Central Pacific Financial Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis..

What: Shares of Central Pacific Financial (NYS: CPF) rose more than 10% in early trading on news that legendary value investor Seth Klarman is buying shares.

So what: Klarman's latest filing with the SEC also shows substantial new bets on BP (NYS: BP) and Microsoft (NAS: MSFT) . No other banks were mentioned in this analysis of his holdings, published at Seeking Alpha.

Now what: Interestingly, Klarman's buy comes just as Central Pacific was ranked fifth on a list of 10 regional banks experiencing heavy insider buying. I don't believe that's a coincidence, and as such I've rated the stock to outperform in my Motley Fool CAPS portfolio. Do you agree? Would you buy at these levels? Weigh in using the comments box below.

Interested in more info on Central Pacific Financial?Add it to your watchlist.

At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributorTim Beyersis a member of theMotley Fool Rule Breakersstock-picking team. He didn't own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article at the time of publication. Check out Tim'sportfolio holdingsandFoolish writings, or connect with him onGoogle+or Twitter, where he goes by@milehighfool. You can also get his insightsdelivered directly to your RSS reader.The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft.Motley Fool newsletter serviceshave recommended buying shares of and creating a bull call spread position in Microsoft. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

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