Differentiated With Ben Silverman

Q3 reporting left investors with a familiar challenge: hundreds of stocks traded lower after earnings, and only a few are worth deeper attention. Ben Silverman explains how he narrows that universe by looking at post-earnings insider behavior, focusing on where management actions diverge from prior patterns. He walks through cases such as Norwegian Cruise Line’s first executive purchase since 2016...

The old rule — "selling bad, buying good" — misses a lot today. Insider behavior now includes plan-driven sales, comp mechanics, shifting blackout policies, and more. For example, one insider signal isn't a buy or a sell at all, but a pause in selling. Key questions that emerge: ·       How do you find positive signals at companies where insiders never buy stock? ·       What does it mean when exe...

Executive pay doesn’t always make headlines, yet it can offer a surprisingly clear view of a company’s next move. Host Ben Silverman sits down with Senior Analyst Amy Pessetto to show how changes in long-term incentives, performance metrics, and option grants may reveal where management is really focused. Sometimes before those priorities turn up on an earnings call. Tickers Discussed: ADT, FSLR,...

Inflation, tariffs, recession fears, and major policy shifts. Today’s market is clouded with uncertainty. But when good information is hard to come by, insider moves can provide clarity. Join Ben Silverman and Verity Senior Analyst Max Magee as they uncover how insider buying, selling, corporate buybacks, and executive compensation can help guide investors through volatile times. Tickers discussed...

The markets rallied after the 2024 election. CEOs made optimistic public statements. But behind the scenes, corporate insiders were selling at record rates. Why sell when stocks are soaring? What did these insiders see that others missed? And why such aggressive selling from companies poised to benefit from new policies? Join us for a close look at one of the market's most reliable signals: what i...

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...

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,...

New SEC disclosures are giving investors edge. This episode, Ben shares how sweeping changes to rule 10b5-1 have played out in the last year, giving investors more data, context, and insights 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,...

Investors who can source conflict, mixed messages, or negative data points in their research process are at an advantage. In this episode, Ben shares a few hidden signals — revealed in insider selling activity, buyback programs, and earnings call sentiment — that can fuel short ideas. Examples include Snowflake (SNOW), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), PayPal (PYPL), and Skechers (SKX). Finally, Ben open...

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 recent insider selling from Meta Platforms (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, PlanetLabs (PL) CEO Ashley Johnson, Netflix (NFLX)...

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 the best-performing execs and directors. These six 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. Edited, mixed, and score...

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 i...

Ben and guests look back at a handful of this year's winning investment ideas and analyze intriguing ideas from the recent past. Plus, what does it mean when insiders at a company suddenly stop selling stock? Listen for the signals. Edited, mixed, and scored by Calvin Marty .

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. Tickers mentioned: THC, MMS, IBP, CVGW, IMGN Edited, mixed, and scored by Calvin Marty .

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 data around insider intent to sell, but how should you include it in your mosaic? Edited, mixed, and scored by Calvin Marty .

Ben and Senior Analyst Ali Ragih, CFA, discuss how investors can take advantage of the new buyback data that will become available once 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. Edited, mixed, and scored by Calvin Marty .

Ben and Senior Analyst Ali Ragih 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 signaled with company stock purchases in the wake of the SVB Financial meltdown. Edited, mixed, and scored by Calvin Marty .

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. Edited, mixed, and scored by Calvin...

This month 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. Edited, mixed, and scored by Calvin Marty .