Ric Fulop, CEO at Desktop Metal (DM), recently picked up 30,000 shares. The buy increased his stake by 0.14 percent, and came to a total purchase price of $92,700.
This is the CEO’s second buy this year, following a 128,850 share pickup back in March. Those constitute the only insider buys since the company went public last year. One director sold shares last year, at a far higher price than where the stock trades today.
Overall, company insiders own about 17 percent of shares.
The designer and manufacturer of 3D printers and related technologies has lost about 62 percent of its value in the past year. That’s in spite of a 204 percent rise in revenue. As an early-stage company, the firm isn’t yet profitable, but the company raised enough cash when going public to last for years.
Action to take: As with some companies that went public at high valuations last year, shares have been hit hard. In this case, that may be too hard. And seeing the company CEO buying now is a strong sign the stock can continue to trend higher… although it still fits well into the early-stage speculation category.
For traders, the December $5 calls, last going for about $0.25, offer a leveraged return should shares continue higher. In today’s volatile markets, traders may want to buy a small position now, and either add on a big down day for shares, or take profits on a big rally day for the stock.
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 of the companies mentioned in this article.