Differentiated With Ben Silverman | The Investment Podcast

Differentiated With Ben Silverman is a monthly podcast where veteran investment research analysts dive into insider data and demystify the signals that drive one-of-a-kind investment ideas.

Episode 14 Now Available

How Investors Outsmart Corporate Buybacks

Buybacks are bigger than ever. How can investors outsmart the pitfalls of corporate buybacks and find edge?

In this episode of Differentiated, host Ben Silverman dives deep into the nuances of corporate share buybacks with guest Michael Seigne from Candor Partners — whose insights have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and more. Listen for essential insights into the execution of buybacks and the potential pitfalls that can arise, particularly around hidden costs, inefficiencies, and misaligned incentives. Through real-world examples, like those at General Motors, Microsoft, Apple, and more, discover the importance of smart, nuanced buyback strategies.

Tickers Discussed: GM, F, MSFT, AAPL, ASML, RTX

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Previous Episodes

E13. Top Insider Moves of 2024 (So Far)

Discover insiders to watch this year. Learn the data points and analyses that flagged their activities as worthy of investor attention: wild sentiment reversal, high-IQ cluster buying, & more. Plus, Ben answers a smart question from a listener: Do insiders only buy when they think the stock is undervalued, or do they sometimes buy to try to get the stock moving?

Tickers discussed: THR, SWKS, PLAY, APPN, LEVI

E12. How to Get Investing Edge From New Insider Data

In this episode, Ben shares how last year’s sweeping changes to rule 10b5-1 have translated into more insights, conviction, and edge related to corporate insider activity. Learn material nuances of the rule change, what it means, and hear three real-world examples, including opportunistic activity from JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jaime Dimon, Rivian (RIVN) Founder RJ Scaringe, and Shockwave Medical (SWAV) CEO Doug Godshall.

E11. Finding Hidden Investment Signals in Negative Data Points

In this episode, Ben shares a few hidden signals — found in insider selling activity, buyback programs, and earnings call sentiment — that can fuel short ideas and add important context to your portfolio. Examples include Snowflake (SNOW), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), PayPal (PYPL), and Skechers (SKX).

Finally, Ben opens the mailbag and shares a recent question he got from a client regarding the opportunistic timing of one executive’s resignation announcement.

E10. When Insiders Sell: 6 Things All Investors Should Know

How should investors interpret insider selling? There are a lot of data points: timing, size, past behavior, company culture, 10b5-1 context, and more. What’s signal? What’s noise? In this episode, Ben shares 6 truths about insider selling. He weaves in illustrative examples of insider selling by Meta Platforms (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, PlanetLabs (PL) CEO Ashley Johnson, Netflix (NFLX) CEO Spencer Newman, Build-a-Bear Workshop (BBW) CEO Sharon John, Former General Electric (GE) CEO Jeffrey Immelt, and more. Plus, Ben answers a good question he got recently from a VerityData hedge fund client: “If an insider targets a specific price, is that always bad?“

E9. 6 Corporate Insiders to Watch in 2024

This month, Ben looks back at the year in insider buying and selling activity. From the long list of insiders active in 2023, Ben selects a shortlist of six best-performing execs and directors. These insiders displayed well-timed and opportunistic behavior that should put them on the radar of investors wanting to generate ideas, manage risk, and have more edge in 2024.

E8. What’s a Modern Earnings Workflow?

What does a modern earnings workflow look like? This month, Ben and guests discuss the challenge of absorbing torrential amounts of information during earnings — from the press release to the 10-K/Q disclosure to the call transcript. Plus, go behind the scenes with the VerityData analyst developing genAI tools (including AI-generated transcript summaries) designed to help analysts stay on top of it all.

E7. Top Investment Ideas of 2023 (So Far)

Ben and guests look back at a handful of this year’s winning investment ideas and analyze intriguing ideas from the recent past. Plus, the two things that could be happening when insiders at a company suddenly stop selling stock.

E6. Beyond Fundamentals: How Analysts Find Edge Across the Mosaic of Insider Datasets

Ben and guests dive into popular insider datasets — corporate buybacks, insider buying & selling, stock-based compensation — and share recent examples where multiple factors came together for a differentiated view. Plus, the errors of sell-side short research.

E5. New Form 144 Data: The Good, the Bad, & the Opportunistic

Ben and Senior Analyst Max Magee discuss benefits and drawbacks for investors who want to take advantage of recent changes to Form 144s.  With the changes, investors are getting more datapoints around insider intent to sell, but how should you include it in your mosaic?

E4. Taking Advantage of New Buyback Data

Ben and Senior Analyst Ali Ragih, CFA, discuss how investors can take advantage of the new buyback data that will become available once the SEC’s new buyback disclosure requirements come into effect. Ben dives into a recent example where one company capitalized on its 10b5-1 plan, sending valuation signals to any investors who were paying attention.

E3. Equity Gifts, Valuation Signals, & the Banking Meltdown 

Ben and Senior Analyst Ali Ragih, CFA, talk about equity gifts by corporate insiders, why they are important transactions, and how to incorporate them into your analysis when screening for investment ideas. Plus, how banking insiders leveraged purchases of their own stock in the wake of the SVB Financial meltdown.

E2. Interesting Insiders & New 10b5-1 Opportunities

Ben is joined by Analyst & 10b5-1 Expert C. Max Magee  to discuss Rule 10b5-1 — what it is, how it provides institutional investors with unique insights, and which of the SEC’s many changes you should pay attention to. Finally, Ben shares recent examples of corporate insider activity to highlight how the SEC may or may not actually curtail certain behaviors.

E1. Records, Buybacks, & the Curious Case of Coupa Software

Ben talks about a truly strange insider trend that happened; discusses how investors can include company stock buybacks in fundamental analysis (with guest Ali Ragih, CFA), and covers the curious case of Coupa Software — where a huge payday for the CEO may have offered insight into an upcoming M&A deal.