Insiders Are Buying These 3 Stocks; Should You Follow Their Lead?

We can now refocus our full attention to the insider buying at Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SPWH). Director Kay L. Toolson bought 10,000 shares on Tuesday at $11.3 apiece and currently holds an ownership stake of 45,982, which includes 3,490 restricted stock units. The shares of the outdoor sporting goods retailer have advanced 56% since the beginning of the year, but the Director’s purchase points to more upside in the future. However, the company’s price-to-earnings ratio of 24.83, which is slightly above the average of 23.18 for the companies included in the S&P 500 Index, does not necessarily suggest substantial upside. Sportsman’s Warehouse currently operates 64 stores in 19 states, after opening nine stores so far in 2015. The company’s third-quarter net sales added up to $199.7 million, which increased $17.2 million or 9.4% year-over-year. This growth is mainly attributable to the sales generated from the freshly-opened stores, while the company’s same store sales for the third quarter remained flat year-over-year. Sportsman’s Warehouse received more attention from the hedge fund industry during the third quarter, as the number of top money managers invested in the company grew to 15 from eight during the three-month period. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors LLC purchased a new stake of 377,852 shares in Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SPWH) during the September quarter.

Lastly, Penn National Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ:PENN) had one of its executives purchase stock this week. Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer William J. Fair reported acquiring a 4,000-share stake on Monday at a weighted average price of $16.00. According to a freshly-submitted filing, the owner and manager of gaming and pari-mutuel properties is changing the classification of its master lease with Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI) from an operating lease to a financial transaction. As a result, the company is set to restate its yearly and quarterly earnings reports starting from 2013. The market reacted negatively to the announcement of this reclassification, but it remains to see to what extend the lease’s reclassification impacts Penn’s financial results. Meanwhile, the steady-improving regional gaming trends were reflected in the company’s financial results for the third quarter. Penn National reported revenues of $739.3 million for the quarter, compared with $645.9 million reported last year. Shares of Penn are 15% in the green this year and they can go even higher should the worries around the aforementioned reclassification fade away. 35 hedge funds from our database had positions in the company at the end of the third quarter, amassing 35.00% of the company’s outstanding common stock. Balyasny Asset Management, founded by Dmitry Balyasny, cut its exposure to Penn National Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ:PENN) by 10% during the June-to-September period, ending the quarter with 7.03 million shares.

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