Insiders Have Bought Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK), Copart, Inc. (CPRT), and More

A trust connected to a member of Rosetta Stone Inc (NYSE:RST)’s Board of Directors bought more than 32,000 shares of the stock in early June. Rosetta Stone is unprofitable on a trailing basis, and last quarter its revenue fell by 8% compared to the first quarter of 2012 with operating losses increasing over the same time frame. Cash flow from operations was negative as well. We’d note that major shareholders in Rosetta Stone recently exited their stake through a public offering of shares, causing a drop in the price prior to the insider purchase. With the business not doing well recently, we would avoid the stock.

Glenn Youngkin, who serves as COO of the Carlyle Group LP (NYSE:CG), recently bought 150,000 shares of the private equity firm. The sell-side is considerably more optimistic about the private equity industry’s prospects this year than the markets: both Carlyle and its peer The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX) feature current-year P/E multiples of only 8. When we compared the two companies Blackstone seemed to be performing slightly better at least recently. Given the large insider purchase here and the fact that it might reflect a positive attitude on private equity in general, we’d be interested in learning more about both of these stocks.

Disclosure: I own no shares of any stocks mentioned in this article.