FindingSAVNG Research · September 10, 2026

Officer buys versus director buys

The claim. If you had bought the same stock the day after every officer buy (ceo/cfo/president) became public, from 2006 to 2026, and held for three months, you would have beaten small caps by +2.9 pts on average when the market was in a sell-off (1,456 trades, very unlikely to be luck) and by +1.4 pts when it was calm (4,003 trades, could be luck). All states together: +1.8 pts across 5,459 trades.

Named executives (CEO, CFO, president) buying their own stock carry a small, consistent edge in every market state. Directors carry more in stress and less in calm.

How we tested it
  • Trades: every open-market insider purchase reported to the SEC on Form 4 from 2006 onward that passes our routine-versus-opportunistic filter; for this piece, buyer is a named executive officer (role tier 3).
  • Entry: first session after the filing became public. Held 63 trading days (about three months).
  • Benchmark: IWM (small caps), because insider-buy candidates skew small and cheap; beating the S&P alone would just be that tilt.
  • Market state: stress = SPY at least 10% below its trailing 1-year high on the entry day; calm otherwise.
  • Statistics: clustered by company (one vote per company) — five insiders buying the same stock in the same week count once. Cells under 40 trades or 15 companies are shown but greyed. No trading costs deducted.
  • What is excluded: companies without a ten-year price history (delisted names are the main gap; see the survivorship note on the evidence page).
Reproduce: node savng-insider-history/sector-findings.js → reports/sector-findings.json (generated 2026-09-10); served at /research-data.
The picture
Software & IT services+7.9 pts n 56Energy+5.4 pts n 89Services+4.1 pts n 88Retail & consumer+2.0 pts n 51Other+2.0 pts n 115Industrials & manufacturing+1.8 pts n 231Banks+1.4 pts n 330REITs+0.1 pts n 54

Three-month excess return versus small caps for officer buy (ceo/cfo/president)s made during sell-offs, by sector. Sectors with too few trades omitted from the chart, shown in the table.

Does it apply to your sector?
Sector (SEC industry group)In sell-offsIn calm marketsRead
Tech hardware & semis +21.0 pts n 38 · t 1.7 +0.8 pts n 97 · t -0.5 Too few trades to say
Healthcare services +17.7 pts n 13 · t 1.1 +13.5 pts n 7 · t 1.3 Too few trades to say
Biotech & pharma +15.8 pts n 19 · t 2.2 +9.2 pts n 108 · t 1.4 Too few trades to say
Construction +10.4 pts n 12 · t 1.3 +2.9 pts n 36 · t 1.7 Too few trades to say
Software & IT services +7.9 pts n 56 · t 1.0 +3.0 pts n 179 · t -2.1 No reliable edge
Transport & logistics +5.4 pts n 1 · t 0.0 +27.2 pts n 18 · t 1.9 Too few trades to say
Energy +5.4 pts n 89 · t 1.3 +1.4 pts n 218 · t -0.9 No reliable edge
Services +4.1 pts n 88 · t 1.2 +2.9 pts n 211 · t 1.0 No reliable edge
Mining & metals +3.4 pts n 34 · t 1.6 −6.4 pts n 81 · t -3.4 Too few trades to say
Medical devices +2.7 pts n 26 · t 0.6 −13.9 pts n 131 · t -1.4 Too few trades to say
Utilities +2.4 pts n 113 · t 0.2 +1.3 pts n 258 · t 0.7 Too few trades to say
Retail & consumer +2.0 pts n 51 · t 0.5 +1.1 pts n 227 · t -0.8 No reliable edge
Other +2.0 pts n 115 · t 1.8 +2.9 pts n 188 · t 0.5 No reliable edge
Industrials & manufacturing +1.8 pts n 231 · t 1.2 +3.5 pts n 475 · t 1.7 No reliable edge
Banks +1.4 pts n 330 · t -0.2 +1.9 pts n 1,063 · t 1.4 No reliable edge
REITs +0.1 pts n 54 · t -0.5 +0.0 pts n 167 · t 1.0 No reliable edge
Insurance −1.3 pts n 72 · t 0.4 +2.6 pts n 156 · t 1.1 Too few trades to say
Finance & real estate −2.0 pts n 18 · t -1.1 −7.8 pts n 63 · t -1.8 Too few trades to say
Telecom & media −11.6 pts n 7 · t -0.4 +4.7 pts n 27 · t 0.6 Too few trades to say
Food, drink & tobacco −16.7 pts n 7 · t -2.7 +1.6 pts n 29 · t 0.1 Too few trades to say

t is the clustered t-statistic: above 2 means the result is unlikely to be luck; above 3, very unlikely. "n" is trades.

Where it applies today

Market state now: NORMAL — the S&P 500 is 3.1% below its one-year high (as of 2026-09-16). The calm column above is the one that applies today; the sell-off numbers are what to expect if conditions change.

Sectors under pressure right now (their own ETF is in a drawdown):

Mining & metals18.1% below its high Construction24.8% below its high Tech hardware & semis18.4% below its high Transport & logistics10.9% below its high Software & IT services10.9% below its high · this signal in this sector's sell-offs: +7.9 pts Medical devices19.5% below its high Retail & consumer11.5% below its high · this signal in this sector's sell-offs: +2.0 pts Utilities13.4% below its high

No buy in the last 45 days matches this definition among names we cover.

All live buys →The 20-year evidence pageMethodology
Where it does not apply
The officer edge is small in absolute terms; it is the consistency across states that distinguishes it.

SAVNG is an educational research publication, not a Registered Investment Adviser. Everything here is general-circulation information produced by an automated pipeline — the same for every reader — and is not personalized investment advice, an offer, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Any performance figure is hypothetical; past performance does not predict future results. Details.

Published by SAVNG Research. Every figure on this page is read from the study data at render time; if the study changes, the page changes with it.

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