Beleaguered Esperion Therapeutics Inc. (ESPR) and Two Other Struggling Companies Register Insider Buying

Battered Outdoor Sporting Goods Retailer Registers the First Insider Buying of 2016

Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SPWH) recently registered the first insider buying of 2016, so let’s take a deeper dive into the company’s performance to find out what might have triggered the recent insider buying. Board member Kent V. Graham snatched up 5,000 shares on Thursday at a price tag of $8.97 each, lifting his overall holding to 23,117 shares. Mr. Graham’s ownership stake includes 6,451 restricted stock units.

The market value of the outdoor sporting goods retailer is down 31% thus far in 2016. Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SPWH) currently operates 67 stores in 20 states after opening three new stores so far this year. The company’s net sales for the three months that ended April 30 increased by 9.0% year-over-year to $151.6 million, mainly reflecting sales from the three new store openings. Meanwhile, same-store sales generated from the clothing; optics, electronics and accessories; footwear; and camping departments fell by 14.9%, 8.4%,6.3%, and 1.8% year-over-year. Only the company’s hunting and shooting; and finishing departments had relatively flat same-store sales for the three months that ended April 30.

The shares of the Utah-based purveyor of outdoor sporting goods are priced at around 10.3-times expected earnings, below the forward PE ratio of 17.0 for the consumer discretionary sector. The hedge fund sentiment towards Sportsman’s Warehouse remained flat during the first quarter of 2016, with the number of funds from our system invested in the company remaining unchanged at 13. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies LLC owned 338,400 shares of Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SPWH) on March 31.

Battered Pharmaceutical Company Registers Insider Buying

Esperion Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR) saw a member of its boardroom buy a new stake earlier this week. Mark E. McGovern, appointed to the company’s Board of Directors in mid-February 2014, purchased a new stake of 600 shares on Tuesday for $10.00 each, as well as an additional block of 4,400 shares on the following day at exactly the same price. Although the size of the recent purchase is not overly significant, the timing of the acquisition may offer some useful insights about the near-term future of the company.

The pharmaceutical company focused on developing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) lowering therapies has seen its market capitalization plunge by 88% in the past year, so Dr. McGovern’s recent purchase may point to an attractive entry point for investors. The share price of Esperion Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR)’s stock plunged in late August on the news that the FDA encouraged the company to initiate a cardiovascular outcomes trial for its lead product candidate called bempedoic acid. The primary issue is that the company’s experimental drug may not win FDA approval based exclusively on its ability to lower bad cholesterol, after management said in August of 2015 that lowering LDL-C would be enough for approval. As Esperion’s bempedoic acid could require a completed cardiovascular outcomes trial before approval, investors are worried that it could six more years for this experimental drug to reach the U.S. market.

There were 10 asset managers followed by Insider Monkey with equity investments in the pharmaceutical company at the end of March, as compared to 12 registered at the end of December. Those 10 managers hoarded up roughly 29% of the company’s total number of outstanding shares. Dennis Purcell’s Aisling Capital reported owning 1.64 million shares of Esperion Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR) in its latest 13F.

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