Insider buying picked up some this week. There are notable big names stocks that I can honestly say insiders are swinging the bat at but can you or I get excited about their prospects when the entire investing world revolves around AI and the enormous energy resources it will demand.  None the less we stick to our knitting, our discipline and write up this report even if we are not buying just yet.  But read on, you never know. It’s usually where the crowd is not looking, that the biggest returns are found. The bloodbath continues unabated in pharma and biotech. Even the current crown jewel, Lilly, sold off on a strong Friday after reporting Q2 after the market on Thursday. Novo Nordisk has been in atrial fib all year.

 

Name: Bruce I. Sachs 
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 08-06-2025  Shares Bought: 5,000 shares an Average Price Paid of $389.68 for Cost: $1,948,416

Name: Reshma Kewalramani 
Position: CEO & President
Transaction Date: 08-06-2025  Shares Bought: 10,000 shares an Average Price Paid of $389.58 for Cost: $3,895,768

Company: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX):

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a global biotechnology company focused on developing breakthrough treatments for serious diseases in specialty markets. It has seven approved medicines—five targeting the root cause of cystic fibrosis, one for severe sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia, and one for moderate-to-severe acute pain. Its clinical pipeline includes potential therapies for cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, beta thalassemia, acute and peripheral neuropathic pain, APOL1-mediated kidney disease, IgA nephropathy, autoimmune renal diseases, cytopenias, type 1 diabetes, myotonic dystrophy type 1, and autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.

Mr. Sachs has served as a Director of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. since 1998 and is currently the Board’s Lead Independent Director. He is a General Partner at Charles River Ventures, which he joined in 1999, and has previously held senior leadership roles including Vice President at Ascend Communications, President and CEO of Stratus Computer, Executive Vice President of Bay Networks, and President and CEO of Xylogics. He holds a B.S.E.E. in Electrical Engineering from Bucknell University, an M.E.E. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, and an M.B.A. from Northeastern University.

Reshma Kewalramani has been the President and CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. since April 2020, after joining the company in 2017 as Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Global Medicines Development and Medical Affairs. Previously, she held senior leadership roles at Amgen. She graduated with honors from Boston University’s seven-year medical program, completed her internal medicine residency and nephrology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and attended Harvard Business School’s General Management Program.

Opinion: Two monsters buys from CEO Kewalramani  and prestigious VC investor Bruce Sachs did nothing to blunt the slide of my hyped Vertex pharmaceutical’s non opiate pain’s medicine royal FDA fail. Q2 Earnings were more or less in although somewhat lower than expectations. None of that really mattered, though as  Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated announced topline results from its recently completed Phase 2, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled dose-ranging study evaluating the safety and efficacy of its investigational selective NaV1.8 pain signal inhibitor, VX-993, in treating acute pain after bunionectomy surgery. Treatment with VX-993 did not result in a statistically significant improvement on the primary endpoint of the time-weighted Sum of the Pain Intensity Difference from 0 to 48 hours compared to placebo. “This proof-of-concept study was powered to test whether VX-993 would result in higher clinical efficacy than previously demonstrated with the NaV1.8 pathway,” said Carmen Bozic, M.D., Executive Vice President, Global Medicines Development and Medical Affairs, and Chief Medical Officer at Vertex. “Based on these results, as well as the totality of preclinical data and results from our previous bunionectomy clinical studies, VX-993 is not expected to be superior to our existing NaV1.8 inhibitors and therefore we will not be advancing it as monotherapy in acute pain.”

In short don’t flush the opiates yet. Besides curing cancer or Alzheimer’s, the Golden Fleece of pharmaceutical research is a non opiate addicting pain medicine.  The largest unmet medical challenge is still shutting off the brain’s pain signal pathway without the unwanted effects of addiction and increasing tolerance.  Does that mean Vertex won’t get there? 

Perhaps the market is focusing too much on the over hyped non opiate pain drug that was approved this year. The truth be told Suzetrigine has never been a truly breakthrough pain medicine. Suzetrigine (VX-548), an oral, first-in-class NaV1.8 inhibitor, FDA-approved Jan 2025 (brand JOURNAVX) for moderate-to-severe acute pain.

From a donuts to dollar perspective, Vertex is a large-cap biotech best known for its cystic fibrosis (CF) franchise (Kalydeco, Orkambi, Symdeko/Symkevi, and the triple combo Trikafta/Kaftrio). In 2024, product revenue was $11.02B (+12% y/y), and growth is still powered primarily by Trikafta/Kaftrio expansion to younger age groups and new geographies. SEC+1Macrotrends

Beyond CF, Vertex has two new pillars:

• #1 Gene-editing: CASGEVY (exa-cel, with CRISPR Therapeutics) — the first FDA-approved CRISPR/Cas9 therapy — for SCD (Dec 8, 2023) and later TDT. Early U.S./ex-U.S. launch contributed immaterial revenue in 2024 but is strategically important. U.S. Food and Drug Administration+1SEC

• #2 Pain: Suzetrigine (VX-548), an oral, first-in-class NaV1.8 inhibitor, FDA-approved Jan 2025 (brand JOURNAVX) for moderate-to-severe acute pain.

  Competitive moat (why they win)

  • Dominant CF position + IP: Trikafta/Kaftrio remains the standard of care; in 2023 Trikafta/Kaftrio alone was ~$8.95B of ~$9.87B total revenue (90%+). Vertex itself notes “substantially all” revenue comes from CF medicines. That installed base, outcomes data, and payer contracts are hard to dislodge. StockLight

  • R&D engine and platform adjacency: Internal discovery (CSO David Altshuler) plus BD — e.g., the $4.9B Alpine Immune Sciences acquisition to add povetacicept (IgAN) — keeps optionality beyond CF. VertexVertex PharmaceuticalsFierce Biotech

  • Balance sheet: $11.2B cash & marketable securities at 12/31/2024 provides firepower for trials and BD without dilution.

 

In sum, I would start buying knowing that my DCF value show it fair valued, not undervalued.  Since there was no lift at all from the large insider buys, nibbling on down days will be my approach in The Insiders Fund long term capital appreciation account.

 

Name: Waleed H. Hassanein 
Position: President & CEO
Transaction Date: 08-06-2025  Shares Bought: 16,875 shares an Average Price Paid of $117.46 for Cost $1,982,121

Company: TransMedics Group Inc. (TMDX):

TransMedics Group Inc. is a medical technology company focused on advancing organ transplant therapy for patients with end-stage organ failure. It developed the Organ Care System, which replicates many functions of a living organ outside the body, enabling optimization and assessment before transplantation and replacing outdated preservation methods that limit transplant access. Through its National OCS Program, TransMedics offers a comprehensive solution that includes outsourced organ procurement, OCS perfusion management, and air and ground transplant logistics, with the goal of expanding transplant availability and improving post-transplant outcomes.

Waleed H. Hassanein, M.D., co-founded TransMedics Group Inc. in 1998 and has served as its President, CEO, and Director since 2012. He earned his M.D. from Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1993 and completed postgraduate surgical training, including two years of general surgery residency at Georgetown University Medical Center, followed by a cardiothoracic surgery research fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the West Roxbury VA Medical Center.

Opinion: The blood bath in the market continues to be in pharma and biotech. Even the massive buy by the CEO did little to peak interest in this name. It looks like CEO Hassanein dropped his 10B5-1 sales plan and started buying. I don’t know why he waited for the stock to run up from the DCF fair value at the beginning of the year when he could have bought it in the high $60s, low $70s, but that’s life folks. There is a massive short interest squeeze potential here. s of July 15, 2025: ~8.0M shares short, roughly 24–25% of float; days-to-cover ~8. (Methodologies differ slightly by source, but all point to an elevated level.) 

TransMedics Group (TMDX) — quick, investor-grade teardown with ChatGPT.  It’s really all about asking the right questions and without being too modest, I know how to do that about as well as anyone.  Hey, if you know me, it’s tattooed on my arm.

What they do (and the moat)

TransMedics makes the Organ Care System (OCS)—a portable, warm-perfusion platform that keeps donor hearts, lungs, and livers functioning during transport—and pairs it with an in-house logistics/aviation service (the National OCS Program, “NOP”). OCS is the only FDA-approved portable, multi-organ, warm-perfusion device, and NOP adds hard-to-replicate execution (pilots, retrieval teams, aircraft, 24/7 coordination). That combo—unique regulatory position + vertically integrated logistics—is the core moat. SEC

Bottom line

• Business & moat: real and defensible—unique multi-organ OCS + integrated logistics.

• Growth: exceptional 5-yr CAGR (~104%). FY25 guide now $585–$605M. investors.transmedics.com

• Profitability: improving; services are a drag but scaling.

• Valuation: Base-case DCF ≈ $75/sh (range $59–$102 on sensible assumptions).

• Watch items: FDA process re: petition, service-margin trajectory, aircraft/logistics capacity, and short-interest inflections.

Name:  Paul J. Krump
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 08-08-2025  Shares Bought: 2,678 shares an Average Price Paid of $93.31 for Cost: $249,884

Company: Brown & Brown Inc.(BRO):

Brown & Brown, founded in 1939 and headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida, is a diversified insurance agency, wholesale brokerage, insurance programs, and services business. It primarily distributes and sells property, casualty, and employee benefits insurance products, operating mainly as an agency or broker with minimal underwriting risk. Through its Wright National Flood Insurance Company, part of The Wright Insurance Group, LLC, it provides write-your-own flood insurance under the National Flood Insurance Program and also offers fully reinsured excess flood policies.

Paul J. Krump joined the Board of Directors of Brown & Brown Inc. on June 13, 2023, bringing with him decades of experience from Chubb Corporation, where he held senior leadership roles, including Executive Vice President and President of North America Commercial and Personal Insurance and Vice Chairman of Global Underwriting and Claims until his retirement in January 2023.

Opinion: More of a typical Director sized buy here so we’re not wasting brain cells just yet even if ChatGPT does all the heavy lifts. 

Name: J. Erik Fyrwald
Position: Chief Executive Officer
Transaction Date: 08-07-2025  Shares Bought: 15,300 shares an Average Price Paid of $64.95 for Cost: $993,714

Company: International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (IFF):

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. is a global leader in creating innovative solutions for the food, beverage, health and biosciences, fragrance, and pharmaceutical industries. The company’s offerings include natural health ingredients and are widely applied in consumer goods such as dairy, meat, beverages, and grain-based products. Its solutions also serve personal care, cleaning products, perfumes, dietary supplements, food safety, specialized nutrition for infants, the elderly, and animals, as well as functional foods, medications, and dental care. With expertise spanning taste, texture, scent, nutrition, enzymes, cultures, soy protein, pharmaceutical excipients, and probiotics, IFF plays a key role in the Food & Beverage, Home & Personal Care, and Health & Wellness sectors worldwide.

Mr. Fyrwald has served as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors since February 6, 2024. He previously led Syngenta as CEO from 2016, and before that, served as CEO of Univar Solutions from 2012 to 2016. Earlier in his career, he was Chairman and CEO of Nalco from 2008 until its 2011 merger with Ecolab Inc., after which he became President of Ecolab. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware  and completed Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program in 1998.

Opinion: Does IFF pass the smell test?  Sorry, I couldn’t help myself but this is the second Million dollar buy this week, Director Fribourg reported purchasing 15,450 shares at $64.80.   Actually insiders have been buying all year as we reported General Councel Landsman bought 12,000 in May for $77.28 and the CEO scooped up $1.8 M earlier that week at $73.97.  Something patent or legal is going on when the General Counsel and the CEO and outside directors are buying. Is this the very definition of insider buying?  Let’s see if ChatGPT can sniff out something for us.

A few analysts downgraded the Company following Aug 5 Q2 earnings report. According to Fly on the Wall, Oppenheimer analyst Kristen Owen downgraded IFF to Perform from Outperform and removed the firm’s $89 price target. While Q2 offered all the catalysts needed for the stock to work, the firm was reminded that “the cycle does, in fact, always win.” Oppenheimer remains constructive on the recovery strategy under the new leadership team. However, the moderated second half of the year outlook and drag from Health headwinds extending into 2026 have led Oppenheimer to make healthy cuts to its forward estimates. And with fewer discrete catalysts to propel shares, the firm is left relying on estimate revisions to drive valuation. Based on its updated outlook and multiple compression among F&F peers, Oppenheimer sees shares priced for balanced risk/reward, and looks for a positive estimate inflection as a catalyst for resuming its constructive stance.

I don’t have a really good reason to explain the outside buys.  Chat GPT says it best when I bluntly ask it why do you think insiders are buying-

• They bought right after clean info windows.
  GC Stephen N. Landsman purchased 12,000 shares on May 19, 2025 (avg $77.22–$77.58), shortly after Q1 results (May 6) opened the trading window. CEO J. Erik Fyrwald bought 15,300 shares on Aug 7, 2025 at a $64.95 weighted avg, two days after Q2 results and the buyback announcement—another typical open window. SEC+2SEC+2ir.iff.com

• They’re aligning with shareholders during a turnaround.
  On Aug 5 the company reaffirmed 2025 guidance, said leverage is down to ~2.5x, and authorized a $500M share repurchase—all supportive for equity value; an insider buy reinforces that message. ir.iff.com

• Undervaluation vs. intrinsic value.
  Management just committed corporate cash to buybacks; adding personal capital suggests they believe the stock is below their internal view of normalized cash flows (consistent with many insider-buy playbooks). (Inference based on buyback + insider buys.)

• Ownership requirements.
  IFF discloses stock-ownership guidelines (historically: CEO 6× base salary; General Counsel 2×). A new GC (Landsman) often makes an initial open-market purchase to move toward those thresholds.

• Signal to customers, employees, and the Street.
  In ingredient businesses with long customer contracts, visible insider buys can steady sentiment after portfolio changes and a divestiture (Pharma Solutions sale closed May 1). ir.iff.com

 

Name: Frank Russell Ellett
Position: Director 
Transaction Date: 08-05-2025  Shares Bought: 15,000 shares an Average Price Paid of $31.55 for Cost: $473,250

Company: Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp (AUB):

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation is a financial holding company and bank holding company incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia and registered under the Bank Holding Company Act. Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, the corporation operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, Atlantic Union Bank, a Federal Reserve member bank chartered under Virginia law. Through this subsidiary, the company provides a broad range of financial products and services to both commercial and retail customers.

Frank Russell Ellett has served as a Director of Atlantic Union Bankshares Corporation since 2019. He is the President of Excel Truck Group, a regional commercial truck dealership network. Earlier in his career, he held positions with Norfolk Southern Corporation and served as a Supply Corps officer in the United States Navy. Mr. Ellett earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and an MBA from the University of Virginia.

Opinion: I loathe analyzing banks but this one has liquidity.

Name: Bradford Hale
Position: Chief Financial Officer
Transaction Date: 08-07-2025  Shares Bought: 10,000 shares an Average Price Paid of $28.72 for Cost: $287,200

Company: Baldwin Insurance Group Inc. (BWIN):

The Baldwin Insurance Group, Inc. is a holding company and the sole managing member of The Baldwin Insurance Group Holdings, LLC, which operates through its ownership in Baldwin Holdings. As an independent insurance distribution organization, Baldwin delivers personalized expertise and a client-focused approach to provide tailored risk management, insurance, and employee benefits solutions. Its growth is driven by strategic capital deployment, talent acquisition and development, geographic expansion, and continued investment in MSI—its MGA platform offering patented, technology-enabled insurance solutions to internal advisers and external partners. Renowned for its award-winning culture, Baldwin is committed to innovation and building long-term shareholder value.

Brad Hale has served as Chief Financial Officer of The Baldwin Group since April 2021, after joining the company in 2019 as Chief Accounting Officer. Prior to that, he was Managing Director and Shareholder at CBIZ MHM, LLC, where he led the Accounting Advisory group on projects primarily involving technical accounting. He holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in accounting from Wake Forest University and is a Certified Public Accountant in Florida.

Opinion: Looks like an obligatory officer mandatory stock purchase. You might as well do this when prices are down.

Name: Marc Ehrhardt 
Position: VP & Pres Corp Development
Transaction Date: 08-06-2025  Shares Bought: 20,000 shares an Average Price Paid of $18.70 for Cost: $373,956 

Company: Olin Corp (OLN):

Olin Corporation, founded in Virginia in 1892 and headquartered in Clayton, Missouri, is a significant vertically integrated global manufacturer and distributor of chemical goods, as well as a major US munitions maker.  The company operates in three capital-intensive segments: Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls, Epoxy, and Winchester.  Its Chlor Alkali division manufactures chlorine, caustic soda, vinyls, and other chemicals.  The Epoxy sector provides a complete selection of epoxy materials and precursors.  Winchester makes sporting and military ammunition, reloading components, and clay targets. 

Marc Ehrhardt has served as Vice President and President of Corporate Development and Business Services at Olin Corporation since February 2023. He oversees corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, strategic analysis, integrated supply chain, IT, and sustainability. Before joining Olin, Ehrhardt spent nearly 30 years at BASF Group in senior global leadership roles, including President and CEO of BASF Corporation. He holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Technical University of Berlin, with concentrations in Corporate Finance, Planning and Controlling, Chemical Engineering, and Logistics.

Opinion: This is Erhardt’s first purchase since coming on board. Beware the insiders game.

According to Olin’s Amended and Restated Principles of Corporate Governance, the Board believes that “ownership of Olin stock by management enhances management’s commitment to Olin and further aligns management’s interest with those of Olin’s shareholders.”

To that end, the company has established common stock ownership guidelines for all Senior Executives.

• The required ownership level increases with the level of the executive’s responsibility.
• Senior Executives are given five years from their date of initial appointment to reach 100% of their required ownership level.

Therefore, while he is not specifically “required” to purchase the stock on a particular date, his purchase contributes toward meeting these ownership guidelines, which are a condition of his position as a Senior Executive.

Name:  Eugene I. Lee Jr.
Position: Director
Transaction Date: 08-07-2025  Shares Bought: 130,250 shares an Average Price Paid of $7.68  for Cost: $1,000,320

Name:  Kelly M. Kaiser
Position: General Counsel and Secretary
Transaction Date: 08-07-2025  Shares Bought: 27,000 shares an Average Price Paid of $7.68 for Cost $207,360

Name:  Michelle Greig Hook
Position: CFO & Treasurer
Transaction Date: 08-07-2025  Shares Bought: 40,000 shares an Average Price Paid of $7.67 for Cost $306,800

Company: Portillo’s Inc. (PTLO):

Portillo’s Inc., founded in 1963 and headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, owns and operates fast-casual restaurants across the United States, offering a menu that includes Chicago-style hot dogs and sausages, Italian beef sandwiches, char-grilled burgers, chopped salads, crinkle-cut and cheese fries, handcrafted chocolate cakes, and chocolate cake shakes. The company also operates a food van known as The Beef Bus, a ghost kitchen, and provides delivery services through its app, website, and third-party platforms, in addition to selling gift cards.

Eugene I. Lee, Jr. has been a member of Portillo’s Board of Directors since June 2025, bringing extensive expertise in the restaurant industry from his tenure as CEO of Darden Restaurants and Chairman of its Board. He holds an MBA from Suffolk University in Boston.

Kelly M. Kaiser has served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Portillo’s Inc. since September 2023, bringing substantial legal leadership experience from both private and public companies, including Life Fitness and Brunswick Corporation. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Juris Doctor from the University of Kentucky.

Michelle Greig Hook has served as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Portillo’s Inc. since 2023, bringing extensive financial leadership experience from the restaurant and retail industries. Before joining Portillo’s, she held senior finance roles at Domino’s and other major companies. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Michigan State University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Opinion: The eating out category is finally showing some strains.  When industry leader Texas Roadhouse stumbles, you can expect this trend, combination of consumer tightening belts and food inflation, to impact all. Several companies downgraded PTLO based on Q2 results. I myself, have to confess I have never eaten there. 

Name: Kathleen E. Johnson
Position: President & CEO
Transaction Date: 08-05-2025  Shares Bought: 135,870 shares an Average Price Paid of $3.69 for Cost: $501,781 

Company: Lumen Technologies Inc. (LUMN):

Lumen Technologies Inc. is a global networking company that connects people, data, and applications with speed, security, and ease. Offering a wide range of integrated products and services, it serves both domestic and international business clients, as well as the U.S. mass market. Operating one of the world’s most interconnected communications networks, Lumen enables real-time adjustments to digital programs, helping customers boost productivity, accelerate market access, and reduce costs, while providing the flexibility to adapt IT strategies to rapidly changing demands.

Kate Johnson, President and CEO of Lumen Technologies since 2022, brings extensive expertise in enterprise digital transformation from leadership roles at Microsoft, GE Digital, Oracle, Red Hat, UBS Investment Bank, and Deloitte Consulting. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Opinion: According to Gemini-

• Extensive Fiber Network Infrastructure: Lumen’s vast global fiber network is a significant and difficult-to-replicate asset that forms the backbone of its business.
• Strategic Focus on Enterprise Services: The company’s pivot towards high-growth enterprise services, which now account for the majority of its revenue, aligns with market trends like AI and cloud computing.
• Weaknesses:
  • Declining Financial Performance: The company has been experiencing significant revenue declines and operating losses, raising concerns about its financial stability.
  • Legacy Product Decline: Lumen is still grappling with the decline of its older, copper-based services, which are a drag on its overall performance.
  • High Debt Load: The company has a substantial amount of debt, which can limit its financial flexibility and increase its risk profile.

Name: Warren B. Kanders
Position: Executive Chairman, 10% Owner
Transaction Date: 08-05-2025  Shares Bought: 289,000 shares an Average Price Paid of $3.24 for Cost: $935,690

Company: Clarus Corp (CLAR):

Clarus Corporation, founded in 1957 and headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes outdoor equipment and lifestyle products worldwide, including in the United States, Australia, China, and Austria. Operating through its Outdoor and Adventure segments, the company offers a wide range of products such as outdoor apparel, rock-climbing footwear and gear, technical backpacks, trekking poles, lighting equipment, gloves, skis, avalanche safety gear, and related accessories. Formerly known as Black Diamond, Inc., the company adopted the Clarus Corporation name in August 2017.

Warren B. Kanders has served as a director of Clarus Corporation since June 2002 and as Executive Chairman of its Board of Directors since December 2002. He is also the President of Kanders & Company, Inc., a private investment firm he has owned and led since 1990, which invests in and advises public and private companies. Mr. Kanders holds an A.B. degree in Economics from Brown University.

Opinion: Black Diamond was a rock solid brand in the skiing and back country skiing world.  It seemed really stupid to destroy that brand equity  Black Diamond has always catered to the sports extremist and adrenalin junkie but they are known all over the world.  They should have sold out to Amer Sports, the new owner of  Arcterix, another iconic brand.  . Chip Wilson, the founder of Lululemon Athletica, ownedabout one-fifth of Amer Sports.  Apparently the company is now owned  Anta Sports- largely a Chinese conglomerate owned by FountainVest Partners, Anamered Investments, and Tencent.

The DCF value shows around $5.30 per share value but there are lot of assumptions in all of these DCF models. It’s a dog eat dog world here but if the business is run efficiently and they could leverage that into a sale, you could make money. Obviously Kanders thinks it can be done or its a Vanity purchase.   According to ChatGPT

• Clarus says “a majority of our products… [are] produced by independent manufacturers primarily in Asia and Eastern Europe,” with “substantially all of the remainder produced” at its Salt Lake City, Utah manufacturing facility.

• Within brands: MAXTRAX recovery boards are manufactured in Australia; Rhino-Rack is Australia-based and many items carry Australian-made status.

Does U.S. (or non-China) production help vs tariffs?

• Yes, it can—mainly by avoiding China-specific Section 301 duties and similar trade frictions Clarus flags as a risk (they explicitly cite potential tariffs, duties and trade restrictions as margin headwinds).

• Australia-origin goods have historically entered the U.S. largely duty-free under AUSFTA, which can be an advantage over China-sourced peers (noting that separate steel/aluminum “Section 232” tariffs now hit Australian metal inputs at 50%, so aluminum-heavy items could still feel cost pressure).

Bottom line

Clarus’s limited Utah manufacturing and its Australia-made lines (MAXTRAX, much of Rhino-Rack) can reduce tariff exposure versus China-sourced competitors. But it’s not a blanket moat: most CLAR volume is still imported, and metal-focused tariffs (e.g., aluminum/steel) can raise costs regardless of where final assembly happens. If you want, I can model the gross-margin impact under different tariff scenarios (e.g., +10% on China-sourced SKUs vs a partial shift to U.S./Australia).

 

---

Follow us on Twitter for real-time commentary and insider buying alerts at https://twitter.com/theinsidersfund

 If you are a QUALIFIED INVESTOR and are interested in learning how you can be part of the Insiders Fund, schedule some time with me here.

This blog is solely for educational purposes and the author’s own amusement. IT IS NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE.  Think of the blog as part of my personal investment journal that I am willing to share with the DIY investor.  There are also many parts that I am not willing to share if I think it could influence trading action or be detrimental to the Fund’s partners. We could be long, short, or have no position at all in any of the stocks mentioned and express no written or implied obligation to disclose any of that.

The Insiders Fund and its blogs and posts are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of the companies mentioned herein. All company names, logos, and trademarks belong to their respective owners. The use of company logos is solely for descriptive and illustrative purposes under fair use.  Any information provided is based on publicly available data and should not be considered financial, investment, or legal advice. Readers should conduct their own research or consult with a professional before making any investment decisions.

Insiders sell the stock for many reasons, but they generally buy for just one – to make money. You’ve always heard the best information is inside information.  Everyone with any stock market experience pays close attention to what insiders are doing.  After all, who knows a business better than the people running it?  Officers, directors, and 10% owners are required to inform the public through a Form 4 Filing of any transaction, buy, sell, exercise, or any other within 48 hours of doing so. This info is available for free from the SEC’s Web site, Edgar, although we subscribe to SECForm4  as they provide a way to manage and make sense of the vast realms of data. I’ve tried a lot of vendors. SECForm4 is one of the smaller ones, but I like supporting Frank. He is not arrogant. He’s helpful and has great prices. He also trades on his own data, so I like people that eat what they kill.

The bar is different from selling because the natural state of management is to be a seller. This is because most companies provide significant amounts of management compensation packages as stock and options. Therefore, we analyze unusual patterns with selling, such as insiders selling 25 percent or more of their holdings or multiple insiders selling near 52-week lows. Another red flag is large planned sale programs that start without warning. Unfortunately, the public information disclosure requirements about these programs, referred to as Rule 10b5-1, are horrendously poor. Also, planned sales that pop up out of nowhere are basically sales and are seeking cover under this corporate welfare loophole. I also generally ignore 10 percent shareholders as they tend to be OPM (other people’s money) and perhaps not the smart money on which we are trying to read the tea leaves. I say generally because some 10% shareholders are great investors. Think Warren  Buffett and others

Of course, insiders can also be wrong about their Company’s prospects. Don’t let anyone fool you into believing they never make mistakes.  Do your own analysis. They can easily be wrong, and in many cases, maybe most cases, have no more idea what the future may hold than you or me. In short, you can lose money following them.  We have, and we curse aloud; what were they thinking!

We like Fly on the Wall for keeping up with what events might be happening, analysts’ comments, and whatever else could be moving the stock.  Dow Jones news service is an essential tool, but many services pick up their feed like they do Bloomberg. For quick financial analysis, it’s hard to beat Old School Value.

A big callout to my assistant Ambreen who sets up this conversation by listing the notable buys that I’ve identified as soon as practically possible.  She probes the 10k for a reasonable description of the business. I’ve found that to be the most accurate and succinct place to find out what a business actually does. When I have time, over the weekend, I’ll add some preliminary analysis to the Opinion at the end. Sometimes I won’t update this for a couple of weeks or more.  A good way to use this blog is as I do, it’s a reference point and filing cabinet for various stocks with notable insider buying. It’s one of many tools I use.  I regularly live on Chat GPT and Microsoft Copilot now. I find the footnotes research very helpful in eliminating errors from AI hallucinations.

The Insiders Fund is for qualified investors and by Prospectus only. Nothing herein should be construed otherwise.  THE INSIDERS FUND prefers to invest in companies at or near prices that management has been willing to invest significant amounts of their own money in, but we have no requirement to do so. We also invest in many companies in anticipation of future insider buying or with the expectation that there is none at all.

You can be an insider, too– by clicking here

Prosperous Trading,