Has Skechers Run Too Far?

• Shares of this footwear maker popped after its CEO bought shares.
• The stock also saw an analyst's upgrade last week.
• The share price is still down handily year-to-date.

It has been a good week for Skechers USA Inc (NYSE: SKX) investors, with the share price up around 18 percent in the wake of notable insider buying. The question is whether this is the push the stock needs to finally recover after a disappointing earnings report last summer or if shares will fall back toward the 52-week low of $18.81 hit back in October.

Conventional wisdom says insiders and 10 percent owners really only buy shares of a company for one reason: They believe the stock price will rise, and they want to profit from it. CEO Robert Greenberg last week bought 500,000 shares of the footwear maker. The share prices for those purchases ranged from $21.75 to $22.18. That cost him nearly $11 million.

Also helping boost shares last week was an analyst upgrade that cited the emergence of a new product cycle.

Skechers currently has a market capitalization near $4 billion but offers no dividend. Short interest is less than 5 percent of the float, and the consensus recommendation of analysts is to Hold shares. The stock jumped about 18 in the past week, but it is down more than 13 percent year to date. Friday's close at $26.16 was well above Greenberg's purchase prices.

Next week should reveal whether this was a case of over-exuberance or Skechers really does have room to run.

Skechers closed Friday down 0.87 percent at $26.16.