RealMoney Silver - Insider Purchases & Buybacks: ADSK

Insider Purchases & Buybacks: ADSK
By Jason Raznick
RealMoney.com Contributor
12/12/2007 3:05 PM EST

One way to save time selecting stocks is letting some smart hedge funds do the research for you. An investment fund raising its stake in a company is a good sign. Another is a buyback announcement. AutoDesk (ADSK) is a company that has both of these. (On Stockpickr, you can see the rest of the insider trades and buybacks).

Autodesk has announced the repurchase of up to 20 million shares of stock. The latest authorization is in addition to the five million shares remaining under the company's previously announced buyback program. It has about 230.9 million shares of common stock outstanding.

The company has been aggressively buying back its shares, having repurchased about 10 million shares in the first three quarters of fiscal 2008 at an average price of $46.06 per share.

ADSK's third-quarter earnings soared 46% to $84.8 million, or 35 cents a share. Excluding items, earnings had raced paste Wall Street expectations for the quarter. Revenue was up 18% at $538.4 million.

Analysts at Lehman Brothers said in a recent note to investors that Autodesk seems to be "well positioned to benefit from strong global demand and increased 3D adoption." Lehman Brothers has an overweight rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Securities, which rates the stock as a buy, said that even if there was a slowdown in the U.S. economy, Autodesk would be able to deliver mid-teens revenue growth.

One of the investment funds that has recently raised its stake in the company is Chinook Capital Management, which has $250 million in assets under management and also owns Boeing (BA) and Moody's (MCO) .

A fund founded by Al Gore and ex-Goldman Sachs executive David Blood -- Al Gore -- Generation Investment Management -- also recently upped its stake. The fund has more than $1 billion in assets under management and also holds shares of Staples (SPLS) Johnson Controls (JCI) and General Electric (GE) .

Graham Capital , founded in 1994 by Kenneth Tropin, has more than $5.3 billion in assets under management has increased its AutoDesk holdings as well. It also owns Microsoft (MSFT) , Apple (AAPL) and Yahoo (YHOO) .

I believe there is value in Autodesk, and purchasing it below $50 will yield positive returns in the longer term.

At the time of publication, Raznick had no positions in the stocks mentioned, although positions may change at any time.

Jason Raznick is president of Easy Stock Alerts and has been involved with the capital markets for several years. He has worked for Merrill Lynch, Dynamis and Tricap Holdings, a joint venture with Fortress Investment Group. Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. Raznick appreciates your feedback; click here to send him an email.

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