Last week we saw several insider transactions at AMN Healthcare Services Inc. (AHS). Insider trading reports filed with the SEC show that five insiders bought AHS shares at prices between $4.79 and $5.35. The stock was trading around $9 per share in May.
Here are the insiders and their purchases:
1. Andrew Stern bought 10,000 shares at $5.35 per share on November 10th. Previously he owned 1,500 shares directly and 103,104 shares indirectly (equity awards).
Bio taken from DEF 14A:
Stern, 60, has served as a director of the Company since November 2001 and is Chairman of the Company’s Corporate Governance Committee and is a member of the Audit Committee. Stern brings substantial healthcare industry experience to the Board as well as communications expertise. Stern has served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Sunwest Communications, Inc., a public relations firm, since 1983. Stern also serves as a director of Medical City Dallas Hospital, Salesmanship Club Charitable Golf of Dallas and as an advisory director of NeoSpire, Inc. He is also immediate past Chairman of the Texas Healthcare Trustees Association.
2. Susan R. Salka bought 8,000 shares at $4.85 per share on November 8th. Prior to this transaction Salka owned 39,327 shares directly and had equity awards for 663,961 shares. At the beginning of the year she used Nowakowski as her last name.
Bio taken from DEF 14A:
Susan R. Nowakowski, 45, joined the Company in 1990 and has been a director since September 2003. She serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors. Nowakowski has twenty years of experience in the healthcare services industry and experience serving on public company boards. Nowakowski has been the Company’s President since May 2003 and the Chief Executive Officer since May 2005. Nowakowski has been employed at the Company in a variety of leadership roles, including Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, since 1990. Prior to joining the Company, Nowakowski worked at BioVest Partners, a venture capital firm, and at Hybritech, a subsidiary of Eli Lilly & Co. which was later acquired by Beckman Coulter. Nowakowski serves on the board of directors of Beckman Coulter where she sits on the Audit Committee, and served on the board of Playtex Products, Inc. from 2001 until it was sold to Energizer Holdings in October 2007. Nowakowski also serves on the boards of the University of California San Diego Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center, Biocom and San Diego State University College of Business Administration.
3. Douglas D. Wheat bought 10,000 shares at $4.81 per share on November 8th. Prior to this transaction Wheat owned 20,042 shares directly and had equity awards for 58,104 shares.
Bio taken from DEF 14A:
Wheat, 59, has served as a director of the Company almost continuously since November 1999. Wheat is the Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors and also serves as a member of the Company’s Executive Committee. Wheat offers the Board considerable industry knowledge as well as expertise in the area of corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions. Wheat previously served on the boards of several companies, including Nebraska Book Company, Inc., Smarte Carte Corporation, and Playtex Products, Inc. of which he was Chairman from 2004 to 2006. Wheat is Partner of Southlake Equity Group, and previously served as Chairman of Foxbridge Partners, LLC and President of Haas Wheat & Partners, L.P.
4. Paul E. Weaver bought 30,000 shares at an average price of $4.88 per share on November 8th. Prior to this transaction Weaver owned 17,000 shares directly and had equity awards for 33,103 shares.
Bio taken from DEF 14A:
Weaver, 64, has served as a director of the Company since July 2006. Weaver also serves as Chairman of the Company’s Audit Committee. He is designated as a financial expert on that committee, bringing his significant international audit and finance experience. Weaver also serves as member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors. Weaver is a former Vice Chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP and was Chairman of the firm’s global technology, infocom and entertainment/media practice group. Beginning in 2010, Weaver serves on the boards of Unisys Corporation and WellCare Health Plans, Inc., serving on the audit committees of both boards and the compensation committee of WellCare. Mr.Weaver previously was on the boards of Idearc, Inc. and Gateway, Inc. He also serves on the corporate advisory board of the University of Michigan Business School, and is Chairman of the Board of the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Foundation.
5. Bary Bailey, CFO/CAO of AHS, bought 7,500 shares at an average price of $4.79 per share on November 8th. Bailey has a terrible track record as an insider. In August 2009 he bought 6000 shares at $8.26 and in December 2009 he bought another 2,300 shares at $8.39. These purchases underperformed the S&P 500 index by nearly 50%. Bailey made several transactions before becoming CFO in August 2009. We consider these to be uninformed transactions.
Bio taken from DEF 14A:
Bailey, 51, joined the Company as Chief Financial Officer, effective August 10, 2009. Prior to joining the Company, from 2002 until 2007, Bailey was Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President at Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, a specialty pharmaceutical company. Prior to joining Valeant, Bailey was EVP of Strategy and Technology for PacifiCare Health Systems, Inc., a firm that provides managed care and other health insurance products to employer groups, individuals and Medicare beneficiaries.
Insider Monkey, your source for free insider trading data, does not have any nonpublic material information about AHS. But the insiders might. They know the company better than do most people. Stocks bought by more than 3 insiders historically outperform the index funds by an average 7 percentage points per year. Given that AHS stock has lost a substantial amount of value in the past 6 months, this is probably a good value play. We will be adding AHS to our hypothetical portfolio.
