Insiders at NVIDIA, Caterpillar and Elastic have sold more than $450 million of stock since the companies' latest earnings reports, a cluster of discretionary selling that coincides with the sharpest rally in AI-exposed names this year.
NVIDIA leads the selling
NVIDIA shares jumped 8.7% after its most recent earnings release, the first post-earnings gain in more than a year and the largest in over two years. The company guided for 70% revenue growth in the next fiscal year, well above consensus, and the stock is up roughly 20% in 2026 against an 11% rise in the S&P 500. Since the report, insiders have sold $385 million of stock. Nearly all of it came from director Mark Stevens, whose sales were not made under a 10b5-1 plan. Stevens still holds nearly 29 million shares, meaning the disposals represent less than 10% of his position. The source characterizes this as a somewhat negative indicator but not overly worrisome, given the concentration in one seller and the modest trim relative to his stake.
Caterpillar CEO trims stake by half
Caterpillar's power generation business grew 72% year-over-year in its latest quarter, fueled by data-center demand for backup and primary power. The stock has returned about 40% in 2026 despite sitting more than 20% below its high. Chief executive Joseph Creed sold more than $26 million of shares, also outside a 10b5-1 plan. He exercised options on 44,404 shares, used over 12,000 shares to cover the exercise price and taxes, and sold the rest, reducing his combined direct and indirect ownership by over 45%. The options were exercised near $220 and the shares sold above $800. The source notes that realizing those gains was likely the motivating factor rather than a view on the outlook, though the scale of the reduction is difficult to ignore.
Elastic adds to the tally
Cybersecurity firm Elastic has seen insider sales exceed $70 million as its AI-related products gain traction. The source text ends mid-sentence on Elastic's details, but the figure pushes the three-company total above the $450 million threshold.
What the sales actually signal
The source argues that a pattern of large gains followed by large sales can signal negative insider sentiment, but stresses this is not inherently true. In NVIDIA's case, the selling is concentrated and represents a small fraction of one director's holding. In Caterpillar's, the CEO's option exercise and tax-driven sale at a 260% profit offers a more mundane explanation. The aggregate number is eye-catching; the individual contexts are less so.