WSJ - Stock Sales at Google Send Shivers ...
Stock Sales at Google Send Shivers
Google Inc. insiders have sold billions of dollars of company stock since the company went public in 2004, but one analyst who tracks insider data didn't see those sales as a strong bearish signal.
Until now.
Jonathan Moreland, research director at InsiderInsights.com and subadviser to Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management, is now recommending that Google shares be sold short in the face of continued insider selling, declining share price and concerns that an economic slowdown will hurt Google's advertising revenue.
Short selling involves the sales of borrowed shares, producing profits when prices decline as the short seller replaces the borrowed shares at a lower price.
Mr. Moreland said the nearly constant selling of shares by insiders of the Mountain View, Calif., Internet giant, along with the utter lack of open-market purchases, had always bothered him, but the company's soaring stock price -- until November -- had persuaded him not to short the stock.
"And when that momentum finally starts breaking down, see what the insiders do," Moreland said. "And if they continue to sell, that's when you act on the signal."
Google's share price climbed to a historical high of $747.24 in November, a little over three years after it priced its initial public offering at $85 a share. The company's shares closed on Tuesday at $444.60, down $12.42.
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