Insider buying at Absolute Software

Absolute Software CEO John Livingston is buying his own stock. Early in November, Absolute Software (TSX:ABT) reported its Q1 2013 results. The company earned (US) $470,768 on sales contracts that totaled $20.6-million, which was a 19% dip from the first quarter of fiscal 2012.

Absolute CEO John Livingston said the Vancouver-based software security player “…faced broader PC industry challenges in the quarter that placed downward pressure on our overall first quarter results.” He added that he was he encouraged by industry forecasts and excited about the mobile-device management space, where the company is seeing growth.

Recent filings suggest Livingston’s optimism was not empty rhetoric.

On November 8th, Livingston bought 132,700 shares of Absolute Software at $4.29. He continued to buy the next day, picking up an additional 100,500 shares at $4.38.

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Absolute Software sprung to attention midway through the last decade. In 2005, the company teamed up with Lojack to introduce Lojack for Laptops. The product, which worked by periodically dialing Absolute servers and could not be disabled even by wiping the hard drive, was a new level of security for laptops which were, increasingly, becoming a target for thieves.

The success of Lojack for Laptops was a boon to Absolute Software. The company’s revenue climbed from under $37 million in 2007 to more than $74-million in fiscal 2012. Along the way, Absolute made OEM deals with Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, Samsung, Toshiba, Intel and HP. Today, the bulk of the money the company makes is through these deals.

Shares of Absolute Software closed today up .9% to $4.54.

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