Put five Fools in a room, ask them how they invest, and you'll likely get five different answers. Some like growth, others value, or small caps, or dividends, or, well, you get the picture.
Yet, while our styles differ, we all want excellent, engaged managers running the companies we own. We like it even more when these managers are also owners -- investors like you and me who, in trying times like these, are willing to buy as others sell. That's why I write this column weekly.
The week's buying
So which rich executives are buying now? Have a look, courtesy of our friends at Form 4 Oracle:
Company |
Closing Price 4/1/09 |
Total Value Purchased |
52-Week Return |
---|---|---|---|
Las Vegas Sands |
$3.74 |
$23,154,669 |
(95.2%) |
T-3 Energy Services |
$11.81 |
$575,453 |
(72.7%) |
Actuant |
$10.25 |
$287,191 |
(67.5%) |
Chico's FAS |
$5.64 |
$98,222 |
(25%) |
Jackson Hewitt |
$5.12 |
$39,000 |
(55%) |
Sources: Fool.com, Yahoo! Finance, Form 4 Oracle.
Betting on Vegas and Macau
When it comes to the desert paradise that is Las Vegas, Frank Sinatra sang it best: It's a make you town, or a break you town. Lately, Vegas has been in a break-you-town sort of mood. Shares of Las Vegas Sands and MGM Mirage
And they aren't the only ones suffering. Rhodes Design and Development, a well-known land developer in the region, filed for bankruptcy this week, the Associated Press reports. As many as 10,000 creditors could be affected by the filing.
So Vegas is hurting, and that's bad news for Sheldon Adelson, billionaire owner of the Las Vegas Sands gaming resort empire. His 50% stake in the company is worth a lot less today than it was a year ago.
Interestingly, Adelson doesn't seem to care. Rather than diversify or simply cut his losses, he's doubling down: Adelson has purchased 7.8 million shares of Las Vegas Sands since Friday at an average price of $2.95 apiece. CAPS All-Star campbem1 likes the move. Quoting from a pitch this Fool posted on Saturday:
At the current price of this stock the only question you have to ask yourself is will it go under or not? I am betting no ... This stock has been on a rollercoaster ride down for long enough. Yes, Las Vegas traffic is down but the opening of Bethlaham in May and Singapore end of year or early 2010 will be big. Sheldon Adelson has more skin in the game then a party at the Playboy Mansion. He is looking into buying back debt and possibly partnering up in Macau to finish construction on suspended projects.
Too bullish? Our 130,000-strong Motley Fool CAPS community might say so:
Metric |
|
---|---|
CAPS stars (5 max) |
** |
Total ratings |
1,272 |
Percent Bulls |
81.4% |
Percent Bears |
18.6% |
Bullish pitches |
195 out of 227 |
Data current as of April 2, 2009.
I'm more inclined to side with Adelson, who, like Steve Wynn of Wynn Resorts
Shares of Las Vegas Sands are rallying on the news, as they should. Any catalyst is a good catalyst in a market like this one.
There's your update. See you back here next week when we dig through more insider filings in search of the next home run stock.
Get the inside scoop on stocks of all sizes with related Foolishness:
- Find out which executives were buying last time.
- And here's a look at who has been selling.
- Maybe it's time for you to quit buying stocks.
- Uh-oh. You are about to lose a fortune.
- Why are you still listening to Jim Cramer?