CEO/President of Lawson Products Invests in Company

Insider purchases 1,000 shares

Author's Avatar
Feb 23, 2016
Article's Main Image

Michael DeCata (Insider Trades), CEO and president of Lawson Products Inc. (LAWS), bought 1,000 shares of the company on Feb. 23. The average price per share was $16.75, for a total transaction of $16,750.

Lawson is a North American industrial distributor of maintenance and repair products. The company has a market cap of $147 million and a P/S ratio of 0.53.

The number of insider buys per year increased each year from 2013 to 2015. The volume of insider buys also increased from 6,000 to 601,981 in the same period despite the number of insider buys growing only sixfold from two to 12. The average number of shares per transaction rose from 3,000 in 2013 to 50,165 in 2015.

Lawson insiders acquired 48,400 shares in seven transactions in the first month and a half of 2016. DeCata purchased 8,300 shares of the company in three transactions since November 2012. His earliest transaction increased in value by more than 100% since the purchase. The increase in Lawson insider buys from the end of 2015 to the beginning of 2016 correlates to a drop in month end price from $27.98 to $16.52. 02May2017175507.png 02May2017175508.png For more information about insider transactions with Lawson, click here.

The company reported an increase in net loss from $2.67 million in the fourth quarter of 2014 to a net loss of $3.69 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. This translates to net loss of 31 cents and 41 cents per share in the fourth quarters of 2014 and 2015. Gross profit also decreased from $42.94 million to $39.09 million in the same period. DeCata commented that he is “pleased with [the company’s] performance and progress in 2015.”

Despite the obstacles in the fourth quarter, the company’s adjusted operating income “only declined $672,000 on a $5.3 million decrease in sales.” DeCata continued by saying the company expects to increase the number of sales reps in 2016. Lawson's annual revenue decreased 2.71% since 2011, and the company’s annual net income also follows a decreasing trend line. 02May2017175508.png 02May2017175509.png

According to GuruFocus.com information, Lawson Products Inc. has a business predictability rank of 1 out of 5 stars. For more information about business predictability rank, click here.

Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio) sold out all shares with Lawson in the fourth quarter of 2015 for an average per share price of $26.25. On the other hand, Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) increased his stake in the company by 36.01%, buying 22,900 shares in the fourth quarter of 2015. The total estimated gain of each holding was 48% and -30% respectively. For more information about guru transactions with Lawson Products Inc., click here.

For more stock trades of gurus in real time, visit GuruFocus’ Real Time Picks, a Premium Feature. Not a Premium Member of GuruFocus? Try it free for 7 days here.