Insider Trading Fri 10/6/23

Notable purchases -- Director adds more to OSTK; notable sales -- Buffett active in HPQ

Buyers:

• AURA Director bought 20,066 shares at $8.00 - $8.66 worth ~$168K.
• OSTK Director Lemons bought another 31,800 shares at $15.35 -$16.03 worth ~$498K.
• RRGB 10% owner bought 56,000 shares at $7.43 - $7.57 worth ~$417K.

Sellers:

• HPQ 10% owner Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett) sold another 3,067,508 shares at $26.025 - $26.60 worth more than $80 mln.

Insider Trading : Fri 8/25/23

Notable purchases -- CTO adds to ROOT; notable sales -- Director active in XENE

Buyers:

• AON Director bought 800 shares at $324.575 worth ~$260K.
• AVA Chairman of the Board / 10% owner bought 3,100 shares at $32.39 - $32.40 worth ~$100K.
• EXFY 10% owner bought 67,661 shares at $4.48 - $4.50 worth ~$304K.
• GABC Director bought 6,000 shares at $28.64 worth ~$172K.
• HTLD Chief Executive Officer and Co-Trustee of 10% Owner bought a total of 54,461 shares at $14.935 - $14.99 worth ~$698K.
• OUST Director bought 30,000 shares at $5.7898 to $5.96 worth ~$177K.
• PENN Director bought 20,000 shares at $22.49 - $22.88 worth ~$453K.
• PI 10% owner Sylebra Capital bought another 74,771 shares at $59.49 worth ~$4.5 mln.
• ROOT  Chief Technology Officer bought 17,412 shares at $5.7898 - $5.96 worth ~$163K.
• RRGB 10% owner and the President & CEO bought a total of 237,536 shares at $10.15 - $10.59 worth ~$2.5 mln.
• SAVA Director bought 30,000 shares at $17.21 - $17.64 worth ~$524K.
• SEER CEO, President and Chair bought 40,000 shares at $2.49 - $2.50 worth ~$98K.
• WEST Director bought 20,000 shares at $10.00 - $10.19 worth ~$202K.
• WOLF Director bought 5,000 shares at $47.0136 worth ~$235K.

Sellers:

• CNXN President & CEO sold 35,465 shares at $52.29 - $53.60 worth ~$1.9 mln.
• TZOO 10% owner Azzurro Capital sold 75,369 shares at $6.60 -$7.03 worth ~$511K.
• XENE Director sold 25,000 shares at $38.70 - $38.79 worth ~$968K.

This week's biggest % winners & losers : June 10 - 14, 19 (wk 24)

The following are this week's top percentage gainers and losers, categorized by sectors (over $300 mln market cap and 100K average daily volume).

This week's top % gainers

• Healthcare: ARQL (8.2 +25.96%), DXCM (148.04 +17.51%), DRNA (14.76 +14.24%)
• Materials: OSB (23.43 +15.53%), LOMA (11.38 +13.57%)
• Consumer Discretionary: RRGB (33.1 +26.43%), RH (111.37 +25.21%), BOOT (33.3 +15.15%), NEW (6.71 +15.09%), ELY (18.06 +14.96%), EYE (30.04 +14.7%), BBX (4.49 +13.38%)
• Information Technology: DATA (163.25 +30.38%)
• Financials: SUPV (7.44 +22.17%), GGAL (32.9 +20.03%), BMA (65.76 +17.2%)
• Consumer Staples: CASY (151.98 +13.5%)
• Utilities: PAM (31.82 +22.24%)

This week's top % losers

• Healthcare: CBAY (6.28 -45.44%), TXMD (2.44 -22.54%), EPZM (11.63 -18.21%), ENDP (4.05 -17.18%)
• Consumer Discretionary: LOVE (30.26 -20.7%), PLAY (39.58 -19.59%)
• Financials: PPDF (3.99 -13.82%)
• Energy: NE (1.58 -24.04%), ESV (6.62 -18.47%), ALTM (3.99 -17.56%), SDRL (3.12 -14.29%)
• Consumer Staples: DF (1.06 -13.82%)

-=Red Robin Gourmet (RRGB) : Vintage Capital pushes for strategic alternatives

Shares of Red Robin Grourmet Burgers Inc. (RRGB),  ran up 32% in active trade Thursday, after the restaurant chain disclosed that its third-largest shareholder, Vintage Capital Management LLC, said it was prepared to make a buyout bid for the company. In a letter Red Robin's board of directors, Vintage, which owns 1.5 million shares, or 11.5%, of Red Robin's outstanding shares, said it was prepared to pay $40 a share in cash an auction to buy the rest of Red Robin shares that it didn't already own. That would represent a 57% premium to the stock's Wednesday closing price, and would value the company at about $519 million. Earlier this month, Red Robin adopted a shareholder rights plan, known as a poison pill, aimed at protecting the company from a hostile takeover. Vintage said it has sought communication with management to help drive an improvement in the strategic direction and to help recruit "an 'A+' operator" to accept the chief executive officer role, given that "it is clear that many such quality candidates are refusing to entertain the opportunity due to the lack of confidence in the board's leadership and Red Robin's disastrous operating and market performance." Red Robin's stock has tumbled 52% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 (SPX) has gained 3.8%.

 Red Robin Gourmet responds to letter from Vintage Capital, says Board is actively engaged in driving strategic plan and remains open to all opportunities to create value

• "In multiple conversations with Vintage, we have expressed our openness to Vintage's participation in our ongoing search to identify a world-class CEO, and to maintaining a constructive dialogue. Given our dialogue to date, we were surprised by the content of the letter we received today, as Vintage has not been willing to propose any CEO candidates. As discussed with Vintage, we retained The Elliott Group in April 2019 to assist in our CEO search process, and the Search Committee is interviewing a number of highly qualified and interested candidates. We are pleased with our progress to date and confident we will identify an excellent leader for Red Robin. Concurrent with our CEO search process, Red Robin has a strategy in place to drive renewed growth and shareholder value, and we continue to execute on our 2019 strategic priorities"
• "The Company's Board of Directors is focused on enhancing shareholder value and is mindful of its fiduciary duties to all shareholders. Consistent with its fiduciary duties, the Board would of course consider any bona fide offer made by Vintage."

=Red Robin Gourmet (RRGB) reported earnings on Tue 22 May 18 (b/o)

Red Robin Gourmet misses by $0.07, misses on revs; guides Q2 EPS below consensus 

• Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.69 per share, $0.07 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.76; revenues rose 0.2% year/year to $421.5 mln vs the $427.01 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Comparable restaurant revenue decreased 0.9%, using constant currency rates.
• Restaurant-level operating profit margin was 20.0% in 1Q18 compared to 21.3% in the same period a year ago.
• The company opened four Red Robin restaurants and our franchisees opened one Red Robin restaurant. It plans to open four Red Robin restaurants and its franchisees plan to open three Red Robin restaurants during the remainder of 2018.
• Co issues downside guidancefor Q2, sees EPS of $0.55-$0.75 vs. $0.75 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

=Red Robin Gourmet (RRGB) reported earnings on Mon 6 Nov 2017 (a/h)

Red Robin Gourmet misses by $0.08, misses on revs; guides Q4 EPS below consensus 

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.21 per share, $0.08 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.29; revenues rose 2.3% year/year to $304.2 mln vs the $308.44 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Comparable restaurant revenue decreased 0.1% (using constant currency rates).
• Restaurant-level operating profit margin was 17.4% in the third quarter of 2017 compared to 18.6% in the same period a year ago.
• Adjusted EBITDA was $25.5 million compared to $26.8 million.
• Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.45-$0.60 vs. $1.00 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Sees comparable restaurant revenue in the range of flat to up 0.5% for full-year 2017. 

=Red Robin Gourmet (RRGB) reported earnings on Tue 8 Aug 2017 (a/h)

Red Robin Gourmet beats by $0.09, reports revs in-line; guides Q3 EPS below consensus; guides FY17 EPS below consensus

• Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.61 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.52; revenues rose 3.4% year/year to $315.8 mln vs the $315.69 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
  • Comparable restaurant revenue increased 0.5% in the second quarter of 2017 compared to the same period a year ago, driven by a 1.0% increase in guest counts, partially offset by a 0.5% decrease in average guest check.
• Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.20-$0.30 vs. $0.55 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
• Co issues downside guidance for FY17, sees EPS of approximate low end of $2.80-$3.10 vs. $2.93 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
  • Restaurant labor costs, as a percentage of restaurant revenue, are projected to range from flat to an increase of 50 basis points compared to 2016, driven by minimum wage increases in more highly penetrated markets, higher benefit costs and restaurant manager bonuses, partially offset by the effect of pricing and improvements in labor productivity.

=Red Robin Gourmet (RRGB) reported earnings on Tue 16 May 17 (a/h)

Red Robin Gourmet beats by $0.32, reports revs in-line; guides FY17 EPS above consensus :

• Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.89 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.32 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.57; revenues rose 4.1% year/year to $418.6 mln vs the $416.48 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Co issues upside guidance for FY17, sees EPS of $2.80-3.10, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $2.76 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate
• Co expects ~45% of the $2.80-3.10 in earnings to come in the first half of 2017 and 55% in the second half of 2017

Revenue in the quarter increased $24.8 million primarily due to new restaurant openings and acquired restaurants, partially offset by decreases of $4.6 million, or 1.2%, in comparable restaurant revenue and $3.8 million from closed restaurants...

• Franchise and other revenue decreased $0.3 million, primarily driven by the loss of royalties from 13 franchised restaurants acquired during the first quarter of 2016
• System-wide restaurant revenue (which includes franchised units) for the first quarter of 2017 totaled $498.8 million, compared to $493.0 million for the first quarter of 2016.
• Comparable restaurant revenue decreased 1.2% in the first quarter of 2017 compared to the same period a year ago, driven by a 1.7% decrease in guest counts, partially offset by a 0.5% increase in average guest check
• The increase in average guest check comprised a 1.6% increase in pricing and a 1.1% decrease in menu mix
• During the first quarter of 2017, the Company opened six Red Robin restaurants, including one restaurant that was temporarily closed during 2016, and relocated one Red Robin restaurant. Co's franchisees opened one restaurant during the first quarter of 2017