I don't know about you, but my mother always made
methe guinea pig when it came to taste-testing her
food for dinner parties.
I didn't mind helping my mother out. But when it comes to
investing, it's smart to pick out companies whose leaders are
willing to eat alongside me, as it were, by owning a big
equity stake in the company. And I'm not talking about
options, either. Managers who own real shares, right now, are
more likely to have strong incentives to ensure the company
remains on solid financial footing and maintains a proper
strategic focus.
After all, some of the
best companies in the worldhave historically exhibited
high levels of insider ownership and strong, visionary
leadership: Some of the more conspicuous successes include
legends like
Microsoft and
Berkshire Hathaway .
Actions speak louder than words, or so I
hear
A CEO or CFO buying up shares clearly believes in the
future of the company. On the flip side, while selling is
sometimes a negative signal, it could simply mean that the
executives need a few bucks for personal expenses.
To identify potentially rewarding stocks with huge insider
stakes, I used the Motley Fool's
CAPS screening toolto search for companies with:
market
capof $500 million.
CAPS
ratingof five stars, the highest
possible.  Â
Â
Voila! Here are some of the companies that
popped outwhen I ran the screen today:
Company
Market Cap
% Insider Ownership
Alliance Holdings (Nasdaq: AHGP)
$1.2 billion
68.4%
Clean Energy Fuels (Nasdaq: CLNE)
$771 million
35.9%
Hornbeck Offshore Services (NYSE:
HOS)
$642 million
11.8%
IPG Photonics (Nasdaq: IPGP)
$610 million
47.2%
Leucadia National (NYSE: LUK) Continued... |