James Fitterling, Chairman and CEO of Dow Inc. (DOW), recently bought 25,600 shares. The buy increased his stake by 7%, and came to a total cost of $1.07 million.
He was joined by two company directors, one picking up 7,339 shares for $299,932, and 6,025 shares for $249,730. Going further back, the last insider activity occurred in November 2023 when another director bought 5,000 shares. There have been zero insider sales over the past two years.
Overall, Dow insiders own 0.2% of shares.
The chemical manufacturer is down 30% over the past year, reflecting weakness in the industrial segment of the economy. Dow is a leader in products such as specialty chemicals, including polyethylene and vinyl chloride.
The weakness in shares also reflects the company’s 30% decline in earnings growth over the past year, although revenues held up with a 1% increase.
Action to take: With shares trading at 12 times forward earnings, and 0.6 times its price-to-sales, Dow is starting to look like a value play here. That could give investors reasonable upside in 2025.
Shares currently pay a hefty 7.2% dividend.
For traders, Dow recently hit a 52-week low, reflecting the weakness in the chemical space right now, but shares may be trying to stage a bounce higher. The March 2025 $45 calls, last trading for about $0.79, could see high double-digit returns on a longer-term trend higher.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any company mentioned in this article.