Barnes & Noble (BKS - option chain) shares have been moving sharply higher for the past few days and are continuing that trend today. Company insider and billionaire investor Ronald Burkle reported purchasing more than 4.4 million shares of BKS in the past week alone, valued at $90.2M. When a major holder makes a big purchase like that, it is often a sign of good things to come for that stock, if only because other investors may follow his lead. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on BKS.

BKS opened this morning at $21.00. So far today the stock has hit a low of $20.86 and a high of $21.55. As of 12:30, BKS is trading at $21.43 up 93 cents (4.5%). The chart for BKS looks bearish and S&P gives BKS a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.

"Citigroup (NYSE: C) used to be the world's #1 bank; it is now ranked #15 after the financial crisis," points out long-standing investing and trading expert Mark Skousen.

Yet, in his premium Hedge Fund Trader service, the leading advisor ranks the bank as a speculative buy. Here's his review.

"The stock fell to $1 a share from $40 a share two years ago. But now Citigroup is showing some breathing room after selling Smith Barney to Morgan Stanley for $6.7 billion and pushing revenues up to $34 billion.

"Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU), the largest private market coal firm in the world, had a great 2008," says Jack Adamo who has recently added the stock to the buy list of Insiders Plus.

"Peabody has extensive holdings in the U.S. and Australia, the latter serving the China/Asia Pacific markets. It sells steam coal for heating and utility use, and coking coal for steel making.

"Peabody has had some decent iInsider buying in the last few months -- about 30,000 shares -- not enough to get too excited about, but encouraging. There were also 27,000 options exercised, most of it at very low prices, for which the holder took no profits.

"That's also a good sign, particularly since those exercises come with a tax bill, and shares weren't sold to pay it. It implies faith the stock will rise.

Investors who look to insider sentiment as a sign of when to buy stocks will be sorely disappointed with the latest news on insider trading: Over the past 90 days, insiders at U.S. companies have bought $670.2 million worth of stock while dumping $2.8 billion on the market. In the last 60 trading days of 2008, insider buying was down by about 16% over the previous year. That sounds bad, but it actually buys a larger chunk of a stock market that's down more than 30%. So you could actually make the case that insider buying is up!

Matt Krantz reports that the reason for the less-than-enthusiastic insider buying could be driven by the weakening balance sheets of the executives themselves. While CEO compensation certainly hasn't declined along with the market, the value of executives' portfolios has tanked. "Some CEOs face tax bills on shares they received as compensation," the USA Today reports -- even though those shares may not be worth as much as they were when the taxes were calculated.

"Last spring, CEO Leonard Riggio of Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) purchased almost $50 million-worth of his company's stock between $27-29.50; today, it languishes on the remainder table at $17.56," says Mark Skousen.

In his income-oriented speciality service, High Income Alert, the advisor says, "Now, a billionaire has also taken a stake." Here's the advisor's update.

"Barnes & Noble is a worthy addition to our model portfolio. Trading well below the level that the CEO purchased shares, we consider the stock a bargain.

"Barnes & Noble owns the nation's largest chain of bookstores, with 800 stores in 50 states. It also owns one of the Web's most-visited Web sites, bn.com. Between its stores and Web site, Barnes and Noble sells more than 300 million books a year.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) shares are lower today, dragged down by the overall market. However, it has been reported that CEO Vikram Pandit and another big shot at C have recently purchased a combined one million shares of the bank's stock. These guys may just be making a big show of confidence, but it is still roughly $9M on the line in these transactions. If you think that insider buying means the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on C.

C opened this morning at $9.76. So far today the stock has hit a low of $8.79 and a high of $10.11. As of 1:55, C is trading at $9.19, down 0.26 (-2.8%). The chart for C looks bearish and S&P gives C a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a December bull-put credit spread below the $5 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 10.1% return in just five weeks as long as C is above $5 at December expiration. Citi would have to fall by more than 45% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

C hasn't been below $8 at all in the past year and has shown support around $8.25 recently.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in C.

"The CEO of McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) is bullish on his own stock; he recently bought $1.1 million in shares," says trading and investing expert Bill Martin in BullMarket.com.

"On October 23, CEO Jim Skinner purchased 20,000 shares at $55.00, increasing his holdings to 236,700 shares. The buy was the first for Skinner in at least five years. "Under the terms of McDonald's stock ownership guidelines, Skinner is expected to hold 6 times his annual base salary in shares, or $7.65 million in stock.

"He exceeded the ownership guidelines prior to his recent purchase and presently owns more than $12.55 million in shares, excluding unvested restricted stock, phantom stock, and options.

"Excluding dividends, shares of McDonald's have risen nearly 90% during Skinner's approximately four-year tenure at the helm, no small feat considering they rose just 2% in the preceding four years and 43% in the preceding eight years.

Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB - option chain) shares are falling today with most other financial stocks, but we uncovered some interesting insider activity from this week. On Monday, a director at WB bought one million shares for $11.00. This cost him $11 million and could be interpreted as a sign that the stock is probably not going to go away any time soon. However, it is also a good idea to note that the same director bought 500,000 shares last winter at $38, so he may also just be averaging his position downwards. Either way, if you think that the stock won't fall by too much more in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on WB, since the put premiums will be high today.

WB opened this morning at $10.44. So far today the stock has hit a low of $8.50 and a high of $10.91. As of 12:55, WB is trading at $9.55, down $1.96 (17.0%). The chart for WB looks bearish and S&P gives the stock a 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider an October bull-put credit spread below the $5 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 39.9% return in just one month as long as WB is above $5 at October expiration. Wachovia would have to fall by more than 47% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

"Stericycle (NASDAQ SRCL) is a near-monopoly in an essential but unglamorous area, making its an excellent investment in an uncertain economy," says growth stock expert Dave Dyer.

In his Dave Dyer's Newsletter, he states, "If you have something that is dangerous, contaminated, or nasty, and you want it to go away safely, you can rely on SRCL, the leader in medical waste."

"I first recommended the stock almost a year ago, but there is so much good news that I thought this would be a good time to recommend it again.

"And while the stock's 12.4% gain since last August is not spectacular, the S&P 500 is down 14.1% over the same time period -- so SRCL has outperformed the market by a wide margin.

"SRCL is North America's largest provider of medical waste services. In fact, if a major customer wants to contract with a single customer for nationwide services, SRCL is the only choice. Even if the market has not really bottomed out, this is an excellent stock to consider because its business is almost entirely immune to economic cycles.

"The boom in natural gas prices has been good for North American producers and their investors, both of which continue to be upbeat on the sector as share prices also keep rising," says Bill Martin.

In his exceptional BullMarket.com, he looks at SandRidge Energy (NYSE: SD), where its billionaire CEO as well as a director have continued to buy shares, despite the stock trading near "peak levels."

"Oklahoma City-based SandRidge focuses on the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas in the West Texas Overthrust, East Texas, and Mid-Continent (Oklahoma) regions.

"President, and CEO Tom Ward purchased 460,000 shares at $48.95 on May 19th/20th, which increased his already substantial holdings to nearly 36.95 million shares, or a 25.27% stake.

"It was the first purchase for Ward since he announced in March his attention to buy up to $100 million in stock on the open market this year. His only other open-market purchase came in November 2007, when he took down 4.17 million shares at $26.00 in the company's initial public offering.

MBIA (NYSE: MBI) executives recently slashed in half the price they will be paying for shares in the company's recapitalization, but bullish observers are still pointing to their token investments as signs of confidence in the company's future.

The Wall Street Journal's Inside Track column (subscription required) gives investors good reason to be skeptical of these deals -- which appear to me to be little more than publicity stunts where the investments made by executives represent a pittance compared to the compensation they have extracted from the company's shareholders in spite of scandalously horrendous performance.

Here's the thing: Jim Cramer has said frequently that insider selling happens all the time for many different reasons, but insiders buy for only one reason: they think their stock is going higher.

In my day job as an analyst, I hear time and time again the conspiracy theorists, claiming that "the big guys" are out to get us, making it impossible to make money in the market. While insider buying is a good divining stick when analyzing companies, the idea that the institutions and insiders are just sitting, crouching in waiting, to sucker us into making investments decisions just to swipe our money is ludicrous.

While there are certainly cases of misdeed or asymmetrical information, this is not the case. Playing fields are generally level for all parties. That's what the SEC, FINRA and many governing bodies are there for -- to protect investors.

So, I find it interesting to read, on a couple of accounts, about Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee sprinter making a go at qualifying for the 2008 Olympics in China. The NY Times ran a story today that cites that the amazing sprinter may hold an unfair advantage with his prosthetics and may subsequently be disallowed to compete.

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"For more conservative investors, my favorite idea for 2008 is First Horizon National Corp. (NYSE: FHN), the Tennessee-based holding company for First Tennessee Bank," says Keith Fitz-Gerald, editor of Money Morning.

"Its banks feature all the offerings you might expect from a good regional bank: Savings, checking, mortgages, investment banking, and brokerage services. It's not exactly an innovative idea -- minimize risks and maximize profits.

"But let's face it, it's a tried-and-true strategy that most US banks have abandoned as they chase after the (allegedly) big profits that subprime-backed debt, leveraged buyouts and other similarly esoteric investments appeared to promise.

"Yes, FHN really over-extended itself in the credit markets and recently announced a loss of $14.2 million. More losses may be coming. And its ultra-high dividend yield off 7.93% may be in jeopardy. Nonetheless, we think the stock's beating was overdone.

With the market experiencing a continued downturn and with Thanksgiving upon us, I thought we could highlight two stocks that have been turkeys so far this year (dogs maybe be more appropriate, but 'tis the season). However, unlike our favorite bird, these are poised to fly.

Radvision (NASDAQ:RVSN), which specializes in video conferencing over IP and 3G networks, has lost more than 40% YTD. It has produced successive earnings disappointments. While it has great technology, it has been struggling to execute its business plan. It's important to note however, that it has a very close relationship with Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), and every few months rumors surface as to a potential M&A. I think that management has taken the Cisco relationship for granted and hasn't done enough to hustle new business.

That being said, as I mentioned the stock is down over 40% on the year. The company today received permission to purchase up to $30 million in stock. While some may see that as a PR stunt to boost the stock, more interesting was that Yehuda Zisapel, a former Chairman of the Board of RVSN and the brother of the company's current Chairman of the Board, bought $2 million of stock. With the stock getting creamed so far this year, I would look at it as a nice turnaround play going forward.

With all the bad PR surrounding the departure of Citigroup's (NYSE: C) CEO Chuck Prince, along with Merrill Lynch's (NYSE: MER) CEO Stanley O'Neill, not to mention their huge severance packages, it's refreshing to see a company where the CEO actually puts his money where his mouth is and invests in the stock of the company he runs.

News that Wachovia (NYSE: WB) CEO Ken Thompson bought 100,000 shares this past Friday, to go along with the 37,000 he bought earlier last week, is a telling sign that not only does he pay lip service to his company's stock being undervalued, but has actually invested millions of his own dollars to back it up.

With the debate over executive compensation heating up, and investor cynicism towards CEOs at an all time high, this move buy Thompson is commendable. How many stories have we read about CEOs making large salaries, getting enormous bonuses and the stock price continues to drop?

Kudos to Thompson, and may his large investment pay off.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. Disclosure: Writer holds no position in any stock mentioned as of 11/21/07.