Top-level corporate insiders such as CEOs and CFOs tend to have the most up-to-date information on their businesses. If they’re buying company stock, it’s generally a sign that the outlook for the business is attractive.

Here, we are going to highlight buying from top-level insiders at Benson Hill Inc (BHIL:US). Benson Hill is an American food technology company. The business is split into two segments: Fresh and Ingredients. Fresh focuses on growing and selling fresh produce to major retail and foodservice customers. The Ingredients segment is looking to commercialize soybean and yellow pea products, using seed innovation to reduce the energy usage needed to produce the crops. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and currently has a market capitalization of approximately $472.80 million.

Insider Buying at Benson Hill

Our insider trading screener shows that between November 15 and December 14, two insiders at Benson Hill bought stock. Those who bought shares were:

President/CEO Matthew Crisp (52,000 shares @ $3.00 per share)
CFO Dean Freeman (109,230 shares @ $2.95 per share)

In total, the two insiders spent around $470,000 on stock.

Financial Experience

Both of these insiders have financial backgrounds.

Mr. Crisp has a venture capital background and was previously a Managing Director at VC firm Third Security, LLC. Here, he gained extensive experience guiding companies through the early commercialization phase. As well as co-founding Benson Hill, he was the co-founder of Edison Agrosciences.

Mr. Freeman has over 30 years of business experience and has held a number of senior roles. He was the CEO of First Source Capital, which operates in the commercial finance space. As well as this he has been CFO at GCP Applied Technologies Inc and Watts Water Technologies.

Given their backgrounds, these insiders are likely to have a good understanding of the investment potential here.

Increased 2022 Guidance

Benson Hill grew revenues strongly in Q3 due to an impressive performance from its Ingredients segment.

For the period, consolidated revenues amounted to $130 million, up 307% year over year. The revenue derived from the Ingredients segment was $122.3 million, up 429% year on year. Gross profit came in at $4.4 million versus $409,000 a year earlier.

On the back of this performance, management raised guidance for 2022. Consolidated revenues are now expected to be in the range of $430 million to $455 million while gross profit is expected to be between $14 million and $17 million.

It’s worth noting that the company said that it is in discussions with interested parties to sell the Fresh segment. A sale is not certain, however, any net proceeds from a sale will be used to improve the liquidity position of the business.

“Our team members delivered another quarter of impressive results, which positions Benson Hill to end 2022 with better than expected financial performance. We have also taken recent actions that, when combined with strong execution and prudent cash management, are intended to fully fund the business to profitability,” said Mr. Crisp.

Given this strong Q3 update, we see the insider trading cases here as a bullish development

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