Stocks With Insider Buying, Buybacks: DTV

Updated from 5:51 a.m. EDT

Part of the philosophy of Stockpickr is to follow in the footsteps of smart people. This could mean a few different things.

Sometimes it means piggybacking great investors such as Warren Buffett or George Soros. Other times it means buying what the CEOs, employees and directors of a company are buying. These are people who know the intimate details of their companies far better than you or I do.

The perfect setup is when one of these company insiders or an entire board (in the case of a stock buyback) is buying shares at the same time that some smart, savvy investors are.

Each Thursday we update the Stockpickr Top 10 Insider Purchases and Buybacks portfolio, featuring the stocks of the week with either big insider purchases or newly announced buybacks as well as "smart money" accumulating shares.

One of the stocks in this week's portfolio is DirecTVDTV. The El Segundo, Calif.-based digital TV provider recently announced first-quarter results along with a plan to increase its buyback program to $3 billion. During the quarter, the company spent $160 million repurchasing shares. It didn't offer an expiration date for the buyback.

DirecTV reported impressive first-quarter earnings. During the quarter, revenue jumped 17% to $4.6 billion; U.S. revenue increased 14% while Latin America revenue soared 47% to $542 million. Free cash flow nearly doubled, from $262 million to $505 million. Net income was $371 million, a 10.4% increase from the $336 million reported in the same period last year.

Operating performance was exceptionally strong in Latin America, where the company added 200,000 subscribers during the quarter. The large subscriber addition and favorable exchange rates forced operating profit up 73% to $138 million. DirecTV now owns 74% of Sky Brazil, 41% of Sky Mexico and 100% of PanAmericana, which covers the rest of the region.