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It’s always a good idea to keep track of insider buying.
After all, if insiders are willing to put their money where their mouths are, there’s usually a good reason for it. Here are three of the top stocks where insiders have been doing that.
Key Points About This Article
- Always keep an eye on insider buying. If insiders are putting their money where their mouths are, at least look into why.
- A Home Depot director just picked up $1 million for 2,884 shares.
- Intel’s new CEO just bought $25 million worth of stock.
- Take this quiz to see if you’re on track to retire. (sponsored)
Look at oversold shares of Home Depot
After crumbling from about $420 to a low of about $345, Home Depot (NYSE:HD) appears to have finally found a bottom and is starting to pivot higher. Helping, Home Depot director Gregory Brenneman paid $1 million on March 14, for 2,884 shares, at an average price of $346.66.
Also, in its most recent quarter, the company’s EPS of $3.13 beat estimates by nine cents. Revenue of $39.7 billion, up 14.1% year over year, beat by $630 million. “Sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 were $39.7 billion, an increase of $4.9 billion, or 14.1% from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023. Comparable sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 increased 0.8%, and comparable sales in the U.S. increased 1.3%,” added Seeking Alpha.
The company also raised its quarterly dividend by 2.2% to $2.30 a share, which works out to $9.20 when annualized. Unfortunately, the stock did fall on guidance.
Home Depot expects total sales to increase about 2.8% in 2024 and EPS to fall about 3%. Not helping, CFO Richard McPhail warned that he doesn’t see the housing market improving in 2025. The good news is most of the negativity from that outlook appears to be priced in.
Intel
Intel’s (NASDAQ:INTC) new CEO Lip-Bu Tan just bought $25 million worth of stock within his first 30 days. He picked up 1,043,406 shares on March 21. According to Barron’s, “Lip Bu’s purchase reflects his belief in Intel and commitment to creating shareholder value.”
Helping, analysts at Bank of America just upgraded INTC after a “well-regarded CEO hire.”
“We believe INTC has a greater opportunity to restructure/turn things around under his leadership, with INTC’s strong incumbency/brand position in enterprise PC/server CPUs increasing the potential for success,” added Bank of America, as quoted by Seeking Alpha.
The firm also raised its INTC price target to $25 per share.
Akamai Technologies
After gapping from about $102.50 to a low of $75.60, Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) is also starting to pivot higher. Helping, co-founder and CEO Tom Leighton just bought 37,670 shares at an average price of $79.58 each for $3 million on February 27.
Leighton noted: “Akamai is in the midst of a multiyear transformation, and I am very excited about our future. I see tremendous greenfield for our security products, particularly our fastest-growing API security and Zero Trust security solutions. And customer traction with our Cloud Infrastructure Services is just starting to take off. As we discussed on our recent earnings call, we are forecasting 40%-45% growth in this segment this year, and rapid expansion of our compute services through the end of the decade,” as quoted by Barron’s.
“We have a differentiated cloud offering that enterprises want, and our addressable market is more than $100 billion. My belief in Akamai and our opportunity for revenue growth is strong.”
Recent AKAM earnings weren’t too shabby either.
In its fourth quarter, EPS of $1.66 beat by 14 cents. Revenue of $1.02 billion, up 2.5% year over year, was in-line. Security accounted for a substantial part of the company’s annual revenue, achieving annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $190 million, up 31% year over year. That was also above expectations for $180 million. Cloud computing also saw substantial growth, with cloud infrastructure services ARR up to $259 million, up 35% year over year.
Unfortunately, it was Akamai’s forecast that took the stock down.
For 2025, the company now expects to earn between $6 and $6.40 per share on an adjusted basis. That’s below expectations for $6.82. Sales are forecast to be between $4 billion and $4.2 billion, with the $4.1 billion midpoint missing estimates for $4.25 billion. Also, for the first quarter, Akamai now expects to see adjusted EPS of $1.54 to $1.59, which is below estimates of $1.61. Sales are forecast to be between $1 billion and $1.02 billion, which is below analyst expectations for $1.04 billion.
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