These 3 Underperforming Stocks Are Seeing Notable CEO Insider Trades

Key Points

• Accenture CEO Julie Sweet purchased approximately $3 million in shares after the stock rebounded from a steep midyear decline.
• PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta sold approximately $4 million in shares after the company lowered its full-year earnings growth outlook.
• Applied Digital CEO Wes Cummins and President Jason Gechen Zhang purchased a combined $6.7 million in shares as the company navigates substantial debt and data center expansion costs.

The CEOs of three companies with underperforming stocks are providing both positive and negative signals through their recent insider activity. Company leaders are buying into two key names across consulting and tech, potentially signaling confidence in their future prospects. Meanwhile, a food and beverage giant's CEO recently sold shares after the company lowered its earnings guidance.

Accenture CEO Executes $3 Million Buy

Consulting giant Accenture NYSE: ACN has experienced huge ups and downs in 2026. Around midyear, Accenture shares had fallen by more than 50% from the start of the year. Fears that AI could disrupt traditional consulting businesses partly drove this.

CEO Julie Sweet recently acknowledged that AI could affect the company's existing business, but expressed confidence in the opportunities it could create: “We again believe that, ultimately, the new demand that will be created will far exceed the demand that's being replaced.”

Investors may be coming around to this idea, as Accenture has recovered mightily in the back half of the year. Shares are now down only slightly year-to-date, and Accenture’s dividend pushes its return into positive territory.

Julie Sweet is also putting her money where her mouth is, purchasing $3 million worth of Accenture shares in late October. This buy results in a substantial increase in Sweet’s position. Sweet now owns 48,910 Accenture shares, increasing her direct ownership by approximately 33%. Despite this bullish indicator, Accenture has also seen around $2 million worth of insider sales in October.

However, insider buys tend to be viewed as more telling than sales of a similar magnitude. Insiders may sell for various reasons, such as holdings diversification or liquidity needs, rather than because they are clearly bearish. On the other hand, insider buys are typically a more direct expression of confidence.

Pepsi CEO Sells Following Guidance Decrease

PepsiCo NASDAQ: PEP is another big-name stock that has put up meager returns in 2026. Pepsi shares are nearly flat in 2026, while the stock's dividend yield near 4.2% provides an additional source of return.

Pepsi reported improving sales volumes in its North America snacks business. This comes after the company significantly reduced prices on certain snacks earlier in the year, betting that lower prices would increase volume, creating a net benefit. However, the company lowered its core earnings per share (EPS) growth guidance for 2026 to 3% at the midpoint, down from its previous "low end of 5% to 7%" guidance.

Amid this, CEO Ramon Laguarta made a notable insider sale, worth approximately $4 million. Equal to 30,000 shares, this move reduces Laguarta’s direct holdings by around 6%. This is not a huge sale relative to his remaining holdings, but it may still attract attention, especially in the context of the guidance decrease. Overall, the sale could be viewed as a slightly negative signal, although the transaction alone does not establish Laguarta's outlook for the company.

Applied Digital Insiders Step in After Huge Sell-Off

While Applied Digital NASDAQ: APLD performed very well in the first few months of 2026, the stock has taken a turn for the worse. Through the end of May, APLD had surged more than 100% to nearly $50 per share. However, shares have plummeted since that point, now down around 32% on the year.

Although investors have hit many AI stocks hard lately, Applied Digital’s smaller scale relative to major technology companies and the high costs of developing AI data centers add to its challenges. This is particularly true as investors pay more attention to elevated debt levels and industry leaders raise concerns about the availability and cost of capital.

Following the stock’s dramatic fall, CEO Wes Cummins purchased around $1 million worth of Applied Digital shares on Oct. 16, 2026. However, this purchase of 55,803 shares barely increases his total position, with Cummins directly owning more than 5.8 million shares, and indirectly owning more than 17 million shares. Notably, President Jason Gechen Zhang also purchased 300,000 shares, worth around $5.66 million, increasing his reported direct holdings by more than 10%.

While these are positive indicators for Applied Digital, they don’t change the fact that the company’s debt reached $6.4 billion last quarter, compared to its $3.7 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash. Furthermore, Applied Digital generated just $64.4 million of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) during its fiscal first quarter of 2027.

Insider Trades Tell Only Part of the Story

Among the three, Accenture CEO Julie Sweet's purchase stands out, especially alongside the company's growth and margin expansion targets. Insider buying at Applied Digital is also encouraging, although its substantial debt remains a concern. PepsiCo's CEO sale follows a reduction in guidance, but its relatively small size limits its significance. Ultimately, future financial performance will matter more than any single insider transaction.