Insider Trades: Two beaten-down ASX small caps with big insider buys

Welcome back to the Insider Trades Series – A summary of on-market director transactions valued at more than $10,000 for small-to-mid cap ASX companies between 15-21 November.

ASX Insider Trades above $50,000

APM Human Services (ASX: APM) founder and executive chairman Megan Wynne has been actively accumulating shares since March 2023.

Shares in the global health and workplace services provider sold off almost 40% between 9-14 November after the company issued a downbeat FY24 outlook at its AGM.

• Strong revenue growth in the first half of FY24

• But first half FY24 earnings to be lower than the first half of FY23

• Stronger earnings in the second half versus the first half

• FY24 cash conversion to be in line with the long-run average

Bell Potter downgraded the stock to HOLD from Buy with a $1.90 target price (previously $2.21) on 10 November.

"This is a disappointing AGM statement from the company pointing to lower H1 FY24 earnings vs H1 FY23 due to lower volumes in employment, as well as interest costs and higher tax rates," the analysts said.

"This profit downgrade will test shareholders patience, and while there may be a good medium-term story and supportive valuation, we believe the shares are likely to remain weak until there is a clearer path to improvement."

LiveHire (ASX: LVH) is a cloud-based talent management platform. Its shares are down around 68% year-to-date amid a broad range of headwinds including management changes, underwhelming revenue growth and increased competition.

The LiveHire CEO decided to hit the buy button on 17 November, buying $674,641 shares on-market or approximately 5% of the company's shares on issue. LiveHire shares finished that session up 24% to 5.8 cents.

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