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The One Commodity With Heavy Insider Buying…

By Graham Summers
Friday, July 14, 2006

On Wednesday, I mentioned St. Jude Medical (STJ) as a stock with heavy insider buying.
 
And St. Jude isn’t alone. In the past six months, the medical industry represented a big chunk of the stock market’s insider buying.
 
Today, I’ll tell you another business the insiders are bullish on: natural gas.
 
After exploding in the late summer/early fall of 2005 following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, natural gas prices soon fell due to a mild winter and a glut in natural gas supplies. Unlike oil, natural gas is primarily a domestic commodity, with Canada representing America’s chief importer. Canada isn’t exactly a political strife area.
 
And with natural gas trading above $10 per million BTU, energy producers began shifting to other fuel sources, resulting in a surplus of natural gas. Supplies rose, demand fell, and soon the price was down to $5 and change.
 
That’s when the insiders started loading up.
 
Here’s a quick list of the natural gas companies with significant insider buying in the last six months:
 
Company
Symbol
Amount
Chesapeake Energy
CHK
$27 million
Houston Exploration
THX
$8 million
PetroHawk Energy
HAWK
$1 million
Enbridge Energy
EEQ
$800,000
Apache
APA
$694,000
Energen
EGN
$500,000
Markwest Hydrcarbon
MWP
$250,000
Forrest Oil
FST
$200,000
 
Number one on the list, Chesapeake Energy’s (CHK) primary buyer is CEO Aubrey McClendon. At face value, his purchases are incredible.
 
The only problem is that as of Dec. 31, 2005, he had $91 million in unexercised options. So at any time, he could cash in these options, buy shares, and have it appear as though his purchases were open market transactions like you or I would make. McClendon’s also got $14 million in restricted stock awards due over the next four years. So Chesapeake isn't what I'd call a great insider opportunity.
 
I’d stick with the stocks further down the list. Several of these companies have solid insider buying, and are in confirmed uptrends.
 
And should a major hurricane threaten the Gulf of Mexico’s natural gas infrastructure, those uptrends could go a lot higher.
 
Good trading,
 
Graham Summers




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Market Notes
New Lows list: completely full of stocks that depend on lax consumer spending.
 
Oil, Gold, and Volatility spiking higher…
 
Foreign stock ETFs take a beating: Russia, India, Israel, and South Africa decline more than 4% yesterday.
 
On the bright side: defensive stocks Pepsi and Cost-U-Less hit new highs
Market Watch
Symbol Price
Change
52-Wk
S&P 500 1221.53 +1.28% +10.12%
Oil 37.77 +1.53% -2.75%
Gold 135.20 -0.13% +13.44%
Silver 27.93 +0.43% +47.86%
US-Dollar 80.67 -0.81% +8.09%
Euro 1.32 +0.64% -12.10%
Volatility 19.39 -9.22% -8.19%
Gold Stocks 564.53 +1.34% +10.57%
10-Year Yield 3.00 +1.35% -9.64%

World ETFs
Symbol Price
Change
52-Wk
USA 122.56 +1.28% +10.17%
Canada 30.44 +1.33% +13.84%
Russia 21.63 +2.27% +16.67%
India 37.73 +1.92% +19.97%
Israel 16.47 +0.86% +9.65%
Japan 10.58 +0.95% +7.41%
Singapore 13.88 +1.02% +19.24%
Taiwan 14.72 +1.59% +17.76%
S. Korea 56.56 +1.67% +22.80%
S. Africa 70.85 +3.89% +22.94%
China 45.06 +1.37% +0.13%
Lat.America 52.82 +1.40% +6.71%

Sector ETFs
Symbol Price
Change
52-Wk
Oil Service 136.18 +1.51% +14.84%
Big Pharma 64.13 +0.61% -3.32%
Internet 72.13 +0.70% +22.34%
Semis 16.03 +2.10% +28.86%
Utilities 31.21 +0.29% +1.56%
Defense 18.51 +1.26% +10.11%
Nanotech 9.99 +1.32% 0.00%
Alt. Energy 9.95 +1.43% -4.42%
Water 18.31 +1.10% +12.19%
Insurance 16.07 +1.20% +18.34%
Biotech 20.58 +1.08% +27.12%
Retail 19.65 +0.10% +28.43%
Software 24.59 +0.94% +24.07%
Big Tech 53.73 +1.02% +21.92%
Construction 12.99 +2.12% +13.25%
Media 13.57 +1.12% +24.95%
Consumer Svcs 67.26 +0.81% +23.30%
Financials 54.87 +2.39% +5.18%
Health Care 64.22 +0.74% +1.31%
Industrials 63.25 +1.61% +19.70%
Basic Mat 73.57 +1.56% +21.56%
Real Estate 55.24 +1.36% +23.77%
Transportation 91.17 +1.35% +25.60%
Telecom 22.48 +1.08% +17.08%