Why AppFolio Stock Rocked the Market on Tuesday

One quite active stock mover on a forgettable Tuesday for the market was specialized business software developer AppFolio (NASDAQ: APPF). The company's shares saw a robust rise of almost 5% across the trading day, thanks to a pair of insider stock buys disclosed in regulatory filings. On that day, the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) also rose but by nowhere near as much, inching up to close the day 0.6% higher.

A pair of very familiar stock buyers

The two AppFolio folks snapping up shares of the company were members of its board of directors, Timothy Bliss and Casey Donald. Of the pair, Bliss was the more assertive, as he amassed 22,000 shares in a series of buys between last Thursday and the following Monday. The per-share price he paid for each of these blocks ranged from $215.28 to $218.73.

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As for Donald, his buying activity was more muted and concentrated. In a single purchase made last Friday, he snapped up 4,000 shares, paying an average of $217.73 apiece for the privilege.

Shares of AppFolio, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that focuses on the real estate market, have seen something of an upswing lately. In no small part, this is a recovery from a sell-off following the company's first-quarter earnings release, published in late April. Although it posted solid growth on the top line, its net income fell, and it missed analyst estimates for both metrics.

Lofty expectations

We should bear in mind that investor expectations for the often-prosperous SaaS segment can be awfully high. Often, folks invested in industry titles demand not only strong, across-the-board growth; they insist on crushing beats too.

To me, AppFolio is still doing very well in its niche, and remains robustly profitable despite that recent bottom-line dip. I think those insider buys were smart.

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Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AppFolio. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.