undamentalytics Newsletter

Fisher Stephen: insider trades

Officer, Director at 3 companies we cover. No open-market purchases and 18 sales not made under a pre-set plan, reported from May 27, 2014 to October 11, 2023.

What happened after Fisher Stephen’s sales?

After their sales, the shares moved −1.4% against the index over 12 months on average (a negative figure means selling was the right call); 56% trailed it.

With 296 insiders tested, some will look skilled or unskilled by chance alone: when we replaced each insider’s stocks with random companies bought on the same days, about 5.7 cleared the bar ahead and 23.3 behind. One record on its own proves little.

Trade by trade

Fisher Stephen: trades against the S&P 500 afterwards
MeasuredTrades countedAverage vs S&P 500MedianWent the right wayYearst-statisticp-valueEvidence
Purchases, 3 months after the report 0 — — — — — — Not enough years
Purchases, 6 months after the report 0 — — — — — — Not enough years
Purchases, 12 months after the report 0 — — — — — — Not enough years
Purchases, 12 months after the trade 0 — — — — — — Not enough years
Sales, 3 months after the report 18 −2.3% −0.6% 50% 7 −0.98 0.36 No reliable evidence
Sales, 12 months after the report 18 −1.4% −1.6% 56% 7 −0.16 0.88 No reliable evidence
Sales, 12 months after the trade 18 −0.6% −0.3% 50% 7 0.00 1.00 No reliable evidence

“Average vs S&P 500” is the stock’s return including dividends minus the index’s over the same dates, from the close on the first trading day after the report, or from the close on the trade date. Only windows that have finished are counted. For sales, a negative figure means the stock lagged after it was sold, so selling was the right call (green). “Went the right way” is the share of purchases that beat the index, or of sales that trailed it. The t-statistic uses one average per year of reports, because one person’s trades bunch into the same stock and weeks, and needs trades in at least four different years; the p-value comes from the t distribution with that number of years (with four years, a t of 2 has p = 0.14). “Some evidence” means p under 5%, “strong evidence” p under 1% over at least six years.

Companies traded

CompanyTitle on the latest filingPurchasesSalesFirst reportLatest report
eBay Inc. EBAY SVP, CTO013October 27, 2015May 7, 2019
Salesforce CRM EVP, Technology03May 27, 2014May 30, 2014
Copart CPRT —02May 24, 2023October 11, 2023

Trades and what followed

Moves are against the S&P 500; green means the trade went the insider’s way.

ReportedTradedCompanyTradeValue3 months after report12 months after report12 months after trade
October 11, 2023October 9, 2023 CPRT Sale $7,310,400 −6.8%−16.3%−11.8%
May 24, 2023May 23, 2023 CPRT Sale $4,353,026 −6.7%−9.4%−5.2%
May 7, 2019May 3, 2019 EBAY Sale $787,041 +5.6%+9.9%+7.3%
April 29, 2019April 25, 2019 EBAY Sale $349,038 +4.4%+0.6%+6.0%
May 3, 2018May 2, 2018 EBAY Sale $464,928 −18.5%−10.8%−10.5%
April 30, 2018April 27, 2018 EBAY Sale $3,308,718 −18.2%−12.3%−10.7%
February 7, 2018February 5, 2018 EBAY Sale $991,947 −12.2%−20.3%−21.6%
October 24, 2017October 20, 2017 EBAY Sale $2,611,651 −1.4%−31.2%−33.2%
July 26, 2017July 24, 2017 EBAY Sale $433,285 −2.4%−22.5%−24.1%
June 2, 2017May 31, 2017 EBAY Sale $223,820 +0.2%−2.3%−4.4%
April 26, 2017April 24, 2017 EBAY Sale $1,067,805 +5.3%+1.8%+15.5%
February 23, 2017February 22, 2017 EBAY Sale $560,580 +0.8%+9.0%+10.0%
October 26, 2016October 25, 2016 EBAY Sale $1,161,109 +4.3%+4.4%+4.7%
July 27, 2016July 25, 2016 EBAY Sale $1,636,373 −6.6%−0.9%+1.9%
October 27, 2015October 26, 2015 EBAY Sale $2,197,448 −10.2%−2.2%−2.6%
May 30, 2014May 29, 2014 CRM Sale $357,098 +8.3%+27.5%+21.8%
May 29, 2014May 28, 2014 CRM Sale $70,189 +6.4%+26.9%+23.1%
May 27, 2014May 27, 2014 CRM Sale $327,459 +6.6%+23.1%+22.8%

Open-market purchases and sales of at least $10,000 in companies we cover, from SEC Form 4 filings; sales made under a pre-set Rule 10b5-1 plan are not shown. “Not yet” means the window has not finished or the share price was under $5 at entry. These are the shares’ moves after each trade: they say nothing about why Fisher Stephen traded and do not suggest the use of non-public information. How every insider compares · the insider trading backtest.