Insider Buying 03-21-25 Volatility Collapses for the Moment

Insanity 1.0 moved the market all of 1/2% last week. As much as we’d like to think the world as we know it is collapsing around us, it’s volatility that is collapsing, for the moment at least. The Fed gave us a reprieve and hinted that tariff induced inflation was likely transitory. We’ve heard that word before during the Pandemic. Nike and FedEx disappointed investors with their growth outlook. There were not a lot of insider buys but there were two in household brand names, Adobe and Home Depot.

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Name: Daniel Durn
Position: EVP & CFO
Transaction Date: 03-20-2025 Shares Bought: 1,300 shares an Average Price Paid of $390.58 for Cost: $507,758

Company: Adobe Inc. (ADBE):

Adobe is a global technology company focused on revolutionizing digital experiences through its innovative products, services, and solutions. For over four decades, Adobe has influenced how individuals, teams, businesses, institutions, and governments create, manage, and measure content across multiple media platforms. Its offerings are utilized worldwide to foster creativity, optimize cross-platform interaction, and enhance digital experiences. Adobe’s diverse user base includes consumers, creative professionals, developers, students, small and medium-sized businesses, and large enterprises. Additionally, the company integrates artificial intelligence into its products with a commitment to responsible and ethical practices.

Dan was appointed as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Adobe in October 2021. He oversees the Finance, Technology, Services, and Operations division, applying his extensive expertise in technology and finance to drive operational excellence, enable scalability, and foster innovation across the organization. Dan holds a Bachelor of Science in Control Systems Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School. He served in the U.S. Navy for six years, achieving the rank of lieutenant.

Opinion: Adobe owned the creative market, but it is now under siege by generation tools like Canva Magic, Runway ML, Midjourney, Figma AI, ChatGPT, Copilot, and any number of generative AI models that will instantly create graphics and videos from prompts. These AI graphic creators, though, will only get you to 90% of where you want to be. The remaining 10%, call it the “last mile” is painful, near impossible to fix with prompts. Will they get better, undoubtedly but will they replace the tools that Adobe has dominated for many years, that’s the answer to the investment puzzle. Adobe is not sitting still, either. They are trying to innovate AI into their Adobe Creative Cloud with a product called Firefly. Creative professionals will find Adobe’s prompt-based creation to satisfy the last 10%, the last mile far more readily than competitors.

I compare this to Microsoft’s very successful integration of Git Hub into their coding suite of tools. If you’re a designer, Firefly + Creative Cloud is unmatched in visual creativity. If you’re a developer, GitHub Copilot inside VS Code or Visual Studio saves hours writing and debugging code. I think Adobe has a winner here.

Insiders have started paying attention. A director purchased shares in January at $443.98 and our favorite insider, the CFO purchased shares last week at $390.58. If you loved Adobe at $587 last year at $620, last Friday’s close at $387 looks attractive. Although not cheap at 25.52X last twelve month’s earnings, Adobe’s Annualized Recurring Revenue (“ARR”) of $17.63 billion, representing 12.6 percent year-over-year growth, may deserve a premium multiple.

Name: Gregory D Brenneman
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 03-14-2025 Shares Bought: 2,884 shares an Average Price Paid of $346.66 for Cost: $999,767

Company: Home Depot Inc. (HD):

The Home Depot, Inc. is a leading home improvement retailer operating in the United States and internationally. It offers a wide range of building materials, home improvement products, lawn and garden supplies, décor items, and facilities maintenance, repair, and operations products. The company also provides installation services for flooring, water heaters, bathtubs, garage doors, cabinets, countertops, sheds, furnaces, central air systems, and windows. Additionally, it offers tool and equipment rental services. Established in 1978, The Home Depot is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Gregory D. Brenneman is the Executive Chairman of CCMP Capital Advisors, a private equity firm he joined in 2008. He has served on The Home Depot, Inc.’s board of directors since 2000 and has been the Lead Independent Director since 2014. Additionally, he is the Chairman and CEO of TurnWorks, Inc., a private equity firm specializing in corporate turnarounds, which he founded in 1994. Mr. Brenneman holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance from Washburn University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Opinion: Interest rates are likely to come down and home builder’s and home improvement stock’s sentiments likely to rebound. Long time board member last bought Home Depot stock in March of 2018.

Name: R. Howard Coker
Position: President & CEO
Transaction Date: 03-13-2025 Shares Bought: 20,000 shares an Average Price Paid of $46.10 for Cost: $922,000

Company: Sonoco Products Co (SON):

Sonoco Products Company, established in 1899 in Hartsville, South Carolina, initially operated as the Southern Novelty Company. The business began with a team of 12 workers producing cone-shaped paper yarn carriers for winding and transporting yarn. At that time, paper cones were a novel alternative to the more common wooden cones, which quickly positioned the company as the largest cone manufacturer in the United States. As demand grew, the Southern Novelty Company expanded its product offerings and established operations across the country, evolving into a prominent player in the packaging industry.

R. Howard Coker has served as the President and CEO of Sonoco Products Company since February 2020. Joining the company in 1985, he has held multiple roles in sales, production, and management, including Senior Vice President of Global Paper/Industrial Converted Products. Mr. Coker earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Wofford College in 1985 and an MBA from Wake Forest University in 1990.

Opinion: Potential catalysts that might influence Sonoco’s stock include the successful integration of Eviosys, completion of the TFP business divestiture, and the strategic review of the ThermoSafe business, expected to conclude in the third quarter of 2025. These actions are anticipated to streamline operations and enhance shareholder value. CEO Coker certainly seems enthusiastic as he bought $929,500 worth of stock last month. Perhaps they’ve got the tariff plan figured out? Hard to imagine since no one has explained it other than they tariff us, we tariff them.

Name: Sean Edward Quinn
Position: EVP, Chief Financial Officer
Transaction Date: 03-14-2025 Shares Bought: 5,000 shares an Average Price Paid of $41.50 for Cost: $207,500

Company: Cimpress Plc (CMPR):

Cimpress is a network of businesses that focus on mass customization in the print industry. This approach allows them to efficiently produce large quantities of small, customized orders for printed materials and related products. The company offers a variety of marketing materials, business cards, signage, promotional products, logo apparel, invitations, announcements, design services, and digital marketing solutions. Mass customization is central to Cimpress’ strategy, enabling the creation of personalized products tailored to individual customer needs while maintaining efficiency similar to mass production.

Sean E. Quinn has been part of Cimpress plc since October 2009, initially serving as Senior Manager of External Reporting and Accounting. He progressed through roles such as Director of External Reporting and Accounting, Global Controller, Chief Accounting Officer, and Vice President of Corporate Finance. In October 2015, he was appointed Chief Financial Officer and later became Executive Vice President in July 2016. Before joining Cimpress, Mr. Quinn worked as a Certified Public Accountant with KPMG LLP from September 2001 to October 2009, gaining experience in the firm’s Philadelphia, London, and Boston offices. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Saint Joseph’s University.

Opinion: Best known for its epiphanous marketing small business printer, Vistaprint. Cimpress trades at a very low P.E multiple of 7.18 TTM but It’s debt to capital ratio of 149% in the most recent quarter could be challenging if the economy falters.

Name: Randall A. Lipps
Position: Chairman, President and CEO
Transaction Date: 03-14-2025 Shares Bought: 10,561 shares an Average Price Paid of $33.13 for Cost:$349,874

Company: Omnicell Inc. (OMCL):

Omnicell is a leader in transforming pharmacy and nursing care delivery, committed to tackling the significant challenges of medication management while empowering clinicians as vital contributors to healthcare. The company helps clients develop and implement cost-effective medication management strategies that enable pharmacists and nurses to focus on patient care rather than administrative tasks. This approach aims to enhance clinical, operational, and financial outcomes across various care settings. Omnicell achieves these objectives through an advanced pharmaceutical management infrastructure that incorporates robotics, smart devices, and comprehensive operational and optimization analytics.

Randall A. Lipps is the Chairman, President, CEO, and Founder of Omnicell Inc., which he established in September 1992. Under his leadership, Omnicell has grown from a single product offering to deliver a comprehensive range of drug management solutions across the entire care continuum. Before founding Omnicell, Mr. Lipps held roles at ST Holdings, Inc., American Airlines, Inc., and AMR Corp. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University.

Opinion: This one makes me nervous with innovative competitors like Amazon entering the space.

Name: Neal Lux
Position: President & CEO
Transaction Date: 03-13-2025 Shares Bought: 12,607 shares an Average Price Paid of $18.01 for Cost: $227,070

Company: Forum Energy Technologies Inc. (FET):

Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. designs, manufactures, and distributes products for the oil, natural gas, industrial, and renewable energy sectors across the United States and internationally. The company operates through two primary segments: Drilling and Completions, and Artificial Lift and Downhole. The Drilling and Completions segment focuses on developing, producing, and supplying products and solutions for drilling, subsea operations, coiled tubing, well stimulation, and intervention. These applications span industries such as oil and gas, renewable energy, military, and communications. Initially known as Forum Oilfield Technologies, Inc., the company changed its name to Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. in August 2010. Founded in 2005, Forum Energy Technologies is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Mr. Lux has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. since February 2022. Since joining the company in January 2009, he has taken on increasingly responsible operational roles, including Executive Vice President of Operations, Senior Vice President of Completions, Managing Director of Global Tubing, and President of Global Tubing. Mr. Lux holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University.

Opinion: The market is uninterested in differentiating companies in the oil and gas services space You might as well invest in OIH ETF if you want this exposure.

Name: David D Smith
Position: Executive Chairman, 10% Owner
Transaction Date: 03-18-2025 Shares Bought: 66,229 shares an Average Price Paid of $15.80 for Cost: $1,046,346

Company: Sinclair Inc. (SBGI):

Sinclair Broadcast Group, LLC operates under its parent company, Sinclair, Inc., a Maryland corporation established in 2022. The current LLC structure emerged from the conversion of Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., originally founded in 1986, to a Maryland limited liability company in 2023. Sinclair is a diverse media organization with a strong national presence, focusing on delivering high-quality content through local television stations. Before its deconsolidation, the company managed stations, internet platforms, and regional sports networks. Its content distribution includes third-party network programming, syndicated shows, and original local news, sports, and other productions created by the company and its owned networks.

David D. Smith has served as Executive Chairman of Sinclair since January 2017 and has been Chairman of the Board since September 1990. He previously held the roles of President and CEO from 1988 to January 2017. Mr. Smith co-founded Sinclair in 1986 and also established Comark Communications, Inc., a manufacturer of high-power transmitters for UHF television stations, where he held executive and director roles until 1986. Additionally, Mr. Smith is a member of the Board of Directors of MileOne Autogroup, Inc.

Opinion: Sinclair Executive Chairman continues to aggressively accumulate his Company’s stock. As of Friday’s close, Sinclair’s stock traded at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 3.65x and offered a substantial 5.9% dividend yield. Growth and profitability have been improving. This looks promising.

Name: Robert Patrick Kruczek
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 03-14-2025 Shares Bought: 150,000 shares an Average Price Paid of $6.82 for Cost: $1,023,563

Name: Joe T Ford
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 03-14-2025 Shares Bought: 116,300 shares an Average Price Paid of $6.79 for Cost: $790,243

Name: William A Ford
Position: Chief Operating Officer
Transaction Date: 03-14-2025 Shares Bought: 15,000 shares an Average Price Paid of $6.45 for Cost: $96,750

Company: Westrock Coffee Co (WEST):

Westrock Coffee Company, a Delaware corporation, is a leading integrated provider of coffee, tea, flavors, extracts, and ingredient solutions in the United States. The company specializes in sourcing, supply chain management, and distribution services, catering to diverse industries such as retail, food service, restaurants, convenience stores, travel centers, non-commercial customers, consumer packaged products, and hospitality worldwide. Westrock Coffee focuses on delivering end-to-end solutions, product innovation, traceability, transparency, and scalability across its global portfolio. The company’s goal is to develop and maintain a premier integrated solutions platform for some of the world’s most recognizable brands.

R. Patrick Kruczek is a Director of Westrock Coffee Company and serves as a Principal and Co-Manager at BBH Capital Partners, where he leads investment activities and manages portfolio companies. Before joining BBH in 2016, he had a 20-year career at Morgan Keegan & Company, holding various roles, including President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Kruczek earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Tennessee.

Mr. Ford co-founded Westrock Coffee and has served as its Chairman since 2009. He also co-founded Westrock Group in 2013, where he continues to serve as Chairman, and Westrock Asset Management, LLC, a global alternative investment firm, where he held the position of Chairman until 2022. Earlier in his career, Mr. Ford served as President of Allied Telephone Company, a provider of wireless voice and data communications services, from 1977 to 1983. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas.

Will Ford is the Group President of Operations at Westrock Coffee Company. Since joining the organization in 2016, he has gained extensive experience in the global coffee industry, focusing on production, operations, and distribution logistics. Mr. Ford oversees more than one million square feet of operational space across eight facilities worldwide. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Baylor University.

Opinion: This C-store giant excels at supply chain management, retail point of sale and coffee production for private label brands. I would expect efficiency and optimization is behind the recent insider buys.

Name: Neville Daniel
Position: Chief Executive Officer
Transaction Date: 03-14-2025 Shares Bought: 46,599 shares an Average Price Paid of $6.45 for Cost: $300,575

Name: Leonard M Tannenbaum
Position: Director, 10% Owner
Transaction Date: 03-14-2025 Shares Bought: 82,007 shares an Average Price Paid of $6.32 for Cost: $518,686

Company: Advanced Flower Capital Inc. (AFCG):

Advanced Flower Capital Inc., founded in July 2020 by a group of experienced investment professionals, focuses on originating, developing, underwriting, investing in, and managing senior secured loans, along with other types of mortgage loans and debt securities. The company primarily lends to cannabis industry operators in states where medical or recreational cannabis use is legally permitted. Its investment approach emphasizes allocating capital to attractive loan opportunities for state-compliant cannabis businesses. These loans are typically secured by real estate, equipment, cash flows, and licensing value, providing a robust foundation for risk management.

Daniel Neville has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Flower Capital Inc. since November 13, 2023. Before this role, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Ascend Wellness Holdings, Inc. from August 2020 to November 2023, overseeing accounting, finance, mergers and acquisitions, information technology, and procurement. Prior to his tenure at AWH, Mr. Neville was a Managing Director at SLS Capital, a New York-based special situations hedge fund, from January 2015 to March 2019, and worked as an Analyst there from April 2010 to January 2015. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Duke University.

Leonard M. Tannenbaum founded Advanced Flower Capital Inc. in July 2020 and has served as a director since its inception. In October 2024, he transitioned from Executive Chairman to Chairman of the Board. Mr. Tannenbaum began his entrepreneurial journey at the age of 27 by establishing Fifth Street Capital in a modest two-room office in White Plains, New York. Under his leadership, Fifth Street Capital expanded into a national alternative credit asset manager with locations in Palo Alto, Chicago, and Greenwich. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Opinion: Loaning money to the unbanked cannabis sector is a niche. Large insider buys are interesting, and the 14.42% yield is off the charts but I am concerned about the 50% drop in quarter over quarter revenues.

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If you are a QUALIFIED INVESTOR and are interested in learning how you can be part of the Insiders Fund, schedule some time with me here.

This blog is solely for educational purposes and the author’s own amusement. IT IS NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE. 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 and its blogs and posts are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of the companies mentioned herein. All company names, logos, and trademarks belong to their respective owners. The use of company logos is solely for descriptive and illustrative purposes under fair use. Any information provided is based on publicly available data and should not be considered financial, investment, or legal advice. Readers should conduct their own research or consult with a professional before making any investment decisions.

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 as soon as practically possible. 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. When I have time, over the weekend, I’ll add some preliminary analysis to the Opinion at the end. Sometimes I won’t update this for a couple of weeks or more. A good way to use this blog is as I do, it’s a reference point and filing cabinet for various stocks with notable insider buying. It’s one of many tools I use. I regularly live on Chat GPT and Microsoft Copilot now. I find the footnotes research very helpful in eliminating errors from AI hallucinations.

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.