Energy Insiders See ‘Fire Sale’ Buy Most Shares Since ’12

The rout in energy stocks reminds Tim Rochford of something else he’s seen in Texas. “What happened is almost like a herd of cattle, one cow turns left, all the cows follow it and it’s a stampede,” said the 68-year-old co-founder of Midland-based Ring Energy Inc., one of 118 industry executives who bought shares of their own companies in the last month amid the worst losses since 2008. “This is an absolute fire sale,” he said. “It’s an overreaction and the result is it’s oversold.” With valuations at a decade low, oil executives such as Rochford and Chesapeake Energy (CHK) Corp.’s Archie Dunham are driving the biggest wave of insider buying since 2012, data compiled by the Washington Service and Bloomberg show. They’re snapping up stocks after more than $300 billion was erased from share values as crude slipped below $70 for the first time since 2010. Rochford and two other board members, Stanley McCabe and David Fowler, bought a total of more than 30,000 Ring shares over the past month, regulatory filings show. While the stock has lost 55 percent from its June peak, Rochford said his company can stay profitable even should oil slip to $50. Crude prices last settled at $65.84 a barrel in New York, down from around $105 five months ago. Equities in the industry are being ejected from the U.S. bull market, falling 9.2 percent this year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 12 percent. Oil is down 33 percent amid concern over a glut of supply. Futures on the S&P 500 expiring this month dropped 0.4 percent at 10:31 a.m. in London today. By Lu Wang and Oliver Renick