The Insiders Fund’s commentary for the month ended July 31, 2025.
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The Insiders Fund finished the month of July up 4.69% bringing year to date returns to 12.91% net of all fees. The S&P 500 returned 2.2%. The S&P’s 500 year-to-date return through 8.5%. The Insiders Fund cumulative return since inception is now 686% more than the S&P.
The Fund started the year on a high note when BarclayHedge ranked the Insiders Fund as the 2nd Best Performing Long/Short Hedge Fund for January.
The insider buying spigot opened a bit wider this week, but don’t mistake activity for conviction. Yes, we saw some heavyweight swings—Jared Isaacman dropping $16.3 million on Shift4 Payments and Amrize’s freshly-minted CEO Jan Jenisch betting $23.3 million on his construction materials spinoff. These aren’t lunch money purchases.
But here’s what gnaws at me: in a world hypnotized by AI’s insatiable appetite for data centers and energy infrastructure, are we witnessing genuine bottom-fishing or just executives with more money than sense? Eli Lilly’s triumvirate of buyers—Ricks, Fyrwald, and Skovronsky—collectively dropped $2.7 million around $640 per share. That’s either supreme confidence in their obesity/diabetes pipeline or spectacular timing dysfunction.
The breadth tells a story too. From Akamai’s CEO Leighton ($3.6M) to various healthcare plays, we’re seeing scattered buying across sectors that Wall Street has left for dead while chasing the next AI darling. Black Stone Minerals, PENN Entertainment, Sonos—these aren’t exactly the sexy names gracing CNBC’s mad money segments.
What’s missing? The tsunami. Every meaningful market bottom since 2001 has been preceded by a deluge of insider buying that makes this week look like a light drizzle. We’re seeing $50 million in notable purchases when historically we need $500 million to signal genuine capitulation.
The irony is palpable: while everyone debates whether NVIDIA is worth $3 trillion, actual business operators are quietly backing up the truck on their own unloved shares. Maybe they know something about intrinsic value that momentum chasers have forgotten.
Still waiting for the real flood. This week’s activity suggests the smart money is stirring, but we’re nowhere near the insider buying euphoria that typically marks generational bottoms. Patience remains the play.
Best Regards,
Harvey Warren Sax
The insomniac hedge fund manager
