Insider Selling Dominates Recent Insider Trading Activity as Second-Quarter Earnings Season Gets Underway

Youth Fashion Retailer Registers Insider Selling amid Constantly-Falling Sales

Buckle Inc. (NYSE:BKE) saw one member of its executive team unload some shares earlier this week. Kelli D. Molczyk, Vice President of Women’s Merchandising, unloaded 4,000 shares on Wednesday at a price tag of $26.71 each. After the recent sale, Ms. Molczyk currently holds an ownership stake of 21,163 shares.

The youth fashion retailer has seen its market value plunge by 15% since the beginning of 2016, as the company’s sales figures disappointed investors. Buckle Inc. (NYSE:BKE)’s net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2016 that ended April 30 were $243.54 million, down 10.2% year-over-year. Comparable store net sales dropped by 11.1% year-on-year, due to a 9.3% reduction in the number of transactions, a 0.4% reduction in the average number of units sold per transaction and a 0.3% reduction in the average retail price per piece of merchandise sold. The company’s comparable store sales figure was also slightly impacted by an adjustment associated with estimated future rewards related to the company’s Guest Loyalty program launched during the quarter. More importantly, Buckle’s business fundamentals are not improving at all, as the company’s June comparable store net sales fell 10.6% year-on-year.

Buckle shares are currently changing hands at around 10.1-times expected earnings, massively below the forward PE multiple of 18.2 for the apparel retail industry. The fashion retailer received some love from the hedge funds monitored by our team during the March quarter, as the number of funds invested in the company jumped to 16 from 11 quarter-on-quarter. Royce & Associates, founded by Chuck Royce, was the owner of 4.35 million shares of Buckle Inc. (NYSE:BKE) on March 31.

Drone Maker Registers Cluster of Insider Selling

AeroVironment Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) witnessed a cluster of insider selling this week, the kind of insider selling investors should keep close attention to. To start with, Douglas E. Scott, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, unloaded 368 shares on Tuesday at a price tag of $27.49 each, cutting his stake to 18,014 shares. Raymond D. Cook, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, discarded 1,121 shares on the same day at $27.49 apiece, after which he currently owns 13,879 shares. Last but certainly not least, President and CEO Wahid Nawabi sold 2,634 shares on Tuesday at a price of $27.49 per share. After the recent sale, the CEO currently holds 36,760 shares.

The supplier of unmanned aircraft systems, tactical missile systems and services to organizations within the U.S. Department of Defense has seen the value of its stock drop by 6% since the start of the year. AeroVironment Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV)’s revenue for fiscal 2016 that ended April 30 was $264.10 million, up from $259.40 million recorded a year ago. The increase was attributable to a jump in service revenue of $20.3 million, partially offset by lower product deliveries of $15.6 million. As the Federal Aviation Administration anticipates annual sales of drones for commercial purposes to grow from 600,000 in 2016 to 2.7 million by 2020, drone maker AeroVironment may be one of the primary beneficiaries of this promising trend.

There were a mere six asset managers followed by Insider Monkey invested in the company known for its drones, such as RQ-11B Raven, at the end of the March quarter. David Park’s Headlands Capital had 510,000 shares of AeroVironment Inc. (NASDAQ:AVAV) in its portfolio at the end of the first quarter.

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