From what we can see, insiders were net buyers in SecureWorks Corp.'s (NASDAQ:SCWX ) during the past 12 months. That is, insiders acquired the stock in greater numbers than they sold it.
Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.
View our latest analysis for SecureWorks
SecureWorks Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when insider Neil Gagnon bought US$295k worth of shares at a price of US$9.05 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being US$6.21). It's very possible they regret the purchase, but it's more likely they are bullish about the company. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock when an insider has bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. The only individual insider to buy over the last year was Neil Gagnon.
Neil Gagnon bought a total of 242.31k shares over the year at an average price of US$8.35. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!
There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
Insider Ownership
Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that SecureWorks insiders own 4.1% of the company, worth about US$22m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.
So What Does This Data Suggest About SecureWorks Insiders?
The recent insider purchase is heartening. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. But on the other hand, the company made a loss during the last year, which makes us a little cautious. Given that insiders also own a fair bit of SecureWorks we think they are probably pretty confident of a bright future. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. When we did our research, we found 2 warning signs for SecureWorks (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that we believe deserve your full attention.