5 Stocks Insiders Are Loading Up On

Alexza Pharmaceuticals

Another stock in the biotechnology and drugs complex that insiders are buying up a notable amount of is Alexza Pharmaceuticals (ALXA), which is focused on the research, development, and commercialization of products for the acute treatment of central nervous system conditions. Insiders are buying into weakness here since this stock is off by 10% so far in 2012.

Alexza has a market cap of $53.4 million and an enterprise value of $38.7 million. This stocks trades at a price-to-sales of 1.17. Its estimated growth rate for the next quarter is 21.4%, and for next year it's pegged at 22.4%. This is a cash-rich company, with a total cash position on its balance sheet of $28.32 million and total debt of $13.64 million. After you back out the debt, Alexza has $14.68 million in cash on the books.

A beneficial owner just bought 179,041 shares, or about $145,000 worth of stock, at 80 cents per share. It looks like this purchase was part of a private placement for Occitan Capital management, which is a 10% owner of Alexza.

From a technical standpoint, ALXA is currently trading below both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bearish. This stock dropped from its November high of $1.48 to a recent low of 51 cents per share. After hitting that low, the stock has rebounded to a recent high of 99 cents, and it now trades t around 73 cents.

If you're a bullish on ALXA, then I would consider looking for long-biased trades once this stock breaks out above 80 cents per shares with big volume. Look for volume that's near or well above its three-month average action of 1.02 million shares. You could also buy it off any weakness and anticipate the breakout with a mental stop just below 70 cents per share. I would then add to any long positions once ALXA takes out its 50-day moving average of 89 cents per share with heavy volume.

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