Heavy Insider Buying at These Three Struggling Companies; Are They Ready to Rebound?

Let’s now investigate the insider buying activity at Universal Stainless & Alloy Products (NASDAQ:USAP), which has been facing challenging conditions in the specialty steel industry this year. Chief Technology Officer and Vice President Graham McIntosh purchased 2,400 shares on Monday through multiple transactions at prices in the range of $10.21-to-$10.52. After the recent transactions, the executive owns 2,500 shares. It seems that the executive’s bullish move is intended to reassure the market that the company is well-positioned to generate growth over a long-term spectrum. Let us remind you that Universal Stainless & Alloy Products (NASDAQ:USAP) informed investors on Friday that it anticipates to report a third-quarter loss per diluted share in the range of $2.40-to-$2.45 on sales of $43.4 million, which caused a massive sell-off of the company’s shares. In fact, the stock lost slightly more than 6% on Friday and is down 60% year-to-date. The company is set to release the third-quarter earnings report on October 28. Alan Fournier’s Pennant Capital Management owns 1.14 million shares of Universal Stainless & Alloy Products (NASDAQ:USAP) as of June 30, making it the top stockholder within our database.

CONN’S Inc. (NASDAQ:CONN) has seen unusual insider buying activity over the past month, which could theoretically suggest that there is great upside for its stock in the upcoming months. Director David Schofman bought a 1,000-share block last Thursday at a weighted average price of $22.11, enlarging his stake to 11, 810 shares. Earlier this month, President and Chief Executive Officer Norman Miller also acquired 20,333 share at a price of $24.89, and boosted his stake to 90,214 shares. The shares of the specialty retailer of durable consumer goods have lost 43% over the past three-month period and it is crystal-clear what stands behind this disappointing performance. CONN’S Inc. (NASDAQ:CONN) is not only selling goods to its customers, but the company is also offering credit financing for its credit-constrained customers. The company’s retail business has been quite strong lately, as it generated net sales of $110.8 million in September, which were up 7.8% year-over-year. However, the retailer’s credit issues have been worsening, with greater than 60-day delinquency rate increasing to 9.9% at the end of September from 9.2% at the end of the second quarter. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group reported an ownership stake of 2.85 million shares in CONN’S Inc. (NASDAQ:CONN) through the 13F filing for the June quarter.

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