Two things come to mind here: just how vulnerable stock prices are based on political commentary and secondly just how incredibly inflated drug prices are maybe justifiably so. According to a Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development study, the process involved to develop a new prescription medicine that gains marketing approval, can last more than a decade, and can cost $2,558 million.
Is there really that much to worry about with falling oil rices and lost revenues? When you're this rich, you can afford to twiddle your thumbs.
Years of $100 a barrel oil has allowed these four oil exporters - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar to amass reserves of $2.4 trillion, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, forcing others, like U.S. shale producers and Russia's state energy giants, to live with lower prices.
Got nerves of steel? True the stock was up around last week on positive phase 2 results but on Sept 23rd, HRTX plummeted form around 40 to around 21, an almost 50% crash. Yesterday, we saw a leap back of over 14%, up to 24. Potential gains are huge for this and other leading biotech stocks like GILD, D, CLVX but if you're nervous around all that volatility stick with an ETF like XBI. It has assets across nearly 90 companies in biotechnology and charges a relatively low 35 basis points a year in fees.
This isnt exactly new news, the NSA has been monitoring credit card transactions, phone calls, emails for probably more than a decade following stricter anti terrorism laws after 9/11. What I would like to see is more security and protection for consumers after the huge breaches of security that exposed credit card data on millions of consumers in the past decade including: TJX 2007 94million records, Ebay 2014 145million records, and Target 2013 110million records. Furthermore, how trustworthy is the government? Can we trust their data protection? In June this year...(From CNN) The personal data of an estimated 18 million current, former and prospective federal employees were affected by a cyber breach at the Office of Personnel Management. In June we also saw a slight reversal in the trend of big brother watching us. Congress voted in a new Act called the USA Freedom Act which was the first time since the 1970s that Congress has indicated its intention to restrict the vast powers of intelligence agencies like the NSA, rather than exponentially expand them. I believe this is just a gesture and a nod at those crying foul to intrusions into citizens' personal freedoms. US Government monitoring will I am sure continue to prevail as society moves increasingly further from a cash based economy and relies more on digital and online transactions.
No surprise that XBI has been so popular of late, the ETF has performed amazingly well among other ETFs and even stocks, up 35% YTD!! With this kind of performance, people will continue to be tempted to stuff their hard earned money into the ETF. After all, why bother trying to hand pick the healthcare winners when there are far better qualified folks out there who have done all the hard work for us? Big question is, can XBI keep shining? The following issues are potentially casting a long shadow over XBI; are some of the ETFs stock holdings heavily overpriced and at tipping point? How stable is ObamaCare from a legal and popularity standpoint? Will painfully slow drug development and FDA approval times have an impact on drug companies held by XBI?
Like many of these up-and-coming biomed or biopharma companies, they are highly volatile. Often, their stock price is very closely linked to the outcomes of scientific research studies and success rates of medical treatments. Likewise, any setbacks or bad news in these developments can have a powerful negative effect on the stock price. As an investment choice, these sub $5 stocks are highly risky, but if you toss the dice correctly and invest into a pre IPO rocket, better strap on that seat belt tightly because they can be potentially incredibly lucrative.
Not yet a publicly traded company but perhaps one to watch out for in the future is Boston based Alpha Szenszor. It has licensed a highly unique cancer detecting technology and hopes to introduce it to the market within the next few years. This device detects lung cancer by way of a breathalyzer. The device developed by Israeli, US and UK scientists claims to be able to accurately detect lung cancer tumors, and identify its stage of progression.
With so many factors affecting the price of oil, one factor seems to be the most imminent game changer, that is the nuclear deal with Iran. With Iran seemingly biding for time, the White House is trying to be patient saying that while progress is being made, talks would not likely drag on for "many more weeks." If the agreements reach a successful conclusion and the US sanctions on Iran's oil exports are lifted, we can expect Iran's oil output to double. Currently, Iran is exporting about 1.2 million barrels of oil per day, but that figure could jump to 2.3 million barrels if and when the US sanctions are lifted. If that huge increase in supply happens, we could see a knock-on effect in oil prices. If you were a betting man, would you put a wager on a US/Iran deal? I remain very skeptical.
The stock is up over 40% YTD. The CEO of Zoe's, Kevin Miles was quoted as saying that the key to Zoe's success is providing good food that resonates with customers, something they've been doing for the past 20 years. Currently, out of 8 Wall Street analysts opinions, 3 are a strong buy, 1 a buy, and 4 a hold. Can the stock continue its momentum?
AZZ is up over 15% in the past 3 months, but on the downside, the stock was most recently downgraded last week (June 12) from a Buy to Neutral by DA Davidson. Should be interesting to see how it does on earnings expected sometime between June 25-29. If it beats expected earnings, the stock should jump.
Latest Comments
Valeant Pharmaceuticals Shares Slammed On Subpoena For High Drug Costs
Two things come to mind here: just how vulnerable stock prices are based on political commentary and secondly just how incredibly inflated drug prices are maybe justifiably so. According to a Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development study, the process involved to develop a new prescription medicine that gains marketing approval, can last more than a decade, and can cost $2,558 million.
Saudi Oil Strategy: Brilliant Or Suicide?
Is there really that much to worry about with falling oil rices and lost revenues? When you're this rich, you can afford to twiddle your thumbs.
Years of $100 a barrel oil has allowed these four oil exporters - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar to amass reserves of $2.4 trillion, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, forcing others, like U.S. shale producers and Russia's state energy giants, to live with lower prices.
$2.4 trillion; that can buy a lot of time!
Heron Therapeutics Announces Positive Phase 2 Results For Post-Operative Pain
Got nerves of steel? True the stock was up around last week on positive phase 2 results but on Sept 23rd, HRTX plummeted form around 40 to around 21, an almost 50% crash. Yesterday, we saw a leap back of over 14%, up to 24. Potential gains are huge for this and other leading biotech stocks like GILD, D, CLVX but if you're nervous around all that volatility stick with an ETF like XBI. It has assets across nearly 90 companies in biotechnology and charges a relatively low 35 basis points a year in fees.
U.S. Government Is Going To Monitor All Your Financial Transactions Very Soon
This isnt exactly new news, the NSA has been monitoring credit card transactions, phone calls, emails for probably more than a decade following stricter anti terrorism laws after 9/11. What I would like to see is more security and protection for consumers after the huge breaches of security that exposed credit card data on millions of consumers in the past decade including: TJX 2007 94million records, Ebay 2014 145million records, and Target 2013 110million records. Furthermore, how trustworthy is the government? Can we trust their data protection? In June this year...(From CNN) The personal data of an estimated 18 million current, former and prospective federal employees were affected by a cyber breach at the Office of Personnel Management. In June we also saw a slight reversal in the trend of big brother watching us. Congress voted in a new Act called the USA Freedom Act which was the first time since the 1970s that Congress has indicated its intention to restrict the vast powers of intelligence agencies like the NSA, rather than exponentially expand them. I believe this is just a gesture and a nod at those crying foul to intrusions into citizens' personal freedoms. US Government monitoring will I am sure continue to prevail as society moves increasingly further from a cash based economy and relies more on digital and online transactions.
Biotech Bull Market Rolls On In A Volatile Q2 2015: XBI Up 12.4%
No surprise that XBI has been so popular of late, the ETF has performed amazingly well among other ETFs and even stocks, up 35% YTD!! With this kind of performance, people will continue to be tempted to stuff their hard earned money into the ETF. After all, why bother trying to hand pick the healthcare winners when there are far better qualified folks out there who have done all the hard work for us? Big question is, can XBI keep shining? The following issues are potentially casting a long shadow over XBI; are some of the ETFs stock holdings heavily overpriced and at tipping point? How stable is ObamaCare from a legal and popularity standpoint? Will painfully slow drug development and FDA approval times have an impact on drug companies held by XBI?
Biocept Expands Its Blood Test For Breast Cancer - And Lung Cancers
Like many of these up-and-coming biomed or biopharma companies, they are highly volatile. Often, their stock price is very closely linked to the outcomes of scientific research studies and success rates of medical treatments. Likewise, any setbacks or bad news in these developments can have a powerful negative effect on the stock price. As an investment choice, these sub $5 stocks are highly risky, but if you toss the dice correctly and invest into a pre IPO rocket, better strap on that seat belt tightly because they can be potentially incredibly lucrative.
Biocept Expands Its Blood Test For Breast Cancer - And Lung Cancers
Not yet a publicly traded company but perhaps one to watch out for in the future is Boston based Alpha Szenszor. It has licensed a highly unique cancer detecting technology and hopes to introduce it to the market within the next few years. This device detects lung cancer by way of a breathalyzer. The device developed by Israeli, US and UK scientists claims to be able to accurately detect lung cancer tumors, and identify its stage of progression.
Six Amazing Charts Show Exactly Why Oil Prices Have Been Plunging
With so many factors affecting the price of oil, one factor seems to be the most imminent game changer, that is the nuclear deal with Iran. With Iran seemingly biding for time, the White House is trying to be patient saying that while progress is being made, talks would not likely drag on for "many more weeks." If the agreements reach a successful conclusion and the US sanctions on Iran's oil exports are lifted, we can expect Iran's oil output to double. Currently, Iran is exporting about 1.2 million barrels of oil per day, but that figure could jump to 2.3 million barrels if and when the US sanctions are lifted. If that huge increase in supply happens, we could see a knock-on effect in oil prices. If you were a betting man, would you put a wager on a US/Iran deal? I remain very skeptical.
Zoe's Kitchen - All Time High
The stock is up over 40% YTD. The CEO of Zoe's, Kevin Miles was quoted as saying that the key to Zoe's success is providing good food that resonates with customers, something they've been doing for the past 20 years. Currently, out of 8 Wall Street analysts opinions, 3 are a strong buy, 1 a buy, and 4 a hold. Can the stock continue its momentum?
Azz Inc. - All Time High
AZZ is up over 15% in the past 3 months, but on the downside, the stock was most recently downgraded last week (June 12) from a Buy to Neutral by DA Davidson. Should be interesting to see how it does on earnings expected sometime between June 25-29. If it beats expected earnings, the stock should jump.