Someone wrote last week that the situation in the market was ripe for a crash, reminiscent of the Crash of 1987. I lived through that, so I have some personal observations.
Name: Thomas Arthur Bell
Position: CEO
Transaction Date: 2024-08-01 Shares Bought: 1,712 Average Price Paid: $145.04 Cost: $248,305
Company: Leidos Holdings Inc. (LDOS)
Leidos Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1969 and has its headquarters in Reston, Virginia. Leidos Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries offer services and solutions in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets in the United States and abroad. The company’s segments include Defense Solutions, Civil, and Health. The Defense Solutions segment provides national security solutions and systems for air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace to the US Intelligence Community, Department of Defense, Space Development Agency, NASA, DISA, military services, government agencies of US allies abroad, and other federal and commercial national security customers. The Civil segment offers systems integration services to air navigation service providers, such as the Federal Aviation Administration, En route automation modernization, advanced technology oceanic procedure, time-based flow management, terminal flight data management, geo-7, and future flight services, enterprise-information display systems, and security detection services. The Health segment provides solutions to federal and commercial customers responsible for people’s health and well-being, such as health information management, managed health, digital modernization, and life sciences research and development.
Tom Bell has been CEO of Leidos since May 2023. Bell’s strategic vision for Leidos is customer-focused and inventive, with an emphasis on supporting healthy growth while advancing the company’s overall strategy. Before becoming CEO in May 2023, Bell spent nearly 40 years in leading capacities at major aerospace companies. He was previously President of Rolls-Royce Defense, overseeing a global team of 10,000 specialists that provided cutting-edge power, propulsion, and service solutions for aerospace, naval, and nuclear submarine applications to customers in over 100 countries. Bell started his career in human space flight at Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin). He later worked for McDonnell Douglas (now The Boeing Company), where he had positions in manufacturing engineering, contracts and pricing, sales and marketing, and program management. Bell earned a Bachelor of Arts from Louisiana State University and a Master of Business Administration from the Florida Institute of Technology.
Opinion: Leidos’s stock chart looks like a growth company. That’s hardly a surprise, considering defense spending is in a bull market worldwide. Peace shows no signs of breaking out.
Name: John B Replogle
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2024-08-02 Shares Bought: 1,996 Average Price Paid: $123.96 Cost: $247,420
Company: Crocs Inc. (CROX)
Crocs, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. Crocs, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells casual lifestyle footwear and accessories for men, women, and children under Crocs and HEYDUDE Brand in the United States and internationally. The company offers various footwear products, including clogs, sandals, slides, flips, wedges, platforms, socks, boots, charms, flip-flops, sneakers, and slippers. It sells its products through wholesalers, retail stores, e-commerce sites, third-party marketplaces, and kiosks/store-in-store locations.
Tom Bell has been the Director of Crocs Inc. since January 2024. Mr. Replogle has decades of worldwide leadership experience at major consumer brands like Seventh Generation, Inc., Burt’s Bees, Inc., Unilever’s Skin Care division, and Diageo, Plc. He is now a member of the boards of directors for two public businesses (Grove Collaborative, Inc. and Wolfspeed, Inc.), having previously been on the board of directors of Sealy Corporation. Mr. Replogle is also a founding partner of One Better Ventures, LLC, a venture capital firm that invests in consumer-centric businesses with a positive global impact. Mr. Replogle received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College in 1988 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1993.
Opinion: Crox beat Q2 estimates but was light on its guidance. The stock paid the price. Its hard to get excited about a director buying stock when another is selling 4x the amount.rh
Name: Colin V Reed
Position: Exec. Chairman of the Board
Transaction Date: 2024-08-06 Shares Bought: 8,077 Average Price Paid: $97.78 Cost: $789,769
Company: Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc. (RHP)
Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. is a top lodging and hospitality real estate investment trust focusing on upscale convention center resorts and entertainment experiences. The Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center, Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, and Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center are five of the top seven largest non-gaming convention center hotels in the United States in terms of total indoor meeting space. Marriott International manages the Company’s hotel portfolio, which comprises 11,414 rooms and more than 3 million square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space in the country’s premier convention and leisure locations. RHP also owns a 70% controlling interest in Opry Entertainment Group, which consists of entities that own a growing collection of iconic and emerging country music brands, such as the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium, WSM 650 AM, Ole Red, Nashville-area attractions, and Block 21, a mixed-use entertainment, lodging, office, and retail complex in downtown Austin, Texas, that includes the W Austin Hotel and the ACL Live at the Moody Theater.
Colin V. Reed has been Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors since January 1, 2023, and a director of the company since April 2001. Reed previously served as the Company’s CEO from April 2001 to December 2022, and he was initially elected Chairman of the Board of Directors in May 2005. Reed was also the Company’s President from November 2012 to March 2015, as well as till November 2008. When Reed joined predecessor business Gaylord Entertainment, he spearheaded a strategic reorganization of the company’s holdings, resulting in a portfolio of hotel assets under the Gaylord Hotels name. Reed previously served as Harrah’s Entertainment Inc.’s chief financial officer and a member of the three-person President’s Office. He joined the company in 1977 as a financial controller for the erstwhile Holiday Inn International Division. From 1999 to 2001, he served on the board of directors of Harrah’s Entertainment. Reed has previously served on the board of directors for Bass Pro Shops and Rite Aid.
Opinion: Ryman has a big beat on Q2 earnings. It’s surprising that the stock responded so anemically. I’m sure that’s what Chairman Reed must have been thinking.
Name: Thomas A Mcdonnell
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2024-08-05 Shares Bought: 3,206 Average Price Paid: $93.86 Cost: $300,915
Company: Euronet Worldwide Inc. (EEFT)
Euronet Worldwide, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is based in Leawood, Kansas. Euronet Worldwide, Inc. offers payment and transaction processing and distribution services to financial institutions, retailers, service providers, and individual customers worldwide. It operates in three segments: electronic fund transfer processing, epay, and money transfer. The Electronic Fund Transfer Processing segment offers electronic payment solutions such as automated teller machine cash withdrawal and deposit services, ATM network participation, outsourced ATM and point-of-sale management solutions, credit and debit and prepaid card outsourcing, card issuance, and merchant acquisition services. The epay sector distributes and processes prepaid mobile airtime and other electronic payment goods; it also offers payment processing services for various prepaid products, cards, and services, as well as vouchers physical gift fulfillment, and gift card distribution and processing. The Money Transfer segment provides consumer-to-consumer and account-to-account money transfers, bill payment, check cashing, foreign currency exchange, mobile top-up, cash management, and foreign currency risk management services, as well as payment options like money orders and prepaid debit cards.
Thomas A. McDonnell has been a director of Euronet since its inception in December 1996, having previously served on the boards of Euronet’s predecessor businesses. He has served as Lead Independent Director since September 2014. From October 1984 to September 12, 2012, he was the CEO of DST Systems, Inc., a former Euronet owner. From September 12, 2012, to December 31, 2012, he was non-executive Chairman of DST Systems, Inc. From 1973 to September 1995, he was Treasurer of DST Systems, Inc. Mr. McDonnell served as President and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation from January 1, 2013, until his departure on December 31, 2014. Mr. McDonnell is now a director of ENDI Corp. and a member of its audit committee. Mr. McDonnell holds a B.S. in accounting from Rockhurst University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Finance.
Opinion: Odd that Euronet is based in Kansas. There is too much going on in the Fintech space for me to get any comfort level with EEFT/.
Name: Paul J Salem
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2024-08-05 Shares Bought: 147,500 Average Price Paid: $33.80 Cost: $4,986,090
Company: MGM Resorts International (MGM)
Name: William Hornbuckle
Position: CEO And President
Transaction Date: 2024-08-05 Shares Bought: 58,900 Average Price Paid: $33.73 Cost: $1,986,444
Company: MGM Resorts International (MGM)
MGM Resorts International was established in 1986 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. MGM Resorts International, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates casinos, hotels, and entertainment destinations in the United States and worldwide. MGM operates in three segments: Las Vegas Strip Resorts, Regional Operations, and MGM China. These casino resorts provide gambling, lodging, conventions, food, entertainment, shopping, and other resort services. The company’s casino operations include slots and table games, as well as BetMGM, which offers online sports betting and iGaming. It serves premium gaming customers, leisure and wholesale travel customers, business travelers, and group customers such as conventions, trade associations, and small gatherings. The company was previously known as MGM MIRAGE but changed its name to MGM Resorts International in June 2010.
Paul J Salem has been Chairman of the Board of MGM Resorts International since March 2020. Paul previously spent 27 years building and leading Providence Equity Partners, a global private equity business focused on the media, communication, and technology industries. Paul was a Senior Managing Director on Providence Equity’s investment team, and he served on both the investment and management committees. Paul was chairman or director for several of Providence Equity’s portfolio firms, including Asurion, Eircom, Grupo TorreSur, Madison River Telecom, MetroNet, PanAmSat, Tele1 Europe, Verio, and Wired magazine. Paul is on the boards of many non-profit organizations, including Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Edesia Global Nutrition, and the Carney Institute for Brain Science at Brown University. He formerly served as the Chairman of Year Up. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Brown University.
Mr. Hornbuckle has been the CEO and President of MGM Resorts International since July 29, 2020, and he also serves as a Director of MGM Resorts. William Joseph Hornbuckle is an American businessman who has led 12 different companies. He is currently Chairman of CityCenter Holdings LLC, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of MGM Resorts International, Co-Chairman of MGM China Holdings Ltd., President and Director of MGM Resorts Advertising, Inc., and President of Fulfillment Fund. He also serves on the boards of ten other firms. Mr. Hornbuckle was previously President and Chief Operating Officer of MGM Resorts International Plc, President and Chief Operating Officer of MGM Grand Las Vegas, President, and Chief Operating Officer-Caesars Place at Caesars License Co. LLC, President and Chief Operating Officer of Golden Nugget Laughlin, President and Chief Operating Officer of MGM Grand Hotel LLC, President and Chief Operating Officer of Caesars Palace Corp., and President and Chief Operating Officer of Mandalay Bay. William Joseph Hornbuckle earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Nevada.
Opinion: Management must see something that the market doesn’t appreciate. Stock has moved aggressively off the ~$33 price insiders gobbled up shares at.
Name: Patrick P Gelsinger
Position: CEO
Transaction Date: 2024-08-05 Shares Bought: 12,500 Average Price Paid: $20.16 Cost: $251,946
Company: Intel Corp (INTC)
Intel Corporation was established in 1968 and is based in Santa Clara, California. Intel Corporation creates, develops, manufactures, distributes, and sells computing and associated products and services globally. The company operates in five segments: Client Computing Group, Data Center and AI, Network and Edge, Mobileye, and Intel Foundry Services. The company’s product portfolio includes central processing units and chipsets, system-on-chips, and multichip packages; mobile and desktop processors; hardware products such as graphics processing units, domain-specific accelerators, and field programmable gate arrays; memory and storage, connectivity and networking, and other semiconductor products. They also provide silicon devices and software products, as well as workload optimization solutions such as AI, cryptography, security, storage, and networking, using a variety of characteristics to serve varied computing environments. In addition, the firm develops and delivers sophisticated driver assistance systems, autonomous driving technologies, and solutions, as well as advanced process technologies supported by an ecosystem of IP, EDA, and design services.
Patrick Gelsinger is Intel Corporation’s CEO and a member of the board of directors. Gelsinger served as CEO of VMware before returning Intel in February 2021. In that capacity, he helped VMware become a recognized global leader in cloud infrastructure, enterprise mobility, and cybersecurity, nearly tripling the company’s yearly sales. Gelsinger was also named the best CEO in America in 2019 by Glassdoor’s annual employee survey. Gelsinger joined Intel in 1979, where he became the company’s first chief technology officer and later served as senior vice president and general manager of the Digital Enterprise Group. He led the development of essential industry technologies such as USB and Wi-Fi. Gelsinger holds three degrees in electrical engineering: an associate degree from Lincoln Technical Institute, a bachelor’s degree from Santa Clara University, and a master’s degree from Stanford University. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in February 2023.
Opinion: Gelsinger must have a lot of money to lose. Its seems no one but him is buying the Intel turnaround. It might be a bankruptcy bound stock as even Microsoft has gone with a Qualcomm ARM processor with its hot new CoPilot PC.
Name: Jeffrey Glajch
Position: Chief Financial Officer
Transaction Date: 2024-08-07 Shares Bought: 15,000 Average Price Paid: $18.16 Cost: $272,450
Company: Orion S.A. (OEC)
Orion S.A. was formed in 1862 and is based in Senningerberg, Luxembourg. Orion S.A. and its subsidiaries manufacture and sell carbon black products. The company operates in two segments: Specialty Carbon Black and Rubber Carbon Black. The company provides post-treated specialty carbon black grades for coatings and printing applications, high-purity carbon black grades for the fiber industry, and conductive carbon black grades for batteries, polymers, and coatings. They also offer rubber carbon black products for use in mechanical rubber goods and tires under the ECORAX brand name, as well as acetylene-based conductive additives for lithium-ion batteries and other uses. It serves the United States, Brazil, the rest of the Americas, Germany, South Africa, Italy, Spain, Turkey, France, the rest of EMEA, China, the Republic of Korea, and the rest of Asia. The company was previously known as Orion Engineered Carbons S.A., but it changed its name to Orion S.A. in June 2023.
Jeffrey Glajch became Orion’s Chief Financial Officer On April 18, 2022. Glajch has over 30 years of experience heading corporate finance and accounting control activities for both publicly and privately held organizations. He comes to Orion from Graham Corporation, a premier designer and manufacturer of vacuum and heat transfer equipment for the energy and process industries, where he was CFO for the previous 13 years. Glajch was in charge of finance, business development, investor relations, risk management, legal, information technology, and human resources during his tenure. Before joining Graham Corporation, he worked in senior finance capacities at several other firms. Glajch has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Carnegie-Mellon University, a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Clarkson University, and an MBA from Purdue University.
Opinion: A big miss on Q2 has the CFO and CEO jumping in. I just don’t see the growth yet but the stock trades at a low P.E. but cash flow is anemic, just forcast to be $0-$50 million on nearly $2 Billion in revenues.
Name: Timothy Steven Johnson
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2024-08-02 Shares Bought: 57,050 Average Price Paid: $17.50 Cost: $998,375
Company: Blackstone Mortgage Trust Inc. (BXMT)
Name: Katharine A Keenan
Position: CEO & President
Transaction Date: 2024-08-05 Shares Bought: 16,000 Average Price Paid: $17.16 Cost: $274,634
Company: Blackstone Mortgage Trust Inc. (BXMT)
Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in New York, New York. Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc., a real estate finance company, originates senior loans collateralized by commercial properties in North America, Europe, and Australia. The company originates and acquires senior floating-rate mortgage loans that are secured by a first-priority mortgage on commercial real estate assets. It operates as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. The company was formerly known as Capital Trust, Inc. and changed its name to Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. in May 2013.
Timothy S. Johnson has been a director since 2023, and the Global Head of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies since 2022. Mr. Johnson oversees Blackstone’s commercial and residential real estate debt investment strategies and serves on the firm’s Real Estate Investment Committee and Manager’s Investment Committee. Before joining Blackstone in 2011, Mr. Johnson co-founded BroadPeak Funding, a boutique commercial real estate finance firm based in Los Angeles. Before creating BroadPeak, Mr. Johnson was a Vice President at Lehman Brothers Global Commercial Real Estate Group from 2002 to 2008. Mr. Johnson earned a BA in Mathematics from the College of the Holy Cross, where he graduated with honors.
Katharine A. Keenan will take over as CEO of Blackstone Mortgage Trust on June 30, 2021. Ms. Keenan is the President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director at Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. Ms. Keenan also serves on the boards of Getting Out & Staying Out, Blackstone, Inc.’s Senior MD-Real Estate Debt Strategies, and Wx, Inc. Her previous positions included Vice President at G2 Investment Group LLC and Analyst at Lehman Brothers, Inc. Ms. Keenan earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard College. She serves on the Board of Directors of Getting Out and Staying Out, the Advisory Board of Governors of NAREIT, and WX New York Women Executives in Real Estate.
Opinion: Commercial mortgages are a hard way to make a living these days. Headlines can be scary even with the declining rate story.
Name: Amnon Shashua
Position: CEO and President
Transaction Date: 2024-08-02 Shares Bought: 631,963 Average Price Paid: $16.51 Cost: $10,434,093
Company: Mobileye Global Inc. (MBLY)
Mobileye Global Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Jerusalem, Israel. The company develops and deploys advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving technologies and solutions worldwide. The company operates through Mobileye and Other segments. They offer Driver Assist comprising ADAS and autonomous vehicle solutions that cover safety features, such as real-time detection of road users, geometry, semantics, and markings to provide safety alerts and emergency interventions; Cloud-Enhanced Driver Assist, a solution for drivers with interpretations of a scene in real-time; Mobileye SuperVision Lite, a navigation and assisted driving solution; and Mobileye SuperVision, an operational point-to-point assisted driving navigation solution on various road types and includes cloud-based enhancements, such as road experience management. The company also provides Mobileye Chauffeur, a first-generation solution for eyes-off/hands-off driving with a human driver still in the driver’s seat; Mobileye Drive, a self-driving system comprising of radar and lidar subsystems etc.
Amnon Shashua cofounded Mobileye in 1999. Prof. Amnon Shashua is a computer science professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Mobileye’s President and CEO. In 2023, he was awarded the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement, the highest civilian accolade, in recognition of his outstanding services to society. Previously, he was selected as the 2020 Dan David Prize laureate in artificial intelligence and the Automotive Hall of Fame’s Mobility Innovator for 2022. Shashua co-founded Mobileye in 1999, which became the largest Israeli IPO ever in 2014. In 2017, the firm was acquired by Intel, and in 2022, the company went public again on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker MBLY. Prof. Shashua holds the Sachs Chair in Computer Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he specializes in computer vision and machine learning. Shashua is the author of over 160 papers on machine learning and computational vision, as well as 94 patents.
Opinion: Massive insider buy and big vote of confidence. Unfortunately market is in a show me, buy later state with all things related to self driving. Mobileye is heavily dependent on Chinese automotive companies and with the looming election, both sides seem determined to keep low cost Chinese EV’s out of the U.S. market. You would think that the Democrats with their green initiatives would be happy to see consumers going electric. I’d bet on Trump allowing cheap EVs before the Democrats fold to union shut out demands.
Name: Brent L Saunders
Position: CEO and Chairman of the Board
Transaction Date: 2024-08-05 Shares Bought: 32,250 Average Price Paid: $15.66 Cost: $505,067
Company: Bausch & Lomb Corp (BLCO)
Bausch + Lomb Corporation was formed in 1853 and is based in Vaughan, Canada. The corporation operates as an eye health company in the United States, Puerto Rico, China, France, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Poland, South Korea, and others. It has three business segments: vision care, pharmaceuticals, and surgery. The Vision Care segment offers contact lenses for a variety of wearing modalities, including daily disposable and frequently replaced contact lenses, as well as contact lens care products such as over-the-counter eye drops, eye vitamins, and mineral supplements to treat conditions such as eye allergies, conjunctivitis, dry eye, and redness relief. Its Pharmaceuticals sector provides unique and generic pharmaceutical medicines for post-operative care, as well as treatments for glaucoma, eye inflammation, ocular hypertension, dry eyes, and retinal diseases. The Surgical segment offers medical device equipment, consumables, and technologies for the treatment of cataracts, corneal, vitreous, and retinal eye conditions, as well as intraocular lenses and delivery systems, phacoemulsification equipment, and other surgical instruments and devices used in cataract surgery.
Brent Saunders returned to Bausch & Lomb as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors in March 2023. Mr. Saunders was CEO from 2010 to 2013 when the company was bought by Bausch Health Companies Inc. Mr. Saunders formerly co-founded and chaired Vesper Healthcare Acquisitions Corp. Mr. Saunders’ first position as an executive officer in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries was on the executive management team of Schering-Plough Corporation. Mr. Saunders previously worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as a Partner and Head of Compliance Business Advisory. He previously held the positions of Chief Risk Officer at Coventry Health Care, Inc., Senior Vice President of Compliance, Legal, and Regulatory at Home Care Corporation of America, and Chief Compliance Officer at Thomas Jefferson University Health System. Mr. Saunders is currently Chairman of the Board of The Beauty Health Company and a director of ARS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Saunders has a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh, a J.D. from the Temple University School of Law, and an M.B.A. from Temple University’s School of Business.
Opinion: Saunders is a money maker. You could do worse following him into Bausch & Lomb. I think I’d nibble at this one although things haven’t worked out well for him at SKIN.
Name: Jon E Bortz
Position: Chairman and CEO
Transaction Date: 2024-08-05 Shares Bought: 66,000 Average Price Paid: $11.98 Cost: $790,680
Company: Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (PEB)
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust is an internally managed hotel investment company founded in October 2009 as a Maryland real estate investment trust to acquire and invest in hotel properties primarily in major US cities, as well as resort properties near primary target urban markets and select destination resort markets, with a focus on major gateway coastal markets. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had stakes in 46 hotels, comprising 11,924 guest rooms. Pebblebrook Hotel, L.P. owns practically all of the Company’s assets and manages its activities. The Company is the Operating Partnership’s only general partner. The company primarily invests in hotel properties in major US cities, as well as resort properties near key target urban areas and select destination resort markets, with a particular emphasis on key gateway coastal markets and vacation destinations.
Mr. Bortz has served as Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO since the company’s founding in October 2009. Mr. Bortz served as President, CEO, and Trustee of LaSalle Hotel Properties, a publicly traded hotel REIT, from its formation in April 1998 until his resignation in September 2009. Mr. Bortz also served as Chairman of the Board of LaSalle Hotel Properties from January 1, 2001, until his retirement. Mr. Bortz founded Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated’s Hotel Investment Group in January 1994, and as President, he oversaw all of Jones Lang LaSalle’s hotel investment and development efforts. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, or NAREIT, and as a trustee of Federal Realty Investment Trust. Mr. Bortz earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Opinion: Bortz doesn’t have a particularly good track record to follow. I’m not sure what the exit strategy is here.
Name: Blue Star Exploration Corp / Arkoma Drilling L.P. / Williston Drilling L.P. / Jerral W. Jones
Position: 10% Owner
Transaction Date: 2024-08-05 Shares Bought: 2,476,736 Average Price Paid: $8.49 Cost: $21,031,736
Company: Comstock Resources Inc (CRK)
Comstock Resources, Inc. was established in 1919 and is based in Frisco, Texas. Comstock Resources, Inc. is an affiliate of Arkoma Drilling, L.P. Comstock Resources, Inc., an independent energy company, acquires, explores, develops, and produces natural gas and oil properties in the United States. The company’s resources are in the Haynesville and Bossier shales in north Louisiana and east Texas.
Blue Star Exploration Ghana Limited is an independent Ghanaian oil and gas exploration and production firm. Blue Star intends to be an African independent oil and gas exploration firm that focuses on frontier exploration acreage and brownfield assets. The company’s strategy calls for actively adding assets to its portfolio, particularly in the West African region, while exploring other parts of the oil and gas value chain. The Blue Star strategy is built on three pillars, including using talented workers and local partnerships to produce value in the oil and gas exploration and production sectors.
Arkoma Drilling is wholly-owned by Dallas businessman and owner of the Dallas Cowboys Football Club Ltd., Jerry Jones.
Williston Drilling is owned by Dallas businessman and owner of the Dallas Cowboys Football Club Ltd., Jerry Jones, and his family.
Jerral Wayne Jones Sr. is an American businessman who owns, leads, and manages the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. Jerral W. Jones is now the President and Director of Blue Star Exploration Co. and has been the President and General Manager of Dallas Cowboys Football Club Ltd. since 2012. Mr. Jones earned a master’s degree from the University of Arkansas.
Opinion: Jerry Jones loves this company. I wish he would go ahead and buy it all. I’ll likely be seeing management next week at Enercom in Denver.
Name: Kevin Hykes
Position: PRES & CEO
Transaction Date: 2024-08-05 Shares Bought: 30,000 Average Price Paid: $8.36 Cost: $250,767
Company: CVRx Inc. (CVRX)
CVRx, Inc. was established in 2000 and is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. CVRx, Inc. is a commercial-stage medical device company that develops, manufactures, and commercializes neuromodulation treatments for patients suffering from cardiovascular illnesses. The company sells Barostim, a neuromodulation device designed to alleviate symptoms in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction or systolic heart failure. The company sells its products through a direct sales staff, sales agents, and independent distributors in the United States, Germany, and across the world.
Kevin Hykes has been President and CEO since February 2024, and a director on the Board since December 2022. Mr. Hykes formerly worked as the CEO of Augmedics, Inc., an augmented reality surgical navigation company, from December 2021 until February 2024. Mr. Hykes was previously President and CEO of Bardy Diagnostics, Inc., a remote cardiac monitoring and individual health services company, from August 2020 until its acquisition in June 2021, and Relievant, Inc., a provider of interventional treatment for chronic low back pain, from 2017 to January 2020. Mr. Hykes is currently on the board of directors of Metavention Inc. and has previously been on the boards of Bardy Diagnostics, Inc., Relievant, Inc., and Veran Medical Systems, Inc., a firm that manufactures interventional pulmonary medical devices. Mr. Hykes earned a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University.
Opinion: Too risky to handle emerging med tech play. 24 years in the market and all they have to show for the effort is $11.8 million in revenues last quarter.
Name: Alex P Schultz
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2024-08-02 Shares Bought: 37,586 Average Price Paid: $7.32 Cost: $275,292
Company: Lindblad Expeditions Holdings Inc.(LIND)
Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc. was created in 1979 and is based in New York, NY. Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc. offers marine expedition adventures and tourism experiences globally. It works through the Lindblad and Land Experiences segments. Lindblad segment provides ship-based expeditions aboard customized, nimble, and intimately-scaled vessels, which offer up-close experiences in the planet’s wild and remote places, and capitals of culture; and offers expedition ships, which are equipped with state-of-the-art tools for in-depth exploration with infrastructure and ports, such as Antarctica and the Arctic, and places that accessed by a ship comprising Galápagos Islands, Alaska, Baja California’s Sea of Cortez. The Land Experiences segment includes natural habitats, which offers over 100 different expedition itineraries in more than 45 countries across seven continents, with eco-conscious and nature-focused expeditions, as well as small-group tours such as polar bear tours and bear adventure; and DuVine, which provides intimate group cycling and adventure tours around the world with local cycling experts as guides in local culture, cuisine, and accommodations.
Alexander P. Schultz has been a Director since February 2022. Mr. Schultz is currently the Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President of Analytics at Meta, formerly Facebook, where he is responsible for global consumer marketing and product analytics. Throughout his time at Meta, he has pioneered the convergence of product and direct response marketing and has overseen some of the largest and most effective online direct response campaigns, resulting in massive application user growth. Mr. Schultz has been with Meta since 2007, and he has overseen the internationalization and analytics teams since 2011 and 2015. Before joining Meta, Mr. Schultz was a Marketing Manager at eBay, where he oversaw global targeting for eBay’s onsite merchandising, among other tasks. Mr. Schultz earned an M.S. in Natural Sciences from Magdalene College in Cambridge, where he concentrated in experimental and theoretical physics.
Opinion: I think I would recommend a tour not a stock purchase.
Name: Todd C Davis
Position: Chief Executive Officer
Transaction Date: 2024-08-08 Shares Bought: 2,500 Average Price Paid: $97.39 Cost: $243,481
Company: Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc (LGND)
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated was established in 1987 and is headquartered in Jupiter, Florida. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biopharmaceutical business, is involved in the development and licensing of biopharmaceutical assets globally. Its commercial programs include Kyprolis and Evomela, which are used to treat multiple myeloma; Rylaze, a recombinant erwinia asparaginase for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia or lymphoblastic lymphoma in adult and pediatric patients; Filspari, a dual endothelin and angiotensin II receptor antagonist in development for rare kidney diseases and non-immunosuppressive treatment indicated for immunoglobulin A nephropathy; Teriparatide injection product for osteo The company also offers TZIELD, a CD3-directed antibody indicated to delay the onset of Stage 3 type 1 diabetes (T1D) in adults and children aged 8 years and older with Stage 2 T1D; Nexterone, a captisol-enabled formulation of amiodarone; Zulresso, a captisol-enabled formulation of brexanolone for the treatment of postpartum depression; and Veklury, an antiviral treatment for moderate or severe COVID-19.
Todd C. Davis is Ligand’s CEO, a post he has held since December 2022, and a Board member since March 2007. From 2006 to 2018, Mr. Davis was the founder and managing partner of HealthCare Royalty Partners, a worldwide healthcare investment firm. Mr. Davis was previously a partner at Apax Partners, overseeing biopharmaceutical growth equity investments. Mr. Davis began his commercial career in sales at Abbott Laboratories, where he held various sales and marketing jobs with increasing responsibility. He led corporate development, strategic planning, and general management at Elan Pharmaceuticals. He has nearly thirty years of combined expertise in operations and investment in the biopharmaceutical and life sciences industries. He has also led, arranged, and executed over 40 more intellectual property licenses, including hybrid royalty-debt arrangements. Mr. Davis is a naval combat veteran with a B.S. from the United States Naval Academy and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.
Opinion:
Name: Calvin Mcdonald
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2024-08-08 Shares Bought: 11,756 Average Price Paid: $85.06 Cost: $999,994
Company: Walt Disney Co (DIS)
The Walt Disney Company, founded in 1923, is headquartered in Burbank, California. The corporation operates as a global entertainment company. It operates in three business segments: entertainment, sports, and experiences. The company produces and distributes film and television video streaming content under the ABC Television Network, Disney, Freeform, FX, Fox, National Geographic, and Star brand television channels, as well as ABC television stations and A+E television networks; and produces original content under the ABC Signature, Disney Branded Television, FX Productions, Lucasfilm, Marvel, National Geographic Studios, Pixar, Searchlight Pictures, Twentieth Century Studios, and 20th It also offers direct-to-consumer streaming services through Disney+, Disney+ Hotstar, Hulu, and Star+; sports-related entertainment services through ESPN, ESPN on ABC, ESPN+ DTC, and Star; sale/licensing of film and episodic content to third-party television and VOD services; theatrical, home entertainment, and music distribution services; DVD and Blu-ray discs, electronic home video licenses, and VOD rental services; and staging and licensing of live entertainment events.
Mr. McDonald has been a director of the company since 2021. Calvin McDonald is the CEO of Lululemon Athletica Inc., an athletic wear brand with over 500 company-operated stores in 17 countries. Mr. McDonald joined Lululemon in 2018 and serves on its Board of Directors. He formerly served as president and CEO of Sephora Americas, a division of the LVMH group of luxury brands, from 2013 to 2018. Mr. McDonald was President and CEO of Sears Canada from 2011 to 2013, following 17 years at Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada’s largest retailer, where he was born and raised. From 2016 to 2020, he served on Cole Haan’s Board of Directors. Mr. McDonald is a growth-oriented executive who has helped huge organizations develop and innovate how brands interact with customers in shops, across digital channels, and from home.
Opinion:
Name: Antonio Carrillo
Position: President & CEO
Transaction Date: 2024-08-08 Shares Bought: 12,125 Average Price Paid: $82.05 Cost: $994,909
Company: Arcosa Inc. (ACA)
Arcosa, Inc. was formed in 2018 and is based in Dallas, Texas. Arcosa, Inc. and its subsidiaries supply infrastructure-related goods and solutions to the US construction, engineered structural, and transportation markets. It operates in three business segments: construction products, engineered structures, and transportation products. The Construction Products segment provides natural and recycled aggregates, specialty materials, and construction site support equipment such as trench shields and shoring products for residential and non-residential construction, as well as specialty/other products for infrastructure construction. The Engineered Structures sector provides utility structures, wind towers, traffic structures, and telecommunications structures for energy transmission and distribution, wind power generation, highway road building, and wireless communication markets. The Transportation Products segment sells inland barges, fiberglass barge covers, winches, marine hardware, and steel components for railcars and transportation equipment; cast components for the industrial and mining sectors; and axles, circular forgings, and coupling devices for freight, tank, locomotive, and passenger rail transportation equipment.
Antonio Carrillo is Arcosa’s President and CEO, as well as a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Carrillo served as Trinity Industries, Inc.’s Senior Vice President and Group President of Construction, Energy, Marine, and Components from April 2018 to November 2018. From 2012 to February 2018, Mr. Carrillo was the CEO of Orbia Advance Corporation, a specialized chemicals and construction materials company. During Mr. Carrillo’s tenure as CEO, Mexichem specialized in construction materials. Mr. Carrillo formerly worked at Trinity for 16 years, where he was Senior Vice President and Group President of Trinity’s Energy Equipment Group, as well as overseeing Trinity’s Mexico activities. Mr. Carrillo previously served as a Trinity director from 2014 to November 2018, as well as a Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. director from 2015 to 2018. He graduated from Universidad Anáhuac in Mexico City with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and electrical engineering.
Opinion:
Name: Frank J III Fertitta
Position: Chief Executive Officer / 10% Owner
Transaction Date: 2024-08-05 Shares Bought: 134,000 Average Price Paid: $51.34 Cost: $6,879,627
Company: Red Rock Resorts Inc. (RRR)
Name: Lorenzo J Fertitta
Position: Vice President / 10% Owner
Transaction Date: 2024-08-05 Shares Bought: 66,000 Average Price Paid: $51.34 Cost: $3,388,473
Company: Red Rock Resorts Inc. (RRR)
Red Rock Resorts, Inc. was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. Red Rock Resorts, Inc., through its subsidiary Station Casinos LLC, develops and operates casino and entertainment locations in the United States. The corporation owns and runs gaming and entertainment properties, including Durango Casino & Resort and smaller casinos in the Las Vegas area. The corporation was previously known as Station Casinos Corp. before changing its name to Red Rock Resorts, Inc. in January 2016.
Mr. Fertitta has been the CEO of Red Rock and Chairman of the Board since September 2015. Mr. Fertitta has also been the CEO of Station LLC since June 2011 and a member of Station Holdco’s board of directors from June 2011 until Station Holdco became member-managed as part of the IPO. Mr. Fertitta also served as President of Station LLC from January 2011 until October 2012. Mr. Fertitta was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Station Casinos Inc., the Company’s predecessor, from February 1993 to June 2011, CEO of STN from July 1992 to July 2008, and President of STN from July 2008 to June 2011. He was also President of STN from 1989 to July 2000. He has held senior management posts since 1985, when he was appointed General Manager of Palace Station. He was elected a director of STN in 1986, and he was also named Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.
Lorenzo Fertitta has been a member of the Company’s Board since its inception in September 2015, and Vice Chairman since January 2017. He was a member of Station Holdco’s board of directors from June 2011 until the company became member-managed as part of the IPO. Mr. Fertitta served as Vice Chairman of STN’s board of directors from December 2003 to June 2011 and as a director since 1991. Mr. Fertitta also served as the President of STN from July 2000 to June 2008. Mr. Fertitta was also co-owner of Fertitta Entertainment until it was acquired by Station LLC in May 2016, co-owner of Zuffa, LLC until it was sold in August 2016, and Chairman and CEO of Zuffa, LLC from June 2008 to August 2016. From 1991 to 1993, he was Vice President of STN. From June 1993 to July 2000, Mr. Fertitta was President and CEO of Fertitta Enterprises, Inc., where he was in charge of managing an investment portfolio that included marketable securities and real property.
Opinion:
Name: John C Chrystal
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2024-08-08 Shares Bought: 10,000 Average Price Paid: $45.88 Cost: $458,755
Company: Moneylion Inc. (ML)
MoneyLion Inc. was created in 2013 and is based in New York, NY. MoneyLion Inc., a financial technology firm, offers individualized solutions and financial content to American consumers. Customers can use the company’s platform to obtain banking, borrowing, and investment alternatives. RoarMoney, an insured digital demand deposit account; Instacash, a cash advance product that gives customers early access to their recurring income deposits; Credit Builder Plus membership program; MoneyLion Investing, an online investment account that offers access to separately managed accounts invested based on model exchange-traded fund portfolios; and Roundups, which provides features designed to encourage customers to establish good savings habits. The company also offers marketplace solutions such as effective channels for distribution, acquisition, growth, and monetization, as well as creative media and brand content services.
John Chrystal joined MoneyLion in 2016. Mr. Chrystal is currently an independent director of Regatta Loan Management LLC, a board member of Sac City Holdings, Ltd., a single bank holding company, and President of Bent Gate Management Company and C3 Management Company, both farm management companies. Previously, from June 2013 until February 2022, he was a director of The Bancorp and its subsidiaries, serving as Vice Chairman commencing in April 2017 and Interim Chief Executive Officer of The Bancorp, Inc. and President of The Bancorp Bank from December 2015 to May 2016. Mr. Chrystal has also served as a director of several special purpose acquisition firms from 2019 to 2022, an advisor to Monroe Capital LLC and its linked funds from 2017 to 2022, and a director of the Trust for Advised Portfolios from 2010 to 2022. Mr. Chrystal earned an MBA from the University of Chicago and an undergraduate degree from Iowa State University.
Opinion:
Name: Stephen E. Macadam
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2024-08-07 Shares Bought: 8,250 Average Price Paid: $31.56 Cost: $260,370
Company: Atmus Filtration Technologies Inc. (ATMU)
Atmus Filtration Technologies, Inc. was formed in 1958 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. The company designs, manufactures, and sells filtration products under the Fleetguard brand in North America, Europe, South America, Asia, Australia, Africa, and across the world. The company supplies fuel filters, lubricant filters, air filters, crankcase ventilation, hydraulic filters, coolants, and fuel additives, as well as other chemicals, to original equipment manufacturers, dealers/distributors, and end users. Its products are utilized in commercial vehicles on the road as well as off-road vehicles and equipment for agriculture, construction, mining, and power generation.
Mr. Stephen Macadam is an Independent Director at Sleep Number Corp., Chairman of Atmus Filtration Technologies, Inc., Independent Director at Louisiana-Pacific Corp., and President and CEO of Garlock Sealing Technologies LLC. He serves on the board of directors for Sleep Number Corp., Louisiana-Pacific Corp., and Purpose Built Communities. Mr. Macadam was previously employed as a Chairman by Veritiv Corp., an Independent Director by Valvoline, Inc., an Independent Director by Axiall Corp., a Vice Chairman by EnPro Industries, Inc., a Chief Executive Officer by BlueLinx Holdings, Inc., a Chief Executive Officer by BlueLinx Corp., a President & Chief Executive Officer by Consolidated Container Co. LLC, an Executive Vice President-Pulp & Paperboard by Georgia-Pacific LLC, a Partner & Principal by McKinsey & C He also served on the board of SOLO Cup Co. He earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Kentucky, a graduate degree from Boston College, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Opinion:
Name: Geir Olsen
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2024-08-07 Shares Bought: 11,750 Average Price Paid: $21.39 Cost: $251,333
Company: PRA Group Inc (PRAA)
PRA Group, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is based in Norfolk, Virginia. PRA Group, Inc., a financial and business services corporation, purchases, collects and manages nonperforming loan portfolios around the world. It is involved in the purchase of accounts that are mostly outstanding debts due by individuals to credit originators, such as banks and other types of consumer, retail, and auto finance organizations. Nonperforming loans, such as Visa and MasterCard credit card accounts, private label and other credit card accounts, personal loans, auto loans, and small business loans, are also acquired by the company from banks, credit unions, consumer finance companies, retailers, utilities, automobile finance companies, and other credit originators. In addition, it offers fee-based services for class action claim recovery. The company was previously known as Portfolio Recovery Associates, Inc., but changed its name to PRA Group, Inc. in October 2014.
Geir Olsen joined the PRA Group Board of Directors in June 2023. Mr. Olsen served as CEO and board member of Aktiv Kapital, AS, a significant European consumer debt purchaser, from September 2011 until its acquisition by the Company in 2014. From August 2014 to January 2016, Mr. Olsen was the CEO of PRA Group Europe. Mr. Olsen formerly held sales, marketing, and strategy leadership positions at Cisco Systems and Tandberg, a Norwegian business that Cisco bought in 2010. Mr. Olsen co-founded Ubon Partners, an investment firm that focuses on early-stage technology and financial services startups, in 2013 and served as a partner until December 2018. He is presently the CEO of Andenes Investments, a private investment firm that focuses on finance and technology and serves on the boards of many private portfolio businesses, including Avida Finans, First Fondene AS, Molo Finance, and Huma AS. Olsen earned a Master of Economics from the Norwegian School of Economics and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Opinion:
Name: John J Stelben
Position: SVP, Chief Financial Officer
Transaction Date: 2024-08-08 Shares Bought: 11,750 Average Price Paid: $21.39 Cost: $251,333
Company: eHealth Inc. (EHTH)
Name: Francis S Jr Soistman
Position: Chief Executive Officer
Transaction Date: 2024-08-08 Shares Bought: 50,000 Average Price Paid: $4.07 Cost: $203,730
Company: eHealth Inc. (EHTH)
eHealth, Inc. is a prominent private health insurance marketplace with a technology and service platform that offers customer engagement, education, and health insurance enrollment options. The company aims to professionally guide people through their health insurance enrollment and related alternatives, whenever, where, and how they want. The company platform uses technology to address a significant issue in a huge and expanding industry by assisting consumers with what has traditionally been a complex, confusing, and opaque health insurance purchasing process. The company’s omnichannel consumer engagement platform sets the company apart from other brokers, allowing customers to use company services online, over the phone with a licensed insurance agent or benefit advisor, or through a hybrid online assisted interaction that includes live agent chat and co-browsing capabilities.
John Stelben has been the Chief Financial Officer since November 2022. Mr. Stelben previously worked as CFO of CVS Integration at Aetna, a managed care organization, from December 2017 to December 2018. Before that, Mr. Stelben had a series of more responsible positions at Aetna, including CFO Government Programs, which covered Medicare, Medicaid, and public exchange companies, from June 2013 until December 2017. Mr. Stelben also held several top leadership positions with Coventry Health Care, Inc., a health insurance company, for over 18 years. Mr. Stelben is a certified public accountant with a B.S. in accounting from Fairfield University (1983).
Fran Soistman has been Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors since November 2021. From January 2020 to November 2021, Mr. Soistman formed and served as president of Healthcare Management and Transformation Advising Services LLC, a healthcare-focused advising firm. From January 2013 to September 2019, Mr. Soistman served as executive vice president at CVS Health, a health solutions firm, and president of government services at Aetna, a managed care organization. Before joining Aetna, Mr. Soistman co-founded Jessamine Healthcare and had executive positions at several healthcare and managed care firms, including Coventry Healthcare, Principal Health Care, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maryland. Mr. Soistman has a B.S. in accounting and finance from Towson University and graduated from Stanford University’s executive program. Mr. Soistman has nearly four decades of broad experience in healthcare and managed care, as well as a proven track record of leading operational transformations, financial turnarounds, and accelerated profitable growth in the insurance industry.
Opinion:
Name: Corning F. Painter
Position: Chief Executive Officer
Transaction Date: 2024-08-07 Shares Bought: 20,000 Average Price Paid: $17.48 Cost: $349,671
Company: Orion S.A. (OEC)
Orion S.A. was formed in 1862 and is based in Senningerberg, Luxembourg. Orion S.A. and its subsidiaries manufacture and sell carbon black products. The company operates in two segments: Specialty Carbon Black and Rubber Carbon Black. The company provides post-treated specialty carbon black grades for coatings and printing applications, high-purity carbon black grades for the fiber industry, and conductive carbon black grades for batteries, polymers, and coatings. They also offer rubber carbon black products for use in mechanical rubber goods and tires under the ECORAX brand name, as well as acetylene-based conductive additives for lithium-ion batteries and other uses. It serves the United States, Brazil, the rest of the Americas, Germany, South Africa, Italy, Spain, Turkey, France, the rest of EMEA, China, the Republic of Korea, and the rest of Asia. The company was previously known as Orion Engineered Carbons S.A., but it changed its name to Orion S.A. in June 2023.
Mr. Painter was appointed CEO of the Group in September 2018 and joined the Board of Directors in October 2018. Mr. Painter joined Air Products in 1984 as part of its professional development program. He ascended through the ranks, working in a range of commercial and operations positions in the United States and abroad, and was quickly promoted multiple times over the last few years, holding leadership positions in supply chain, corporate strategy, and technology. He was Executive Vice President of industrial Gases at Air Products until he departed at the end of June 2018 to become the new CEO of the Orion Engineered Carbons business, which began in September 2018.
Opinion:
Name: Christopher E French
Position: President & CEO
Transaction Date: 2024-08-09 Shares Bought: 18,500 Average Price Paid: $14.91 Cost: $275,853
Company: Shenandoah Telecommunications Co (SHEN)
Shenandoah Telecommunications Company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Edinburg, Virginia. Shenandoah Telecommunications Company, along with its subsidiaries, offers a variety of broadband communication services and cell tower colocation space in the Mid-Atlantic region of the US. It works in two segments: broadband and tower. The company’s Broadband section provides broadband, video, and voice services to residential and commercial clients in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky via hybrid fiber-coaxial cable under the Shentel brand and fiber optic services under the Glo Fiber brand name. This sector also leases dark fiber and offers Ethernet and wavelength fiber optic services to enterprise and wholesale customers under the brand names Glo Fiber Enterprise and Glo Fiber Wholesale, as well as voice data and DSL telephone services. The Tower division owns macro-cellular towers and leases colocation space to wireless communications carriers.
Christopher E. French has been President and CEO of the Company and its subsidiaries since 1988. Before becoming President, he held several positions with the company, including Executive Vice President and Vice President-Network Services. Mr. French is also on the Board of Directors of First National Corporation. Mr. French brings additional qualifications to the Board, such as his engineering and business education, telecommunications industry experience, knowledge of and history with the Company, and public company knowledge, which he gained while serving as a director of First National Corporation. Furthermore, his large ownership of the Company’s common stock aligns his interests with those of its stockholders.
Opinion:
Name: Anita J. Rival
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2024-08-08 Shares Bought: 31,000 Average Price Paid: $14.39 Cost: $446,090
Company: Golub Capital Bdc Inc. (GBDC)
Golub Capital BDC, Inc. is a business development company that acts as an externally managed closed-end non-diversified management investment firm. The company makes debt and minority stock investments in middle-market companies, which are often backed by private equity investors. It usually invests in various consumer services, vehicles, healthcare technology, insurance, healthcare equipment and supplies, hotels, restaurants, entertainment, healthcare providers and services, IT services, and specialized retail. The company plans to invest in the United States. The company typically invests in first-lien traditional senior debt, first-lien one-stop, junior debt, and equity, senior secured, one-stop, unitranche, second-lien, subordinated, and mezzanine loans made by middle-market corporations, as well as warrants.
Ms. Rival has been on the Board of Directors of GBDC since 2011. Ms. Rival became a trustee of the Baron Investment Funds Trust in May 2013. From April 2022 to April 2023, Ms. Rival worked as an independent director for Trian Investors 1 Limited, a Guernsey-based business listed on the London Stock Exchange. From January 2014 to September 2022, she was an independent director of Impala Asset Management. From April 2011 to May 2012, she worked as an independent advisor for Magnetar Capital, a multi-strategic hedge fund. Ms. Rival worked as a Partner and Portfolio Manager with Harris Alternatives, LLC and its predecessor, Harris Associates, L.P., from 1999 until her retirement in February 2009. Ms. Rival formerly worked at Banker’s Trust, Global Asset Management, and Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, where she held top roles. In 1985, Ms. Rival graduated from Harvard University with a BA.
Opinion:
Name: Stephen E. Macadam
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2024-08-06 Shares Bought: 43,000 Average Price Paid: $12.35 Cost: $531,196
Company: Sleep Number Corp (SNBR)
Sleep Number Corporation was established in 1987 and is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Sleep Number Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides sleep solutions and services in the United States. Sleep Number is a firm that designs, manufactures, markets, retails, and services beds, pillows, linens, and other sleeping products. The company also offers smart adjustable bases under the FlextFit brand and smart beds under the Climate 360 moniker. The company sells its items to customers directly through various channels, including retail, online, phone, and chat. The company was previously known as Select Comfort Corporation but changed its name to Sleep Number Corporation in November 2017.
Stephen E. Macadam, Sleep Number® setting 60, was named to the Sleep Number Board of Directors in November of 2023. From 2008 to 2019, Mr. Macadam was President and CEO of EnPro Industries, Inc., a company that manufactures and provides precise industrial components, solutions, and services. From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Macadam was Chief Executive Officer of BlueLinx Holdings, Inc., a wholesale distributor of building and industrial supplies in the United States. Mr. Macadam previously served as President and CEO of Consolidated Container Company LLC, North America’s second-biggest blow molder of rigid plastic containers. Mr. Macadam previously worked for Georgia-Pacific Corporation as Executive Vice President of pulp & Paperboard and Senior Vice President, of Containerboard & Packaging. He also worked as a consultant and then as a partner at McKinsey & Company. Mr. Macadam now serves as an independent director for Atmus Filtration Technologies, Inc. and Louisiana-Pacific Corporation.
Opinion:
Name: Michael D Price
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2024-08-07 Shares Bought: 89,312 Average Price Paid: $11.19 Cost: $999,515
Company: Ambac Financial Group Inc (AMBC)
Name: Claude LeBlanc
Position: Chief Executive Officer
Transaction Date: 2024-08-07 Shares Bought: 25,000 Average Price Paid: $10.83 Cost: $270,867
Company: Ambac Financial Group Inc (AMBC)
Name: Jeffrey Scott Stein
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2024-08-07 Shares Bought: 25,000 Average Price Paid: $10.82 Cost: $270,500
Company: Ambac Financial Group Inc (AMBC)
Ambac Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in New York, NY. Ambac Financial Group, Inc. serves as a financial services holding company. The company runs three businesses: Specialty Property and Casualty Insurance, Insurance Distribution, and Legacy Financial Guarantee (LFG) Insurance. The specialist Property and Casualty Insurance business offers specialist property and casualty program insurance with an emphasis on commercial and personal liability risk. The Insurance Distribution business includes specialty property and casualty insurance distribution, which provides for managing general agents and underwriters, insurance wholesalers, brokers, and other distribution companies. The LFG Insurance company offers financial guarantee insurance plans that give an unconditional and irreversible guarantee, protecting the holder of a debt obligation from nonpayment of the principal and interest on the obligations guaranteed.
Mr. Price has been a director since June 22, 2023. Mr. Price was President and Chief Executive Officer of Platinum Underwriters Holdings, Ltd. from 2005 until its acquisition by RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd in 2015. Platinum Underwriters Holdings provided property and casualty reinsurance coverage to insurance companies and select reinsurers globally. He previously served as Platinum’s Chief Operating Officer and President of Platinum US from 2002 until 2005. Mr. Price served as Chief Underwriting Officer of Platinum’s predecessor, the former reinsurance division of The St. Paul Companies, Inc. Before that, Mr. Price was Chief Operating Officer of Associated Aviation Underwriters Incorporated, a subsidiary of Global Aerospace Underwriting Managers Ltd., a major global MGU for aviation insurance and risk management solutions. Earlier in his career, he rose through the ranks of different property and liability insurance organizations. Mr. Price is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society and a Financial Risk Manager with the Global Association of Risk Professionals.
Mr. LeBlanc is Ambac’s President and CEO, as well as a director at Ambac Financial Group, Inc. and Ambac Assurance Corporation. He’s held these responsibilities since joining Ambac in January 2017. Mr. LeBlanc has led Ambac through a comprehensive transformation over the previous six years, transitioning the company away from its historical financial guarantee business and transforming it into a specialty property and casualty insurance platform. Previously, Mr. LeBlanc served as Syncora Holdings Ltd.’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Restructuring Officer from 2010 to 2016, as well as Executive Vice President from 2006 to 2009. During this time, Mr. LeBlanc oversaw the successful global restructuring of Syncora. Before joining Syncora, Mr. LeBlanc was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy and a member of XL Capital Ltd’s Executive Management Group. Mr. LeBlanc has a BA in economics from York University, a BComm from the University of Windsor, and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business.
Mr. Stein has been Chairman of the Board since January 1, 2015, and a director since May 1, 2013. Mr. Stein is the founder and managing partner of Stein Advisors LLC, a financial advising firm that offers consulting services to public and private corporations, as well as institutional investors. Mr. Stein is an investment specialist with more than twenty-eight years of experience in high yield, distressed debt, and special circumstances equity asset classes, as well as extensive experience investing in the financial services business. Mr. Stein was previously a Co-Founder and Principal of Durham Asset Management LLC, a global firm that manages distressed debt and special situations equity. From January 2003 to December 2009, Mr. Stein was Durham’s Co-Director of Research, in charge of identifying, evaluating, and managing assets for the firm’s numerous portfolios. Mr. Stein holds a B.A. in Economics from Brandeis University and a Master of Business Administration with Honors in Finance and Accounting from New York University.
Opinion:
Name: Michael Stuart Rosenthal
Position: Chief Operating Officer
Transaction Date: 2024-08-06 Shares Bought: 30,000 Average Price Paid: $10.84 Cost: $325,200
Company: MP Materials Corp. (MP)
MP Materials Corporation is the Western Hemisphere’s largest producer of rare earth materials. The Company, headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and Processing Facility, North America’s only large-scale rare earth mining and processing site, and is building a rare earth metal, alloy, and magnet manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas, where it plans to manufacture neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnets and precursor products. The company produces rare earth concentrates, refined rare earth oxides, and associated goods. The Company aims to maximize long-term stockholder returns by implementing a disciplined business plan to restore the entire rare earth supply chain to the United States of America. The Company thinks it will have a favorable impact on US national security and industry, the US workers, and the environment.
Michael Rosenthal founded MP Materials and serves as its Chief Operating Officer. He has overseen the Mountain Pass operation since the Company purchased it in 2017. Before joining MP Materials, he was a Partner at QVT Financial, an investment management firm. Mr. Rosenthal focused his investments at QVT on the global automotive sector and China. Before joining QVT, he worked as a senior high-yield credit analyst at Shenkman Capital Management. Mr. Rosenthal earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and comparative area studies from Duke.
Opinion:
Name: John A Good
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2024-08-07 Shares Bought: 24,000 Average Price Paid: $10.15 Cost: $243,574
Company: Farmland Partners Inc. (FPI)
Farmland Partners Inc. is an internally managed real estate business that owns and aims to buy high-quality farmland in agricultural markets across North America. The primary strategic goal of the company is to leverage the position as a leading institutional acquirer, owner, and manager of high-quality farmland in agricultural markets across North America to provide strong risk-adjusted returns to investors through a combination of cash dividends and asset appreciation. In addition, the company offers a loan program through which the company makes loans to third-party farmers to finance property acquisitions, working capital requirements, operational farming activities, farming infrastructure projects, and other farming and agricultural real estate-related projects.
Mr. Good has been a director at Farmland Partners Inc. since January 2018. Mr. Good has been the Chief Executive Officer of NexPoint Storage Partners, Inc., a private real estate company in the self-storage sector linked with NexPoint Advisors LLC, since November 2020. Mr. Good served as a director of Jernigan Capital from June 2015 until the merger in November 2020 and as Chairman from January 2020 to November 2020. Mr. Good graduated from the University of Memphis with a B.B.A. in accounting in 1980, obtained his CPA designation, and worked for a large regional CPA company before enrolling in the University of Memphis School of Law, where he earned his J.D. with honors in 1987.
Opinion:
Name: Henry Schuck
Position: Chief Executive Officer
Transaction Date: 2024-08-07 Shares Bought: 1,500,000 Average Price Paid: $8.49 Cost: $12,736,650
Company: ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. (ZI)
ZoomInfo Technologies, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is based in Vancouver, Washington. ZoomInfo Technologies Inc., along with its subsidiaries, offers a go-to-market information and engagement platform to sales and marketing teams in the United States and abroad. The company’s cloud-based platform provides information on organizations and professionals to assist users in identifying target customers and decision-makers, obtaining continuously updated predictive lead and company scoring, monitoring buying signals and other target company attributes, crafting messages, engaging with automated sales tools, and tracking progress through the deal cycle. The company serves corporations, mid-market firms, and small businesses in a variety of industries, such as software, business services, manufacturing, telecommunications, financial services, media and internet, transportation, education, hospitality, and real estate.
Henry Schuck has served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of ZoomInfo since founding it in 2007. Henry led ZoomInfo, which became the first technology business to go public during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has handled 13 acquisitions, including the company’s 2019 acquisition of Zoom Information. Before starting ZoomInfo, Henry was VP of Research & Marketing at iProfile, a sales intelligence firm specializing in the IT market. Henry is a cum laude with an honors graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with a B.S. in Business Administration and a second B.S. in Hospitality Administration, as well as a J.D. from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. Henry was chosen to Fortune Magazine’s “40 Under 40” Class of 2020 list.
Opinion:
Name: Liberty 77 Capital L.P. / Liberty 77 Fund International L.P. / STM Partners LLC / Steven T Mnuchin
Position: 10% Owner
Transaction Date: 2024-08-05 Shares Bought: 144,917 Average Price Paid: $8.47 Cost: $1,227,292
Company: Lions Gate Entertainment Corp (LGF-B)
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, founded in 1986 and headquartered in Santa Monica, California, operates across the film, television, subscription, and location-based entertainment industries in the United States, Canada, and worldwide. The corporation is organized into three main business units: Motion Pictures, Television Production, and Media Networks. The Motion Pictures division creates and produces feature films, acquires North American and global distribution rights, distributes North American feature films to cinemas, home entertainment, and television, and licenses global distribution rights. Television Production develops, produces, and distributes series, movies, miniseries, and nonfiction programming internationally. Media Networks offers STARZ-branded premium subscription video services domestically and globally through over-the-top platforms and video programming distributors such as cable operators, satellite TV providers, and telecommunications companies.
Liberty 77 Capital L.P., or Liberty Strategic Capital, is a private equity firm primarily investing in technology companies. The firm, founded in 2021 and headquartered in Washington, is led by Steven T. Mnuchin, a former Secretary of the Treasury.
Liberty 77 Fund International LP operates within the financial services industry and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.
STM Partners LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, has indirect control over the Liberty Manager and the general partner of the Liberty Funds. Steven T. Mnuchin serves as the President of STM Partners LLC.
Steven T. Mnuchin, Founder and Managing Partner of Liberty Strategic Capital, also serves as the firm’s Investment Committee Chair. He served as the 77th Secretary of the Treasury from February 2017 to January 2021. In this role, he was responsible for maintaining a strong economy, stimulating economic growth, and creating job opportunities by fostering favorable conditions both domestically and internationally. Mr. Mnuchin also oversaw cybersecurity for the financial services industry and all Treasury divisions, including the IRS. Before his role as Secretary, Mr. Mnuchin was the founder, chairman, and CEO of Dune Capital Management. He also founded OneWest Bank Group LLC, serving as Chairman and CEO until its sale to CIT Group Inc. Additionally, he worked as a Partner and Chief Information Officer at The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., where he managed its global information and technology strategy and operations. Mr. Mnuchin earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University.
Opinion:
Name: Andrew Miles Snyder
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 2024-08-08 Shares Bought: 290,938 Average Price Paid: $5.65 Cost: $1,644,410
Company: Clarivate Plc (CLVT)
Clarivate Plc was founded in 1864 and is based in London, United Kingdom. The company was known as Clarivate Analytics Plc before changing its name to Clarivate Plc in May 2020. Clarivate Plc provides information services throughout the Americas, Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Asia Pacific. It operates in three segments: academia and government, life sciences and healthcare, and intellectual property. Web of Science and InCites analyze and explore the academic research landscape while managing research information; ProQuest One and Ebook Central provide comprehensive content collections to institutions at a low cost; and Alma and Polaris manage academic resources and services, connect users, and support research publications. The company also offers Patent and Trademark Renewals, which assists paralegals and administrators with patent and trademark protection and maintenance tasks; CompuMark and Derwent, which help with critical decisions about patent and trademark protection, risk, and value creation throughout the innovation and brand lifecycle; and IPFolio and Foundation IP, which provide a structured environment for the protection and management of global patent and trademark assets.
Andrew Snyder has served on the Clarivate Board of Directors since December 2021, and as non-executive Board Chair since October 2022. He is also the CEO of Cambridge Information Group, a family-owned investment company. Mr. Snyder has established and maintained the CIG portfolio since 2003, which now focuses mostly on education, technology, and information services companies. From 2003 to 2021, Mr. Snyder was in charge of growing ProQuest LLC from a legacy firm of 190 employees to one of the world’s major producers of information and software solutions to the global academic and research communities, employing approximately 3,000 people. CIG sold ProQuest to Clarivate in December 2021. Before joining CIG, Mr. Snyder worked for Goldman Sachs Group for seven years, where he focused on traditional media, technology, and services investments for the firm’s private equity fund. Mr. Snyder received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where he graduated magna cum laude.
Opinion:
Name: Stellantis N.V. / FCA US LLC / FCA North America Holdings LLC / FCA Foreign Sales Holdco LTD. / SFS UK 1 LTD / Stellantis Europe S.P.A.
Position: 10% Owner
Transaction Date: 2024-08-08 Shares Bought: 2,982,089 Average Price Paid: $3.35 Cost: $9,989,998
Company: Archer Aviation Inc. (ACHR)
Archer Aviation Inc. develops and manufactures electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for urban air mobility systems. The company aims to open up the skies, allowing people to rethink how they travel and spend time. Their eVTOL planes are designed to be safe, sturdy, and silent. Midnight’s production aircraft, available in November 2022, is designed with a unique 12-tilt-6 arrangement. This means it has 12 propellers attached to 6 booms on a fixed wing, with all 12 propellers providing vertical lift during takeoff and landing, and the forward six propellers tilting forward to cruise position to provide propulsion during forward flight. In contrast, the wing offers aerodynamic lift in the same way that a traditional airplane does.
Stellantis is a group of 14 antique car firms and two mobility arms dedicated to more than just transportation: transporting people and building connections. Stellantis will collaborate with Archer to establish the company’s previously announced production plant in Covington, Georgia, where the Midnight aircraft will be manufactured in 2024. Midnight’s 100-mile range makes it ideal for two short-distance excursions of about 20 miles each, with a 10-minute charge in between. This unusual alliance in urban air transportation will bring the Midnight aircraft to market by leveraging each company’s assets and experience. Archer will provide a world-class team of eVTOL, electric powertrain, and certification experts to collaborate. In contrast, Stellantis will provide new manufacturing technologies and expertise, experienced personnel, and financial support.
FCA US LLC (FCA US), formerly Chrysler Group LLC, designs, engineers, manufactures, distributes, and sells vehicles. The corporation sells passenger cars, minivans, sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks, and commercial vehicles under Dodge, Jeep, Fiat, Mopar, Lancia, Chrysler, Ram, Abarth, and Alfa Romeo. Additionally, the corporation provides retail and dealer finance, leasing, rental, and aftermarket services. It primarily markets its products in North America, namely the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean Islands. The company is a subsidiary of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV. FCA US is based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA.
FCA NORTH AMERICA HOLDINGS LLC is a growing business in the United States of America. It is identified by a legal entity identifier (LEI). The LEI is a one-of-a-kind code that identifies legal organizations conducting global financial transactions. FCA NORTH AMERICA HOLDINGS LLC is classified as general and uses the legal form code HZEH. The entity’s legal address is C/O THE CORPORATION TRUST COMPANY, 19801 WILMINGTON, Delaware, US, but the headquarters address is C/O THE CORPORATION COMPANY, 48178 South Lyon, Delaware, US. The company was established on May 13, 2009, and was first registered with an LEI on August 10, 2017, which is still valid and was last updated on June 1, 2023.
SFS UK 1 Ltd is an active company founded on November 12, 2021, with its registered office in Coventry, West Midlands. SFS UK 1 Ltd has been open for two years. The most current confirmation declaration, dated November 11, 2023, listed two active directors and one active secretary.
Stellantis Europe S.p.A., formerly known as Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A. from 2007 to 2014 and FCA Italy S.p.A. from 2014 to 2023, is the Italian subsidiary of the multinational automaker Stellantis, which manufactures and sells passenger cars and light commercial vehicles and is headquartered in Turin, Italy.
Opinion:
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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,
