Cree's Post-Earnings Retreat Spurs Insider Buying

• A leading LED products maker has seen some insider buying lately.
• The CEO and others bought shares in the wake the most recent quarterly report.
• Insider buying can be seen as a good sign for investors.

Conventional wisdom says that insiders and 10 percent owners really only buy shares of a company for one reason -- they believe the stock price will rise and they want to profit from it. So insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, particularly during periods of uncertainty. Case in point: recent buying at Cree, Inc. CREE.

The CEO, CFO and a director at this LED products maker have altogether purchased 20,000 shares in recent days. Share prices for those purchases ranged from $22.20 to $22.34, bringing the total to almost $445,000. Note that last week Cree released disappointing fiscal Q1 results, particularly on the top line.

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Cree has a market capitalization of more than $2 billion. It offers no dividend. Short interest is more than 9 percent of the float. Shares were trading above $25 apiece before the earnings report but dropped more than 10 percent afterward, hitting a new 52-week low.

The closed most recently at $22.12, down more than 14 percent for the year. Shares traded at $22.83 mid-day Monday.

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