Credit Acceptance director buys $1.5 million of shares after a 19% drop

Director Thomas Tryforos bought 3,000 Credit Acceptance shares at $485.20 on November 2, about $1.5 million. It was an open-market purchase outside any preset trading plan, not pay.

The shares sit in an indirect holding, owned through TNT Investments LLC, and the filing gives 3,000 shares held after the trade. The data shows no earlier holding on that line, so no size comparison is possible.

Only 1 insider purchase appears in the data for Credit Acceptance. Several insiders buying within weeks would weigh more than a single director.

The stock closed at $575.78 on October 29, the day of its quarterly results, and $464.89 on October 30, a fall of 19.3%. The director bought two sessions later, at $485.20.

Third-quarter earnings per share came in at $13.01 against $12.58 expected, but revenue of $594.6 million fell short of the $607.8 million expected. The data does not say what caused the drop.

The $485.20 price is 26.7% below the 52-week high close of $661.82. Over three months the stock fell 18.2% while the S&P 500 fell 2.0%.

Studies found insider purchases earned more than 6% a year above the market on average, mostly in smaller companies, with no guarantee. This is one director's purchase and says nothing about timing.

The purchase was made on November 2 and became public when the Form 4 (the declaration an insider files after trading) was filed on November 4. The stock can keep falling, and the director can be wrong.