I don’t see it changing.

 

Name: John Malvisi
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2023-05-10 Shares Bought: 8,929 Average Price Paid: $22.60 Cost: $201,795
Company: Vishay Intertechnology Inc (VSH)

Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. was established in 1962 and is based in Malvern, Pennsylvania. Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. produces one of the world’s biggest portfolios of discrete semiconductors and passive electronic components, enabling new designs in the automotive, industrial, computing, consumer, telecommunications, military, aerospace, and medical applications. Vishay refers to itself as The DNA of technology and serves consumers all around the world.™ Semiconductors include MOSFETs, diodes, and optoelectronic components. Passive components consist of resistors, inductors, and capacitors.  The semiconductor components serve a wide range of applications, including power control, power conversion, power management, signal switching, signal routing, signal blocking, signal amplification, two-way data transmission, one-way remote control, and circuit isolation. 

John Malvisi joined the board of directors on November 28, 2023. Mr. Malvisi retired in 2021 as a senior partner in Deloitte & Touche LLP’s audit business, after more than 35 years of client service. Throughout his career, Mr. Malvisi has overseen some of Deloitte’s largest audit customers in the media entertainment, and consumer products industries. He also worked at the firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions Services Group and National Office for several years. Mr. Malvisi worked at Deloitte’s National Office Assurance Insights & Analysis Group and Accounting Research Group, where he was responsible for quality and risk control, as well as consulting on a variety of accounting and financial reporting challenges. He graduated from Fordham University with an MBA in public accounting. Mr. Malvisi also served on the Board of Trustees for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York from 2008 to 2022, including the Audit Committee.

Opinion: Vishay is dead money.  I don’t see any changes. This looks like the compulsory director purchase.

 

Name: Erik D. Ragatz
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2023-05-10 Shares Bought: 100,000 Average Price Paid: $20.91 Cost: $2,090,616
Company: Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (GO)

Grocery Outlet is a fast-growing, low-cost retailer of quality, name-brand consumables, and fresh products sold through an independent shop network. As of December 31, 2022, the corporation operated 441 locations in California, Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Nevada, Maryland, and New Jersey. The corporate headquarters are in Emeryville, California. Each establishment offers a fascinating treasure hunt shopping experience in a small-box setting that is easy to navigate. The flexible purchasing strategy offers high-quality, name-brand opportunistic items at 40% to 70% less than traditional retailers. The businesses are run by entrepreneurial independent operators who create a local atmosphere through personalized customer care and a focused product line.

Mr. Ragatz served as the Chairman of the Board from October 2014 to December 2022 and is currently the Lead Independent Director. Mr. Ragatz has extensive strategic, financial, and business development experience, as well as insight into the correct operation and responsibility of corporate boards of directors, which he learned while serving on the boards of H&F’s portfolio businesses.  Mr. Ragatz has been a Senior Advisor for Hellman & Friedman LLC, a private equity firm, since February 2023. He has been a member of Hellman & Friedman for almost 20 years and previously served as a Partner from 2008 to early 2023, spearheading the firm’s efforts to invest in consumer, retail, and industrial sectors. He is currently the Chairman and a member of the Board of Directors of Snap One Holdings Corp.

Opinion: Ragatz is an enthusiastic buyer of the Company’s stock. I don’t know why. He hasn’t made money on any recorded stock purchase yet but its only been since March 2023.

 

Name: James W Mccollum
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2023-05-13 Shares Bought: 31,332 Average Price Paid: $15.99 Cost: $501,093
Company: LENZ Therapeutics Inc. (LENZ)

LENZ Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical business, is focused on developing and commercializing treatments to improve vision in the United States. The company flagship program is an aceclidine-based eye drop intended to reverse the loss of near vision caused by presbyopia. Presbyopia affects almost two billion individuals worldwide, including more than 120 million people in the United States. LENZ Therapeutics is headquartered in San Diego, California, and is supported by several prominent venture capital investors.

James McCollum is a co-founder of LENZ and has been on the board of directors since July 2013. Mr. McCollum served as President and Chief Executive Officer of LENZ from September 2016 until March 2021. From September 2014 to September 2016, Mr. McCollum was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Eye Therapies, LLC, an ocular pharmaceutical firm he co-founded. Mr. McCollum previously served as President and CEO of Restoration Robotics, a medical robotics company, Vision Membrane Technologies, an intraocular lens medical device company, and Argus Biomedical, an artificial cornea medical device company.

Opinion: Lenz is a VC play that should have stayed private. No revenues yet and a market cap this is half cash. If approved the market launch is no sooner than 2nd half 2025. 

 

Name: Ricky T Dillon
Position: EVP and CFO
Transaction Date: 2023-05-14 Shares Bought: 16,200 Average Price Paid: $12.43 Cost: $201,321
Company: Vestis Corp (VSTS)

Vestis Corporation was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Roswell, Georgia. Vestis Corporation provides uniform rentals and workplace supplies in the United States and Canada. Its products include uniforms such as shirts, pants, outerwear, gowns, scrubs, high visibility garments, particulate-free garments, and flame-resistant garments, as well as shoes and accessories; and workplace supplies such as managed restroom supply services, first-aid supplies and safety products, floor mats, towels, and linens. The company provides services to the following industries: manufacturing, hospitality, retail, food processing, food service, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, automotive, and cleanrooms.

Rick Dillon has been serving as Vestis’ Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since May 2022. Prior to this role, Mr. Dillon held the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Enerpac Tool Group from December 2016 to April 2022. Before his tenure at Enerpac, he held the role of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Century Aluminum for nearly three years. Preceding his time at Century Aluminum, he held various finance and accounting leadership roles at publicly traded companies like Joy Global and Newell Brands. Additionally, he served on the board of directors of Adient plc.

Opinion: It may have popped on all this insider buying but its dirty laundry by any other name.

 

Name: Stephen Sherrill
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2023-05-13 Shares Bought: 125,000 Average Price Paid: $8.59 Cost: $1,073,650
Company: B&G Foods Inc. (BGS)

Name: Scott E Lerner
Position: EVP & General Counsel
Transaction Date: 2023-05-13 Shares Bought: 11,755 Average Price Paid: $8.51 Cost: $99,979
Company: B&G Foods Inc. (BGS)

B&G Foods, Inc. was established in 1822 and is based in Parsippany, New Jersey. B&G Foods, Inc. manufactures, sells, and distributes shelf-stable and frozen foods, as well as household products, in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. The company’s products include frozen and canned vegetables, canola and other cooking oils, vegetable shortening, cooking sprays, oatmeal and other hot cereals, fruit spreads, canned meats and beans, bagel chips, spices, seasonings, hot sauces, wine vinegar, maple syrups, molasses, salad dressings, pizza crusts, Mexican-style sauces, dry soups, taco shells and kits, salsas, pickles, peppers, tomato-based products, crackers, baking powder and soda, corn starch. The Static Guard brand is also used by the corporation to sell, promote, and distribute home items. The company sells and distributes its products directly as well as through a network of independent brokers and distributors to supermarket chains, foodservice outlets, mass merchants, warehouse clubs, non-food outlets, and specialized distributors. 

Stephen Sherrill has been a director of B&G Foods since its inception in 1996, and has served as Chairman since 2005. Mr. Sherrill founded Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co., Inc. in 1995 and has served as its Managing Director since then. BRS was B&G Foods’ controlling stakeholder from its inception in 1996 until its initial public offering in 2004. From 1983 to 1994, Mr. Sherrill served as an officer at Citicorp Venture Capital. He formerly worked as an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, a law firm in New York. Mr. Sherrill is now a director of Royal Robbins, Inc. and Gamo Outdoor, SL, and has previously served as a director of Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Inc., Remington Arms Company, Inc., Reliance Electric Company, and Zatarain’s Brands Inc.

Scott Lerner serves as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Secretary, and Chief Compliance Officer. Mr. Lerner joined us in 2005 as Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary. Mr. Lerner was moved to Executive Vice President in 2006, and in 2009, he was given additional responsibilities as our Chief Compliance Officer, a newly created post. From 1997 to 2005, Mr. Lerner was an associate in the corporate & securities and mergers & acquisitions practice groups at the international law firm Dechert LLP.

Opinion: This is another company that should never have gone public. In fact that’s what this insider buy might be all along, a founder taking B& G private.

Name: Gerhard Zeiler
Position: President, International
Transaction Date: 2023-05-13 Shares Bought: 100,000 Average Price Paid: $8.30 Cost: $830,000
Company: Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. (WBD)

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. was founded in 2008 and is based in New York, NY. Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. is a global media and entertainment corporation. The company operates in three segments: Studios, Network, and Direct to Consumer. The Studios segment creates and releases feature films for theatrical release; produces and licenses television programs to its networks, third parties, and direct-to-consumer services; distributes films and television programs to various third parties and internal television; and provides streaming services and distribution through the home entertainment market, themed experience licensing, and interactive gaming. The DTC section provides premium pay-TV and streaming services. Furthermore, the company offers a portfolio of content, brands, and franchises across television, film, streaming, and gaming under the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, Warner Bros. Television Group, DC, HBO, HBO Max, Max, Discovery Channel, Discovery+, CNN, HGTV, Food Network, TNT Sports, TBS, TLC, OWN, Warner Bros. Games, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Harry Potter, Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera, Game of Thrones, and The Lord of the Rings brands.

Gerhard Zeiler is President of International for Warner Bros. Discovery. Zeiler oversees the company’s brands and has responsibility for direct-to-consumer in over 220 worldwide regions. Zeiler was appointed President of WarnerMedia International in 2020 and will also be responsible for Discovery Inc.’s considerable international reach after the Discovery-WarnerMedia merger is completed in April 2022. He originally joined Turner in 2012 as President of Turner International, where he supervised the entertainment and children’s networks in all territories outside of North America, collaborating with major global brands on local and regional platforms. Before joining Turner, Zeiler was CEO of RTL Group, a branch of German giant Bertelsmann and Europe’s largest television production and broadcaster.

Opinion: This is too tough a business especially now when all the tech giants are involved and can lose fortunes as a rounding error. You’d have to be crazy to buy this stock unless you’re management trying to keep your job

Name: Neil S Subin
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2023-05-15 Shares Bought: 150,000 Average Price Paid: $7.60 Cost: $1,140,269
Company: Nextnav Inc. (NN)

Nextnav Inc. is the global leader in providing resilient, next-generation, complementary positioning, navigation, and timing solutions that address the limitations and weaknesses of the current space-based Global Positioning System and Global Navigation Satellite Systems. The company’s complementary PNT solutions are based on a substantial asset base, which they are expanding to incorporate 5G New Radio technology. The company expects its platform’s progression to 5G NR to dramatically increase its operations’ efficiency and flexibility, allowing it to supply high-bandwidth data services alongside industry-leading PNT solutions. Since NextNav, LLC’s inception in 2007, the company has obtained valuable Federal Communications Commission licenses for a contiguous 8 MHz band of 900 MHz M-LMS spectrum covering more than 90% of the U.S. population, been granted more than 180 patents for the systems and services, and standardized their TerraPoiNT technology in 3GPP, the global telecommunications standards-setting organization.

Neil S. Subin joined the company’s board of directors on August 10, 2022. Mr. Subin is currently the Chief Investment Officer for MILFAM, a single-family office. Throughout his career, Mr. Subin has acted as a director and substantial stakeholder in a variety of telecommunications firms at various stages of growth and development. His activities include advising businesses on the best way to promote the growth and development of their spectrum assets through effective financial and operational strategies. Mr. Subin has served on various boards, including Alimco Financial Corp, Centrus Energy Corp, Frontiersman Holdings, Inc., and Quantlab Financial LLC. He earned his undergraduate degree from Brooklyn College.

Opinion: I’m not capable of proving an opinion on the merits of the technology and I’m not sure Neil Subins is either. 

 

Name: Gordon M Binder
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2023-05-15 Shares Bought: 100,000 Average Price Paid: $6.68 Cost: $667,500
Company: Humacyte Inc. (HUMA)

Humacyte, Inc. was created in 2004 and is based in Durham, North Carolina. The company develops and manufactures off-the-shelf, implantable, and bioengineered human tissues to treat diseases and ailments in a variety of anatomical locations and therapeutic areas. The company uses its proprietary and scientific-technological platform to design and manufacture human acellular vessels (HAVs) that can be transplanted into patients without causing a foreign body response or immunological rejection. It is developing a portfolio of HAVs aimed at the vascular repair, reconstruction, and replacement market, which includes vascular trauma, arteriovenous access for hemodialysis, peripheral arterial disease, pediatric heart surgery, and coronary artery bypass grafting, as well as cellular therapy delivery, such as pancreatic islet cell transplantation to treat Type 1 diabetes.

Binder is the founder of X-Chem, Inc., which was created in 2009. He is currently the Chairman of Neuvogen, Inc., a Director at Pepperdine University, and an Independent Director at Humacyte, Inc. He was the CEO of Amgen, Inc. from 1982 to 2000. He also served as Chairman of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. From 2003 to 2009, he was a director of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He has also served on the boards of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, Gilead Connecticut, Inc., Coastview Capital LLC, Ford Motor Co., Litton Industries, Inc., Pearl Street Venture Funds, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, and System Development Corporation. He earned an MBA from Harvard University and Harvard Business School, as well as an undergraduate degree from Purdue University.

Opinion: The only time I’ll buy biotech is when insiders are buying.  Since Binder was the long time CEO of biotech giant, Amgen, you can assume he knows what he’s doing and more importantly, knows people that knows what Humacyte is doing. This one looks interesting and the market thought so too as it popped 12% on this purchase and is up 50% in the last week. The Company has a priority FDS PDUFA date of August 10th and a commercial launch soon after for the likely approval in vascular trauma. 

Name: Andrew D. Ashe
Position: President & Chief Operating Officer
Transaction Date: 2023-05-14 Shares Bought: 76,000 Average Price Paid: $6.26 Cost: $475,760
Company: Verve Therapeutics Inc. (VERV)

Verve Therapeutics, Inc. was established in 2018 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Verve Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage genetic medicine firm based in the United States that develops gene editing therapies for patients suffering from cardiovascular disorders. The company’s flagship product candidate is VERVE-101, a single-course gene editing treatment that permanently disables the PCSK9 gene in the liver, and VERVE-102, a product candidate that targets the PCSK9 gene to treat HeFH. It works on the development of an ANGPTL3 program to permanently turn off the ANGPTL3 gene in the liver. It has a partnership and license arrangement with Beam Therapeutics Inc., a development and option deal with Acuitas Therapeutics, Inc., and a Cas9 license agreement with the Broad Institute and Harvard College’s President and Fellows.

Andrew Ashe is Verve Therapeutics’ president and COO. Mr. Ashe is a successful biotech executive with more than 20 years of experience in operations and legal management. Before joining Verve, he was a senior executive and general counsel for various biotech firms, including Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation and Dyax Corp. Mr. Ashe, formerly worked in business law at Prince Lobel Tye LLP and Nutter, McClennen & Fish LLP. Before attending law school, he worked as a trading specialist and senior analyst for the American and New York Stock Exchanges. He graduated with a B.A. in finance from the University of Massachusetts’ Isenberg School of Management and a J.D. from George Washington University’s School of Law.

Opinion: Verve is an exciting development biotech trading at less than cash value. Numerous analysts have price targets from $15 to $56. This is a lotto ticket with cash runway into 2026. 

 

Name: Helen M. Thackray
Position: Chief R&D Officer
Transaction Date: 2023-05-14 Shares Bought: 30,000 Average Price Paid: $5.86 Cost: $175,800
Company: Biocryst Pharmaceuticals Inc (BCRX)

Name: Anthony Doyle
Position: Chief Financial Officer
Transaction Date: 2023-05-14 Shares Bought: 36,300 Average Price Paid: $5.57 Cost: $202,191
Company: Biocryst Pharmaceuticals Inc (BCRX)

Name: Jon P Stonehouse
Position: President & CEO
Transaction Date: 2023-05-13 Shares Bought: 30,000 Average Price Paid: $5.55 Cost: $166,500
Company: Biocryst Pharmaceuticals Inc (BCRX)

Name: Steven K Galson
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2023-05-13 Shares Bought: 21,940 Average Price Paid: $5.49 Cost: $120,451
Company: Biocryst Pharmaceuticals Inc (BCRX)

Name: Charles K Gayer
Position: Chief Commercial Officer
Transaction Date: 2023-05-13 Shares Bought: 30,000 Average Price Paid: $5.47 Cost: $164,100
Company: Biocryst Pharmaceuticals Inc (BCRX)

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded in 1986 and has its headquarters in Durham, North Carolina. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology business, creates oral small-molecule and protein therapies to treat rare disorders. Peramivir injection, an intravenous neuraminidase inhibitor for the treatment of acute uncomplicated influenza, is marketed by the business under the brands RAPIVAB, RAPIACTA, and PERAMIFLU, as well as ORLADEYO, an oral serine protease inhibitor for the treatment of hereditary angioedema. The company has collaborations and in-license relationships with Torii Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Seqirus UK Limited, Shionogi & Co., Ltd., Green Cross Corporation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and The University of Alabama at Birmingham, as well as Yeshiva University’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Industrial Research, Ltd.

Helen Thackray joined BioCryst as Chief Research and Development Officer on March 19, 2021. Dr. Thackray will be responsible for expanding the company’s portfolio of rare illness medications by designing and advancing the R&D strategy from drug discovery to clinical development and regulatory approval. Dr. Thackray is a member of the BioCryst board of directors. She was previously the chief medical officer and senior vice president of clinical development at GlycoMimetics, Inc., where she oversaw orphan product, fast track, and breakthrough therapy programs at all stages of development in rare diseases and oncology. She is a board-certified pediatrician who has been on the faculty of Children’s National Medical Center and George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences since 2000. Dr. Thackray has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles and talks.

Anthony Doyle joined BioCryst as Chief Financial Officer in April 2020. Before joining BioCryst, he was Chief Financial Officer of Worldwide Clinical Trials, a full-service global contract research firm that began in 2014. From 2004 to 2012, Mr. Doyle held roles of increasing responsibility at General Electric (GE), moving through FP&A, controller, audit, tax, and commercial finance rotations in the GE Financial Management and Corporate Audit Staff finance and leadership training programs, and serving as Global Program Manager for GE Healthcare Solutions, a hospital and healthcare outcomes-based consulting. From 2012 until 2014, he served as Chief Financial Officer at World Book, a Berkshire Hathaway company. He earned his B.A. from Dublin City University (Ireland) and his DESEM from Reims Management School (France).

Jon P. Stonehouse joined BioCryst in January 2007 as CEO and Director. He was also appointed President in July 2007. Before joining the Company, he was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Merck KGaA, where he oversaw corporate mergers and acquisitions, worldwide licensing and business development, corporate strategy, and alliance management. Mr. Stonehouse was in charge of directing the effort to design a Merck strategy that had a substantial impact on the company. Mr. Stonehouse formerly worked at Astra Merck/AstraZeneca in a range of roles. Mr. Stonehouse began his career in the pharmaceutical industry as a sales representative and progressed to sales leadership positions at Merck & Co., Inc. In 2011, Mr. Stonehouse joined Genscript’s advisory board, a private bio-services startup. Mr. Stonehouse got a B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Galson was appointed to the board in September 2021. Dr. Galson most recently worked as Amgen’s Senior Vice President of Research and Development. Before joining Amgen in 2010, where he also headed regulatory affairs, Dr. Galson worked for the US Departments of Health and Human Services, Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for over 20 years. From 2001 until 2007, he held various positions in the US Food and Drug Administration, including Deputy Director, Acting Director, and Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. From 2007 to 2009, he was the acting Surgeon General of the United States. Dr. Galson holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, an M.D. from the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and a master’s degree in public health from Harvard School of Public Health.

Mr. Gayer joined BioCryst in 2015 as Vice President of worldwide strategic marketing. Since July 2019, he has worked as a temporary Chief Commercial Officer, playing a critical role in creating the strategy and establishing commercial operations to support the launch of berotralstat, BioCryst’s oral kallikrein inhibitor for hereditary angioedema. Mr. Gayer previously held multiple U.S. and global commercial leadership roles in highly competitive rare disease categories at Grifols and Talecris Biotherapeutics between 2007 and 2015. Before joining Talecris, he worked at GlaxoSmithKline for six years in various marketing and sales positions. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s degree from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Opinion: Is it more encouraging to see several insiders make small purchases or one insider to mortgage the farm to buy the stock. Buying is always preferable to selling but rare disease is by definition small market opportunities. Part of the appeal in speculative biotech investing is the pot of gold under the rainbow. 

Name: Jessica Hopfield
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2023-05-13 Shares Bought: 45,000 Average Price Paid: $5.64 Cost: $253,868
Company: Editas Medicine Inc. (EDIT)

Editas Medicine, Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. Editas Medicine, Inc., a clinical-stage genome editing firm, is focused on producing breakthrough genomic therapeutics to treat a variety of critical disorders. The company creates a proprietary gene editing platform based on CRISPR technology. The business is working on EDIT-101, which is currently in Phase 1/2 of the BRILLIANCE trial for Leber Congenital Amaurosis, as well as reni-cel, a gene-edited drug under clinical development for sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia. In addition, the company is developing alpha-beta T cells for solid and liquid tumors, as well as gamma delta T cell therapy for cancer. It has a research collaboration with Juno Therapeutics, Inc. to develop engineered T cells for cancer, a strategic alliance and option agreement with Allergan Pharmaceuticals International Limited, and a collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb to research and develop alpha-beta T cell medicines for cancer and autoimmune diseases. 

Jessica Hopfield is a Director at Insulet Corp., Lead Independent Director at Editas Medicine, Inc., Director at Maravai Life Sciences, Inc., Independent Director at Maravai Life Sciences Holdings, Inc., and President of J Hopfield Consulting LLC. She is also a trustee at The Rockefeller University and Joslin Diabetes Center, Inc. Previously, she worked as an Independent Director for Radius Health, Inc., rEVO Biologics, Inc., and Berkeley Lights. She also served as an Independent Director of Bruker Cellular Analysis, Inc. from 2021 to 2023.  Before her current and previous appointments, Dr. Hopfield was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, Inc. from 1995 until 2009. She has a doctorate from The Rockefeller University, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and an undergraduate degree from Yale College.

Opinion: Editas has everything going for it except a rising stock price. This latest purchase by Jessica Hopfield has not done nothing to change that.

Name: John T. Treace
Position: Chief Executive Officer / 10% Owner
Transaction Date: 2023-05-10 Shares Bought: 300,000 Average Price Paid: $4.57 Cost: $1,370,370
Company: Treace Medical Concepts Inc. (TMCI)

Name: John K Bakewell
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2023-05-10 Shares Bought: 130,000 Average Price Paid: $4.57 Cost: $594,620
Company: Treace Medical Concepts Inc. (TMCI)

Name: James T Treace
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2023-05-10 Shares Bought: 228,000 Average Price Paid: $4.54 Cost: $1,034,004
Company: Treace Medical Concepts Inc. (TMCI)

Name: Richard W Mott
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2023-05-10 Shares Bought: 120,000 Average Price Paid: $4.51 Cost: $540,939
Company: Treace Medical Concepts Inc. (TMCI)

Name: Deepti Jain
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2023-05-10 Shares Bought: 25,000 Average Price Paid: $4.50 Cost: $112,568
Company: Treace Medical Concepts Inc. (TMCI)

Treace Medical Concepts, Inc. is a medical device firm situated in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and was founded in 2014. Treace Medical Concepts Inc. is a medical technology business dedicated to improving the standard of care for the surgical treatment of bunions and other midfoot abnormalities. The company invented and patented the Lapiplasty® 3D Bunion Correction System®, a set of instruments, implants, and surgical techniques designed to surgically correct all three planes of the bunion deformity and address the underlying cause of the bunion, allowing patients to resume their active lifestyles. To better serve the needs of bunion patients, the company has created the Adductoplasty® Midfoot Correction System, which is designed for reproducible surgical correction of the midfoot, as well as their Hammertoe PEEK Fixation System, which is designed to treat hammertoe, claw toe, and mallet toe abnormalities.

John T. Treace brings over 25 years of experience in medical device marketing, sales, and general management. Mr. Treace created the company in January 2014 and has been the CEO and a member of the board of directors since its formation. Mr. Treace was the former Senior Vice President of US Sales and Global Marketing at Wright Medical Group, Inc., a medical device firm that was bought by Stryker Corporation in November 2020. During his 12-year employment at Wright, Mr. Treace held several high management positions, including Vice President, Biologics and Extremities, and high Director of Biologics Marketing. Mr. Treace previously worked for Xomed Surgical Products, Inc. as Director of Marketing and Senior Product Manager, as well as TreBay Medical Corp. as Advertising & Marketing Director.  Mr. Treace also served on the board of directors at ENTrigue Surgical, which was bought by Arthrocare Corporation in July 2013. Mr. Treace earned a B.S. in finance from Seattle University.

John K. Bakewell has served on the board of directors since November 2020. He has nearly three decades of experience as a senior executive, developing and executing business strategies for growth firms in the medical device, specialty pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and healthcare provider sectors, as well as sitting on public and private boards. His professional experience includes nine years as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Wright Medical Group, Inc., which was acquired by Stryker Corporation in November 2020, from its private equity-backed reorganization to the company’s initial public offering, multiple years of industry-leading growth, and the establishment of its industry-leading lower extremities franchise. Mr. Bakewell is now on the board of directors for Neuronetics, Inc., a medical technology firm, and Xtant Medical Holdings, Inc., a medical device company. He has a BA in Accounting from the University of Northern Iowa.

James T. Treace has served as chairman of the board of directors for Treace Medical Concepts, Inc. since June 2014. Mr. Treace formed J&A Group LLC in 2000, where he has been working as Manager since 2014, and TreBay Medical Corp. in 1993, where he was Chairman, President, and CEO from 1993 to 1996. Mr. Treace previously held the positions of Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer from 1996 to 1999 at Xomed Surgical Products, Inc., President and Chief Executive Officer from 1981 to 1990 at Linvatec Corp., President and Chief Executive Officer from 1981 to 1990 at ConMed Linvatec, Inc. from 1981 to 1990 at Medtronic Spine LLC, Chairman from 2001 to 2007, Chairman at Wright Medical Group, Inc. from 1999 to 2008 at Kyphon, Inc. from 2002 to 2007, and Chairman at Keystone Dental, Inc. from 2002 to 2007.

Richard W. Mott has been a member of the Board since March 2015. Mr. Mott has been the Principal at Walkabout Consulting LLC, a management consulting and private equity business, since January 2009. He was Chairman and Interim CEO of Endologix, LLC, a medical device firm, from October 2020 to November 2021, and has been chairman of its board since 2021. From March 2010 until August 2021, Mr. Mott served as a Director and Owner of VFD Technologies, a private equity firm that invests in high-performance materials and medical device production. Mr. Mott was President and CEO of Kyphon Inc., a global medical device firm, from September 2002 to November 2007, when it was acquired by Medtronic plc. From 1993 to 2002, Mr. Mott worked in different executive positions at Wilson Greatbatch Technologies, Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. He earned a B.S. in Ceramic Engineering from Alfred University and graduated from Harvard University’s Advanced Management Program.

Deepti Jain joined the board of directors in October 2021. Ms. Jain was President of lngenioRX, Anthem, Inc.’s pharmacy benefit management subsidiary, from January 2019 to December 2020. She was Anthem’s Chief Operating Officer for Pharmacy Solutions between 2014 and 2018. From 1998 to 2012, Ms. Jain held positions of increasing responsibility at Medco Health Solutions, Inc., a publicly traded pharmacy benefits management company that was acquired by Express Scripts in April 2012. Ms. Jain is currently a member of the Board of Directors at Tactile Systems Technology, Inc., a Nasdaq-listed medical device company. Ms. Jain holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Music from Dayanand Anglo Vedic College in India, an M.A. in English Literature from Guru Nanak Dev University in India, and an M.B.A. in Finance and Investments from Baruch College in New York City.

Opinion: A lot of insider buying on top of many analyst downgrades makes a good setup. Not excited about bunions but this latest sell off looks like a buying opportunity to the insiders that know the company the best.

 

Name: Timothy F Keaney
Position: President, Asset Management
Transaction Date: 2023-05-14 Shares Bought: 84,210 Average Price Paid: $4.56 Cost: $383,702
Company: AlTi Global Inc. (ALTI)

AlTi Global Inc. is a prominent independent global wealth and alternatives manager that offers fiduciary skills, alternative investment strategies, and consulting services to entrepreneurs, multigenerational families, institutions, and emerging next-generation leaders. The company is divided into two business segments: Wealth Management and Strategic Alternatives. As of December 31, 2023, the company employs over 480 people in 21 cities across 10 nations on three continents. The company services create a complimentary ecosystem for their target markets of UHNW clients, investors, and enterprises, many of whom have comparable interests and aspirations that they can connect with and serve. The complementary services and differentiated range of capabilities position them well for organic growth across all of their business areas. The company also has plans for inorganic growth through acquisitions and joint ventures.

Tim Keaney became Chairman of the Board on September 1, 2023. Timothy Keaney was an executive with the Bank of New York Company from 2000 to 2007 when it merged with Mellon Financial Corporation. He stayed with the new Bank of New York Mellon Corporation for seven more years, serving as Chief Executive Officer of Asset Servicing, Vice Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Investment Services. Timothy has been a member of UNUM’s Board of Directors since 2012, and he now chairs the Finance and Audit Committees. Timothy has also been a director of PolySign, Inc., a privately held fintech startup, since 2019.

Opinion: I don’t invest in companies that I don’t understand what the business proposition is. 

Name: Badar Khan
Position: CEO and Director
Transaction Date: 2023-05-13 Shares Bought: 125,000 Average Price Paid: $2.01 Cost: $250,750
Company: EVgo Inc. (EVGO)

EVgo, Inc. was established in 2010 and is based in Los Angeles, California.EVgo, Inc. is a subsidiary of LS Power Development LLC. EVgo, Inc. owns and manages a direct current rapid charging network for electric vehicles in the United States. The company provides electricity directly to drivers, who can use its publicly available networked chargers; original equipment manufacturer charging and related services; fleet and ridesharing public charging services; and charging as a service and fleet dedicated charging services. It also offers ancillary services such as digital application customization, charging data integration, loyalty programs, access to chargers behind parking lots or garage pay gates, micro targeted advertising, and charging reservations; and hardware, design, and construction services for charging sites, as well as ongoing operations, maintenance, and networking and software integration solutions via eXtend.

Badar Khan has been the CEO of EVgo since November 2023 and a member of the board of directors since May 2022. Mr. Khan has over 25 years of expertise in the energy sector and has a proven track record of driving innovation and utilizing technology to change the way people and businesses interact with and utilize energy. Before joining EVgo, Mr. Khan worked as a Senior Advisor for Global Infrastructure Partners, a major independent infrastructure fund manager. Mr. Khan holds an engineering degree from Brunel University in London, as well as an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Opinion: Utility companies are the low cost providers here and I’m sure when the time is right they will be there in force. We are just not there yet.

Name: Harry Sloan
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2023-05-14 Shares Bought: 297,619 Average Price Paid: $0.91 Cost: $271,815
Company: Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings Inc. (DNA)

Name: Shyam Sankar
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2023-05-15 Shares Bought: 625,000 Average Price Paid: $0.82 Cost: $514,750
Company: Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings Inc. (DNA)

Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. was created in 2008 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts. Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc., and its subsidiaries in the United States are developing a platform for cell programming. The company’s technology is used to instruct cells, allowing them to produce biological products such as new medicines, food ingredients, and petroleum-derived compounds. It caters to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology, agriculture, industrial and environmental, food and nutrition, consumer and technology, and government and defense sectors.

Harry Sloan was appointed to the board of directors in 2021. Eagle Equity Partners II, LLC is led by Harry E. Sloan as Chairman and CEO. Under Sloan’s leadership, the business has purchased and made several companies public via SPACs, including DraftKings and Skillz in 2020. Sloan formerly served as Chairman and CEO of MGM Studios and founded and directed two public entertainment media organizations, New World Entertainment and SBS Broadcasting, S.A., one of Europe’s major broadcasters. Sloan is an associate professor at UCLA Anderson School of Management and a trustee of The McCain Institute. Sloan holds a bachelor’s degree from UCLA and a doctorate from Loyola Law School.

Shyam Sankar, a member of Ginkgo’s board of directors since 2015, has been unanimously chosen as Chair of the board. Mr. Sankar joined Palantir in 2006 and has held numerous positions, most notably Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President. Mr. Sankar has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Cornell University and a Master of Science in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.

Opinion: This is a speculative darling name and it finally may be cheap enough to attract my interest.

---

Follow us on Twitter for real-time insider buying alerts at https://twitter.com/theinsidersfund

 You can be an insider, too– by clicking here

Insiders sell the stock for many reasons, but they generally buy for just one – to make money. You’ve always heard the best information is inside information.  Everyone with any stock market experience pays close attention to what insiders are doing.  After all, who knows a business better than the people running it?  Officers, directors, and 10% owners are required to inform the public through a Form 4 Filing of any transaction, buy, sell, exercise, or any other within 48 hours of doing so. This info is available for free from the SEC’s Web site, Edgar, although we subscribe to SECForm4  as they provide a way to manage and make sense of the vast realms of data. I’ve tried a lot of vendors. SECForm4 is one of the smaller ones, but I like supporting Frank. He is not arrogant. He’s helpful and has great prices. He also trades on his own data, so I like people that eat what they kill.

The bar is different from selling because the natural state of management is to be a seller. This is because most companies provide significant amounts of management compensation packages as stock and options. Therefore, we analyze unusual patterns with selling, such as insiders selling 25 percent or more of their holdings or multiple insiders selling near 52-week lows. Another red flag is large planned sale programs that start without warning. Unfortunately, the public information disclosure requirements about these programs, referred to as Rule 10b5-1, are horrendously poor. Also, planned sales that pop up out of nowhere are basically sales and are seeking cover under this corporate welfare loophole. I also generally ignore 10 percent shareholders as they tend to be OPM (other people’s money) and perhaps not the smart money on which we are trying to read the tea leaves. I say generally because some 10% shareholders are great investors. Think Warren  Buffett and others

Of course, insiders can also be wrong about their Company’s prospects. Don’t let anyone fool you into believing they never make mistakes.  Do your own analysis. They can easily be wrong, and in many cases, maybe most cases, have no more idea what the future may hold than you or me. In short, you can lose money following them.  We have, and we curse aloud; what were they thinking!

We like Fly on the Wall for keeping up with what events might be happening, analysts’ comments, and whatever else could be moving the stock.  Dow Jones news service is an essential tool, but many services pick up their feed like they do Bloomberg. For quick financial analysis, it’s hard to beat Old School Value.

A big callout to my assistant Ambreen who sets up this conversation by listing the notable buys that I’ve identified.  She probes the 10k for a reasonable description of the business. I’ve found that to be the most accurate and succinct place to find out what a business actually does.

This blog is solely for educational purposes and the author’s own amusement.  Think of the blog as part of my personal investment journal that I am willing to share with the DIY investor.  There are also many parts that I am not willing to share if I think it could influence trading action or be detrimental to the Fund’s partners. We could be long, short, or have no position at all in any of the stocks mentioned and express no written or implied obligation to disclose any of that.

The Insiders Fund is for qualified investors and by Prospectus only. Nothing herein should be construed otherwise.  THE INSIDERS FUND prefers to invest in companies at or near prices that management has been willing to invest significant amounts of their own money in, but we have no requirement to do so. We also invest in many companies in anticipation of future insider buying or with the expectation that there is none at all.

You can be an insider, too– by clicking here

Prosperous Trading,