Trading Tips Blog

Mohamad Ali, a director at
Henry Schein (HSIC), recently picked up 1,000 shares. The buy cost just over $65,000, and is an initial stake by the director. Insider trends also show that it’s the first buy at the firm in the past three years. Insiders have been exclusively sellers over that timeframe, including both directors and C-suite executives. The sales have occurred on a regular basis, so some insiders have sold at lower prices than where shares trade today. Even with the ...
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Tech companies are able to reap massive profit margins thanks to scale and costs. For instance, the cost of writing a piece of software is fixed. If a company can sell an additional copy, its marginal cost of production is minimal. That’s also true of other tech services as well. It’s why a number of companies building out their cloud capabilities are able to reap massive profit margins. That’s why it’s no surprise that
Oracle (ORCL), a Silicon Valley giant, has been Read More About This

Energy giant
Exxon Mobil (XOM) has been moving higher along with the price of oil in the past few months. At least one trader sees shares taking a breather from here. That’s based on the April $55 put options. The option expires in 52 days. Over 50,800 contracts traded against a prior open interest of 1,055, for a 48-fold jump in volume. The trade is slightly in-the-money as shares are currently going for about $54.50. The option trader paid about $3.40 for the ...
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There’s always a good profit to be had in the “picks and shovels” of any trend. Companies that provide infrastructure or supplies can profit from a number of ways that other firms may not be able to do. One trend is rising food prices, which you may have noticed at the shelves of your local grocery store. Rising crop prices are pushing up the final cost of food as well. Investing directly in agricultural commodities is a headache for a stock investor, ...
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Copper giant
Freeport McMoRan (FCX) has been on a tear, and one trader sees shares continuing to move even higher in the next few months. That’s based on the May $42 calls. Expiring in 88 days, over 3,250 contracts traded recently, a 20-fold rise in volume from the prior open interest of 163. Shares would need to rise another 13.5 percent for the option to move in-the-money before expiration. The trader paid about $2.41 to make the trade. Freeport shares jumped over 7.4 ...
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Matthew Koeppen, Chief Investment Officer at
Two Harbors Investment Corp (TWO), recently added 20,000 shares to his holdings. The buy came to just over $133,000. He was joined a day later by William Greenberg, the company President and CEO, who bought 35,000 more shares, at a total cost of just over $230,000. These mark the first insider buys since 2019. Prior actions over the past year have been sales. Shares of the mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT) are down nearly 60 ...
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Markets continue to see some big moves in individual companies reporting earnings. Or, more accurately, in companies making announcements in conjunction with earnings. For instance,
Walmart (WMT) reported solid earnings thanks to rising ecommerce sales, and boosted its share buyback program to $20 billion. Yet shares sold off anyway, as the firm came in light with guidance for the year ahead. It also didn’t help that the company announced a higher wage for 425,000 workers. The wage raise will increase the company’s ...
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Edward Ludwig, a director at
CVS Health Corp (CVS) recently picked up 3,000 shares. The buy increased his stake by over 13 percent, and came to a total cost of exactly $216,000. This is the first insider buy at the company since last May, when an EVP bought 5,000 shares. Overall insiders have been sellers of shares, and entirely from the C-suite of executives, rather than from company directors. Insiders own a paltry 0.17 percent of shares. The drugstore chain has traded ...
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