Top 10 Stocks With Big Insider Buying, Buybacks

02/21/08 - 11:32 AM EST

AKAM (Breakout Stocks PICK) HPQ IBM JAVA MFE MSFT STX XMSR

Next on the list is Seagate Technology (STX - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr). The disk-drive maker's board recently authorized the company to buy back $2.5 billion in stock and a 20% hike in its quarterly dividend.

The Cayman Islands-based comapny also recently reported stellar second-quarter earnings. Earnings nearly tripled for the quarter ended Dec. 28 as the company reported $403 million in income, or 73 cents a share, up from $140 million, or 23 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Shipments were up more than 20% year over year, and the company said it could have been even more given the robust demand.

However, the stock has been volatile lately as some analysts feel macro conditions may cause problems for the company going forward.

David Bailey from Goldman Sachs recently wrote that, "hard drive industry fundamentals remain favorable, but softening macro conditions will remain an overhang for tech stocks overall and, with end-of-year tailwinds behind us, there is an absence of catalysts to drive Seagate shares higher in the near term." As a result, Goldman removed Seagate from its Conviction List but did maintain a buy rating on it.

We like to see that Duquesne Capital, a $4.5 billion fund started by Stanley Druckenmiller, owns STX shares. Druckenmiller went to work for George Soros in 1988 and his timely long and short positions helped generate a string of 30% returns for Soros' Quantum Fund. Duquesne also owns shares of Microsoft (MSFT - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and Akamai (AKAM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

We also like to see that Seagate is part of the T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Value Fund. This fund has a Morningstar rating of five stars and is run by David Wallack. Some of its other top holdings include Sun Microsystems (JAVA - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and XM Satellite Radio (XMSR - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

So with Seagate, we have a buyback, solid earnings and two well-known investors into the stock. Time to do some homework here.

For more stocks and analysis, check out this week's Top 10 Insider Purchases and Buybacks at Stockpickr.com.

For the 10 most recent portfolios, check out: