Blog Archives

Systemax

8/31/2017

Systemax Inc. operates as a direct marketer of brand name and private label products. Its Industrial Products Group segment sells a range of maintenance, repair, and operation products, including electrical and bulbs; fasteners and hardware; foodservice and appliances; furniture and office products; HVAC/R fans; janitorial and maintenance; material handling; medical and laboratory equipment; metalworking and cutting tools; motors and power transmission products; office and school supplies; outdoor and grounds maintenance products; packaging and supplies; plumbing supplies; pneumatics and hydraulics; raw materials and building supplies; safety and security products; storage and shelving products; tools and instruments; and vehicle maintenance, and workbench and shop desks in North America. The company's EMEA Technology Products Group segment sells information and communication technology products, such as computers and mobile devices; computer parts and memory products; servers, and storage and backup products; computer components and accessories; networking and security products; software products; and electronics, and commercial and home networking products. This segment also offers consumer electronics comprising TV and video, audio, and GPS products; cameras and surveillance products; cell phones; video games and toys; and home and electronics accessories. The company offers its products primarily under the Global Industrial, MISCO, and Inmac Wstore brand names to for-profit businesses, educational organizations, and government entities through its relationship marketers, catalog mailings, and proprietary Internet Websites. Systemax Inc. was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Port Washington, New York.
(Summary) (Company) (Chart)

27 August 2017
Price $24.26
1yr Target $31.00
Analysts 1
Dividend $0.40
Payout Ratio 60.60%

1yr Cap Gain 27.78%
Yield 1.64%
1yr Tot Return 29.42%

P/E 36.54
PEG 3.04
Beta 0.11

EPS (ttm) $0.66
EPS next yr $1.49
Forward P/E 16.28
EPS next 5yr 12.00%
1yr Price Support $17.88

Market Cap $873.36 Mil
Revenues $1.45 Bil
Earnings $24.80 Mil
Profit Margin 1.65%

Quick Ratio 1.40
Current Ratio 1.90
Debt/Equity 0.00

1yr RevGR -9.39%
3yr RevGR -12.04%
5yr RevGR -14.52%

1yr EarnGR ---
3yr EarnGR ---
5yr EarnGR ---

1yr DivGR ---
3yr DivGR ---
5yr DivGR ---

ROA -2.40%
ROE -5.80%

My Perspective

I recently found this company and decided to look at the fundamentals and technicals to assess whether I would be interested in doing further research. I have no opinion on this company at this point. I expect to put this on my watch list based solely on the strength of the price move of the stock itself. Anyone reading this who becomes interested in starting a position in this company, should do additional research and analysis. Good Luck.

0 Comments

Sangamo Therapeutics

8/29/2017

1 Comment

I got interested in Sangamo Therapeutics primarily because of its stock chart. This company has been in an uptrend since the beginning of the year and in May it got supercharged. Since then its continued higher and today is in a confirmed uptrend. Today sales have been more than doubling as earnings have been increasing at a rate greater than 50%. Those are some giant numbers and I expect this to continue as the science of genome editing and gene therapy advances.

Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on translating ground-breaking science into genomic therapies that transform patients' lives using platform technologies in genome editing, gene therapy, gene regulation, and cell therapy. The company's proprietary zinc finger DNA-binding protein (ZFP) technology enables specific genome editing and gene regulation. The ZFPs could be engineered to make ZFP nucleases (ZFNs), proteins that could be used to specifically modify DNA sequences by adding or knocking out specific genes; and ZFP transcription factors (ZFP TFs), proteins that can be used to turn genes on or off. Its therapeutic products include SB-728-T, a ZFN-mediated autologous T-cell product for human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), which is in Phase II and Phase I clinical trials; and SB-728-HSPC that is in Phase I/II clinical trials for HIV/AIDS. The company also engages in Phase I/II studies of in vivo genome editing applications of ZFP Therapeutics for hemophilia B, Hemophilia A, and Mucopolysaccharidosis I (MPS) and MPS II, which are lysosomal storage disorder (LSD); proprietary preclinical programs in other LSDs; and research stage programs in certain central nervous system disorders and cancer immunotherapies. It has collaborative partnerships with Biogen Inc. to develop therapeutic genome editing products in hemoglobinopathies; and with Shire International GmbH to develop the preclinical development program in Huntington's disease, as well as license agreement with Sigma-Aldrich Corporation to develop ZFP-based laboratory research reagents and Dow AgroSciences, LLC to modify the genomes or alter protein expression of plant cells, plants, or plant cell cultures. The company was formerly known as Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. and changed its name to Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. in January 2017. Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Richmond, California.
(Summary) (Company) (Chart)

27 August 2017
Price $10.70
1yr Target $12.60
Analysts 5
Dividend $0.00
Payout Ratio 0.00%

1yr Cap Gain 17.75%
Yield 0.00%
1yr Tot Return 17.75%

P/E ---
PEG ---
Beta 3.12

EPS (ttm) $-0.80
EPS next yr $-0.81
Forward P/E ---
EPS next 5yr ---
1yr Price Support ---

Market Cap $926.30 Mil
Revenues $23.40 Mil
Earnings $-57.70 Mil
Profit Margin ---

Quick Ratio 6.10
Current Ratio 6.10
Debt/Equity 0.02

1yr RevGR ---
3yr RevGR ---
5yr RevGR ---

1yr EarnGR ---
3yr EarnGR ---
5yr EarnGR ---

1yr DivGR ---
3yr DivGR ---
5yr DivGR ---

ROA -30.70%
ROE -38.50%

Company Operations

Sangamo Therapeutics is a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on translating ground-breaking science into genomic therapies that transform patients’ lives using their industry-leading platform technologies in genome editing, gene therapy, gene regulation and cell therapy. The Company's proprietary zinc finger DNA-binding proteins (ZFP) technology enables efficient and highly specific genome editing and gene regulation, and they are developing genome editing and gene therapies for the treatment of genetically tractable diseases.

Sangamo has several proprietary clinical and preclinical programs in development and has strategically partnered certain programs with biopharmaceutical companies to obtain funding for programs and to expedite clinical and commercial development. The Company's long-term goal is to forward integrate into manufacturing, development and commercial operations to more fully capture the value of their proprietary genome editing and gene therapy products.

Sangamo and their licensed partners are leaders in the research, development and commercialization of ZFP, a naturally occurring class of proteins found in humans. They have used their knowledge and expertise to develop a proprietary technology platform in both genome editing and gene regulation. ZFPs can be engineered to make ZFP nucleases (ZFNs), proteins that can be used to specifically modify DNA sequences by adding or knocking out specific genes (genome editing) and ZFP transcription factors (ZFP TFs), proteins that can be used to turn genes on or off (gene regulation).

Although they are focused on the development of human therapeutic applications, ZFPs act at the DNA level and potentially have broad and fundamental applications in several other areas, such as plant agriculture and research reagents, including the production of transgenic animals and cell-line engineering. In the process of developing this platform Sangamo has accrued significant scientific, manufacturing and regulatory capabilities and know-how that is generally applicable in the broader field of gene therapy.

The main focus for the company is the development of novel human therapeutics. The Company has initiated a Phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluating our proprietary ZFN in vivo genome editing approach for the treatment of hemophilia B, a rare blood disorder. They are also planning to conduct Phase 1/2 clinical trials evaluating their ZFN in vivo genome editing approach for the treatment of Mucopolysaccharidosis I (MPS I) and Mucopolysaccharidosis II (MPS II), which are lysosomal storage disorders (LSD).

They also are planning to conduct a Phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluating a gene therapy for the treatment of hemophilia A, a rare blood disorder. In addition, the Company has proprietary preclinical programs in other LSDs and research stage programs in other monogenic diseases, including certain central nervous system (CNS) disorders and cancer immunotherapy.

Sangamo has established a collaborative partnership with Bioverativ Inc., a spin-out company from Biogen, Inc., to research, develop and commercialize therapeutic genome editing products in hemoglobinopathies, including sickle cell disease (SCD) and beta-thalassemia. They also have a collaborative partnership with Shire International GmbH, formerly Shire AG (Shire), to research, develop and commercialize their preclinical development program in Huntington’s disease (HD).

They also have a legacy clinical development program evaluating SB-728-T, a ZFN-modified autologous T-cell product for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. They have determined that HIV/AIDS is not a primary strategic focus for Sangamo, and they intend to seek collaborative partnerships before investing further in the development of human therapeutics for these indications.

In fields outside human therapeutics, Sangamo has entered into strategic partnerships to facilitate the sale or licensing of their ZFP platform. They have a license agreement with Sigma-Aldrich Corporation under which Sigma has the exclusive rights to develop and market ZFP-based laboratory research reagents marketed under the trademark CompoZr as well as ZFP-modified cell lines for commercial production of protein pharmaceuticals and ZFP-engineered transgenic animals.

They also have a license agreement with Dow AgroSciences, LLC (DAS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical Corporation. Under this agreement, DAS has the exclusive rights to use the Company's ZFP technology to modify the genomes or alter protein expression of plant cells, plants, or plant cell cultures and markets their ZFN technology under the trademark EXZACTTM Precision Technology.

Sangamo has a substantial intellectual property position in the genome editing field including the design, selection, composition and use of engineered ZFPs to support commercial activities. As of February 7, 2017, the Company either owned outright or had exclusively licensed the commercial rights to approximately 791 patents issued in the United States and foreign national jurisdictions, and had 650 patent applications owned and licensed pending worldwide.

The Company continues to license and file new patent applications that strengthen their core and accessory patent portfolio. Sangamo believes that their intellectual property position is a critical element in their ability to research, develop and commercialize products and services based on Gene Therapy, Genome Editing, Cell Therapy and Gene Regulation across our chosen applications.

Sangamo's Therapeutic Pipeline

My Perspective

Manipulating DNA is the future of medicine and gene therapy holds the potential to cure diseases that we can only dream about today. Sangamo uses a technique called ZFP which was perfected in the 1990s. In the last few years a newer technology has been developed known as CRISPR technology that may end up to be better than ZFP but so far Sangamo's technique has a 20 year head start on the technology.

I intend to research companies using the CRISPR technique but today I'm investing in Sangamo and its technique. In fact I've already started a very small position and I intend to add to that position over the next few weeks and months. I did that based upon the strength of the upward trend. It's also has options available which provides additional opportunities for income and accumulation.

1 Comment

Calavo Growers

8/22/2017

0 Comments

California Avocados are finally being discovered outside California and Calavo is perfectly situated to take advantage of that trend. It's also going to help the price trend of the stock. I've had a small number of shares of this company for the last several years with dividend reinvestment and I've been quite happy owning these shares.

Calavo Growers, Inc. markets and distributes avocados, prepared avocados, and other perishable foods to food distributors, produce wholesalers, supermarkets, convenience stores, and restaurants worldwide. It operates in three segments: Fresh Products, Calavo Foods, and RFG. The Fresh products segment distributes avocados and other fresh produce products; and procures avocados grown in Mexico, as well as various other commodities, including tomatoes, papayas, and pineapples. The Calavo Foods segment is involved in purchasing, manufacturing, and distributing prepared products, including guacamole and salsa. The RFG segment produces, markets, and distributes fresh-cut fruits, ready-to-eat vegetables, recipe-ready vegetables, and deli products. The company offers its products primarily under the Calavo and RFG brands, and related logos; and Avo Fresco, Bueno, Calavo Gold, Calavo Salsa Lisa, Salsa Lisa, Celebrate the Taste, El Dorado, Fresh Ripe, Select, Taste of Paradise, The First Name in Avocados, Tico, Mfresh, Maui Fresh International, Triggered Avocados, ProRipeVIP, Garden Highway Fresh Cut, Garden Highway, and Garden Highway Chef Essentials trademarks. Calavo Growers, Inc. was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Santa Paula, California.
(Summary) (Company) (Chart)

20 August 2017
Price $70.65
1yr Target $80.50
Analysts 4
Dividend $0.90
Payout Ratio 39.13%

1yr Cap Gain 13.94%
Yield 1.27%
1yr Tot Return 15.21%

P/E 30.73
PEG 1.48
Beta 0.65

EPS (ttm) $2.30
EPS next yr $2.87
Forward P/E 24.64
EPS next 5yr 20.70%
1yr Price Support $59.40

Market Cap $1.22 Bil
Revenues $1.01 Bil
Earnings $40.20 Mil
Profit Margin 3.96%

Quick Ratio 0.80
Current Ratio 1.10
Debt/Equity 0.20

1yr RevGR 9.20%
3yr RevGR 10.49%
5yr RevGR 12.35%

1yr EarnGR 38.85%
3yr EarnGR ---
5yr EarnGR 23.78%

1yr DivGR 12.5%
3yr DivGR 8.64%
5yr DivGR ---

ROA 11.50%
ROE 18.10%

My Path Forward

While this may have not been one of those exciting technology stocks that goes exponential until it crashes, it has been a very nice investment over time. As noted above, I already own shares of this company and I an a long term shareholder. I also have this investment on dividend reinvestment so I'm slowly but consistently building a nice position over time. I also occasionally but shares in the open market at opportune times.

So needless to say, I'll continue to hold these shares and increase my position over time. I can say I've been pleased owning these shares.

0 Comments

Acadia Pharmaceuticals

8/17/2017

1 Comment

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals is focused on the development and commercialization of innovative medicines to address unmet medical needs in neurological and related central nervous system disorders. Their efforts are focused in Parkinson’s disease psychosis, for which they have the first and only treatment approved by the FDA, as well as clinical development programs in Alzheimer’s disease agitation, Alzheimer’s disease psychosis, schizophrenia inadequate response, negative symptoms of schizophrenia, and major depressive disorder.

The Company is a biopharmaceutical company with a portfolio of four product candidates, including pimavanserin, which is in Phase IV development as a treatment for Parkinson's disease psychosis. It is also developing AGN XX/YY, a product candidate in Phase II for chronic pain; and AC-262271, a product candidate in Phase I for glaucoma, both in collaboration with Allergan, as well as AM-831, a product candidate in IND-track development for schizophrenia in collaboration with Meiji Seika Kaisha. The product candidates in the company's pipeline emanate from discoveries made using its proprietary drug discovery platform.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of small molecule drugs that address unmet medical needs in central nervous system disorders. Its lead product candidate, NUPLAZID, has completed the Phase III pivotal trials for the treatment of Parkinson's disease psychosis and the Phase II trial for the treatment of schizophrenia, as well as is in Phase II study for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease psychosis. The company has a collaboration with Allergan, Inc. for the development of product candidates related to chronic pain. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.
(Summary) (Company) (Chart)

13 August 2017
Price $31.21
1yr Target $44.20
Analysts 10
Dividend $0.00
Payout Ratio 0.00%

1yr Cap Gain 41.62%
Yield 0.00%
1yr Tot Return 41.62%

P/E ---
PEG ---
Beta 3.93

EPS (ttm) $-2.61
EPS next yr $-2.05
Forward P/E ---
EPS next 5yr 28.90%
1yr Price Support ---

Market Cap $3.67 Bil
Revenues $32.60 Mil
Earnings $-309.50 Mil
Profit Margin ---

Quick Ratio 10.70
Current Ratio 10.80
Debt/Equity 0.00

1yr RevGR 28,411.47%
3yr RevGR 145.13%
5yr RevGR 153.00%

1yr EarnGR ---
3yr EarnGR ---
5yr EarnGR ---

1yr DivGR ---
3yr DivGR ---
5yr DivGR ---

ROA -58.40%
ROE -63.10%

Operations

Acadia Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative medicines to address unmet medical needs in central nervous system, or CNS, disorders. The Company has a portfolio of product opportunities led by our novel drug, NUPLAZID® (pimavanserin), which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on April 29, 2016 for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson’s disease psychosis, and is the only drug approved in the United States for this condition.

NUPLAZID is a selective serotonin inverse agonist, or SSIA, preferentially targeting 5-HT2A receptors. Through this novel mechanism, NUPLAZID demonstrated significant efficacy in reducing the hallucinations and delusions associated with PD Psychosis in the Company's Phase III pivotal trial and has the potential to avoid many of the debilitating side effects of existing antipsychotics, none of which are approved by the FDA in the treatment of PD Psychosis. Acadia holds the worldwide commercialization rights to pimavanserin. They launched NUPLAZID in the United States in May 2016.

Acadia believes that pimavanserin has the potential to address important unmet medical needs in neurological and psychiatric disorders in addition to PD Psychosis and they plan to continue to study the use of pimavanserin in multiple disease states.

Alzheimer’s disease represents one of the Company's most important opportunities for further exploration. In December 2016, Acadia announced positive top-line results from their Phase II study exploring the utility of pimavanserin for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease psychosis, or AD Psychosis, a disorder for which no drug is currently approved by the FDA. Acadia plans to continue to advance the evaluation of pimavanserin in this patient population in a Phase III study planned to begin in the second half of 2017. Additionally, in October 2016, the Company announced that they initiated another study, SERENE, for Alzheimer’s disease patients. SERENE is a Phase II study evaluating pimavanserin for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease agitation and aggression, a debilitating condition for which there is no drug approved by the FDA.

Schizophrenia represents a disease with multiple unmet or ill-served needs and Acadia is are currently exploring the utility of pimavanserin in this area. Despite a large number of FDA-approved therapies for schizophrenia, current drugs do not adequately address some very important symptoms of schizophrenia, such as the inadequate response to current antipsychotic treatment of psychotic symptoms and negative symptoms. In November 2016, we announced that we initiated two studies evaluating the adjunctive use of pimavanserin in patients with schizophrenia. ENHANCE-1 is a Phase III study evaluating pimavanserin for adjunctive treatment of schizophrenia in patients with an inadequate response to their current antipsychotic therapy. ADVANCE is a Phase II study evaluating pimavanserin for adjunctive treatment in patients with negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

Depression is another disorder with a high unmet need that we believe represents an attractive development opportunity for pimavanserin. Preclinical and clinical studies have shown that patients with depression often do not receive adequate relief from an antidepressant medication, and, due to side effects of currently available therapies, many patients discontinue their medication, significantly increasing their chance of relapse. Preclinical and clinical evidence suggests 5-HT2A antagonism may be an effective adjunctive therapy to currently prescribed antidepressants. In December 2016, the Company announced that they had initiated CLARITY, a Phase II study evaluating pimavanserin for adjunctive treatment in patients with major depressive disorder who have an inadequate response to standard antidepressant therapy.

Acadia Pharmaceuticals was originally incorporated in Vermont in 1993 as Receptor Technologies, Inc. They then reincorporated in Delaware in 1997 and moved their headquarters to San Diego, California. The Company owns or has the rights to various trademarks, copyrights and trade names used in the business, including ACADIA® and NUPLAZID®. Logos and trademarks are the property of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc.

My Path Forward

The interesting thing about Acadia Pharmaceuticals is the fact that they have the first and only treatment approved by the FDA for Parkinson's Psychosis. That puts them in a singular position for controlling and potentially curing this disease. That also creates a large moat for the company. The fact that they have additional drugs in Phase 2 and 3 trials is just a plus.

But as anyone who has invested in the pharmaceutical industry knows, this can be a rather risky investment. It can also be very rewarding investment is the company can execute its strategies.

My path forward will be to start a position in Acadia at a price as close to $30 as I can with the anticipation of holding it for 12-18 months. I expect the shares of this company will at that time be worth near $45 per share for a +50% return on investment. That's a return I just can't pass up.

1 Comment

Vericel Corp Quick Look

8/16/2017

0 Comments

Vericel Corporation is an American biopharmaceutical company which was known prior to October 2014 as Aastrom Bio. Vericel is a commercial stage company with three marketed drugs. The company's research focus is on cell-based therapies. Aastrom Bio was formed in 1989 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In the spring of 2013, Aastrom Bio acquired from Sanofi their "cell therapy and regenerative medicine business" which it had received when purchasing Genzyme in 2011. This transformed the company in several ways: it increased the employee count by 8-fold and provided a revenue stream and products to market (which it had not had before). In October 2014, the company changed its name from Aastrom Bio to Vericel and relocated its headquarters from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Vericel Corporation, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, researches, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells patient-specific expanded cellular therapies for use in the treatment of patients with severe diseases and conditions. It markets three autologous cell therapy products, including Carticel and MACI, which are used for the treatment of cartilage defects in the knee; and Epicel, a permanent skin replacement that is used for the treatment of patients with deep-dermal or full-thickness burns comprising greater than or equal to 30 percent of total body surface area in the United States. The company also develops ixmyelocel-T, which is in Phase IIb clinical trial, a patient-specific multicellular therapy for the treatment of advanced heart failure due to ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. The company was formerly known as Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. Vericel Corporation was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
(Summary) (Company) (Chart)

13 August 2017
Price $3.50
1yr Target $6.56
Analysts 4
Dividend $0.00
Payout Ratio 0.00%

1yr Cap Gain 87.42%
Yield 0.00%
1yr Tot Return 87.42%

P/E ---
PEG ---
Beta 3.13

EPS (ttm) $-1.24
EPS next yr $-0.45
Forward P/E ---
EPS next 5yr ---
1yr Price Support ---

Market Cap $112.81 Mil
Revenues $49.60 Mil
Earnings $-31.50 Mil
Profit Margin ---

Quick Ratio 2.20
Current Ratio 2.50
Debt/Equity 0.65

1yr RevGR 6.28%
3yr RevGR 1,282.65%
5yr RevGR 396.63%

1yr EarnGR ---
3yr EarnGR ---
5yr EarnGR ---

1yr DivGR ---
3yr DivGR ---
5yr DivGR ---

ROA -85.80%
ROE 238.60%

My Perspective

This is an interesting company. It's biotechnology and it's regenerative therapies. Both of these are very interesting to me. But interesting and financial viable are two separate things. So for now, my interest will put this company on my watch list but it won't get me involved financially. So for now, I'll just keep an eye on this with the intent to start a position if and when the fundamentals and technicals become convincing. My gut feeling is that the technicals may become compelling long before the fundamentals do.

0 Comments

Advanced Energy Industries

8/15/2017

0 Comments

Advanced Energy Industries is an American company that develops power and control technologies for the manufacture of semiconductors, flat panel displays, data storage products, solar cells and architectural glass. Founded in 1981, AE operates in regional centers in North America, Asia, and Europe and offers global sales and support through direct offices, representatives, and distributors. AE is in the process of transitioning the majority of its supply base to the Asian region with their main factory located in Shenzhen, China. Advanced Energy produces products that are required for the manufacture of many plasma thin-film industries including semiconductor, flat panel displays, data storage, solar cells, and architectural glass.

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, sells, and supports power conversion and control products that transform power into various usable forms. It offers process power systems, including direct current (DC), pulsed DC, low frequency, high voltage, and radio frequency (RF) power supplies, as well as matching networks and remote plasma sources for reactive gas applications and RF instrumentation. The company also provides power control modules and thermal instrumentation products for rapid thermal processing, chemical vapor deposition, crystal growing, and other semiconductor and solar applications, as well as in chemical processing, glass manufacturing, and other general industrial power applications; and high voltage products for various applications, including semiconductor wafer processing and metrology, scientific instrumentation, mass spectrometry, industrial printing, and analytical x-ray systems. In addition, it offers repair, conversions, upgrades, and refurbishments services. The company markets and sells its products through direct sales force, independent sales representatives, and distributors in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado.
(Summary) (Company) (Chart)

13 August 2017
Price $71.17
1yr Target $78.20
Analysts 5
Dividend $0.00
Payout Ratio 0.00%

1yr Cap Gain 9.87%
Yield 0.00%
1yr Tot Return 9.87%

P/E 18.94
PEG 0.40
Beta 1.35

EPS (ttm) $3.76
EPS next yr $4.60
Forward P/E 15.49
EPS next 5yr 47.40%
1yr Price Support $218.04

Market Cap $2.81 Bil
Revenues $577.10 Mil
Earnings $150.80 Mil
Profit Margin 26.13%

Quick Ratio 4.40
Current Ratio 5.10
Debt/Equity 0.00

1yr RevGR 16.60%
3yr RevGR 6.96%
5yr RevGR -1.32%

1yr EarnGR ---
3yr EarnGR ---
5yr EarnGR 30.81%

1yr DivGR ---
3yr DivGR ---
5yr DivGR ---

ROA 26.40%
ROE 38.00%

Advanced Energy Industries Weekly Chart

Business Overview

Advanced Energy provides highly-engineered, mission-critical, precision power conversion, measurement and control solutions to our global customers. They do this by designing, manufacturing, selling and supporting power conversion products and solutions that transform power into various usable forms in various applications ranging from manufacturing and industrial processes to instrumentation and test and measurement. AE focuses on highly-engineered products that solve their customers’ toughest mission-critical applications.

The Company's process power products enable manufacturing processes that use thin films for various products, such as semiconductor devices, flat panel displays, thin film renewables, hard and industrial coatings and architectural glass. They also supply power control modules for controlling thermal processes, and thermal instrumentation products for advanced temperature measurement, both of which provide solutions for semiconductor, thin film industrial, and heavy industry. The Company's remote plasma sources are used in the thin films processing industries and in gas abatement applications. Their high voltage products offer unique power solutions for semiconductor, analytical instrumentation, industrial x-ray, and medical imaging applications. Their network of global service support centers provides revenue as they offer repair services, conversions, upgrades, and refurbishments to companies using their products.

In 2014, in connection with broadening product offerings, AE acquired all of the outstanding common stock of HiTek Power Group and UltraVolt, Inc., which together offer a comprehensive portfolio of high voltage and custom built power conversion products. These products target applications including semiconductor wafer processing and metrology, scientific instrumentation, mass spectrometry, industrial printing and analytical x-ray systems for industrial and analytical applications, as well as high voltage power supplies and modules ranging from benchtop and rack mount systems to microsize printed circuit board mount modules.

In 2014 the Company also acquired the intellectual property from AEG Power Solutions' Power Control Modules which is comprised of the Thyro-Family of products and accessories and has applications in different industries ranging from materials' thermal processing through chemical processing, glass manufacturing and numerous other general industrial power applications.

Products and Services

Advanced Energy's products are designed to enable new process technologies, improve productivity, and lower the cost of ownership for their customers. They also provide repair and maintenance services for all of their products.

In 2014, AE changed their organizational structure from two business units (formerly known as the Thin Films Business Unit and the Solar Energy Business Unit) to a single functional organization with various product lines organized as reportable segments, Precision Power and Inverters. As of December 31, 2015, the Company discontinued their Inverter production, engineering, and sales product line representing a strategic shift in the business.

AE principally serves OEMs and end customers in the semiconductor, flat panel display, high voltage, solar panel, and other industrial capital equipment markets. The Company's products are used in diverse markets, applications, and processes including the manufacture of capital equipment for semiconductor devices, thin film applications for thin film renewables and architectural glass, and for other thin film applications including flat panel displays, and industrial coatings. These markets can be cyclical in nature. Therefore, demand for the Company's products and their financial results can change as demand for manufacturing equipment and repair and maintenance services change in response to consumer demand. Other factors, such as global economic and market conditions and technological advances in fabrication processes and renewable applications can also have an impact on the financial results, both positively and negatively.

The Company's process power systems include direct current ("DC"), pulsed DC, low frequency, high voltage, and radio frequency ("RF") power supplies, matching networks, remote plasma sources for reactive gas applications and RF instrumentation. These power conversion systems refine, modify, and control the raw electrical power from a utility and convert it into power that may be customized and is predictable and repeatable.

AE's power control modules and thermal instrumentation products are used in the semiconductor industry, including adjacent thin film applications for solar PV and light emitting diode ("LED") industries, and heavy industries, for thermal control and temperature measurement solutions for applications in which time-temperature cycles affect material properties, productivity, and yield. These products are used in rapid thermal processing, chemical vapor deposition, crystal growing, and other semiconductor and solar applications requiring non-contact temperature measurement. They are also used in chemical processing, glass manufacturing and numerous other general industrial power applications.

The Company's high voltage products are designed to meet the demanding requirements of original equipment manufacturers worldwide. Their high voltage power solutions and custom built power conversion products offer high frequency, high voltage topology, providing wide input and output operating ranges while retaining excellent stability and efficiencies ranging from benchtop and rackmount systems to microsize printed circuit board mount modules. The products target applications including semiconductor wafer processing and metrology, scientific instrumentation, mass spectrometry, industrial printing and analytical x-ray systems for industrial and analytical applications.

The Company's global support services group offers in-warranty and out-of-warranty repair services in the regions in which they operate, providing them with preventive maintenance opportunities. Customers continue to pursue low cost of ownership of their capital equipment and are increasingly sensitive to the significant costs of system downtime. They expect that suppliers offer comprehensive local repair service and customer support. To meet these market requirements, AE maintains a worldwide support organization comprising of both direct and indirect activities through partnership with local distributors primarily in the United States, the People’s Republic of China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany, and Great Britain.

Customers

AE's products are sold worldwide to approximately 200 OEMs and integrators and directly to more than 1,500 end users. Their ten largest customers accounted for approximately 67.7% of our sales in 2016, 61.2% of our sales in 2015, and 59.7% of our sales in 2014. The Company expects that the sale of products to their largest customers will continue to account for a significant percentage of sales for the foreseeable future.

Applied Materials Inc., the Company's largest customer, accounted for 35.2% of sales in 2016, 29.8% of sales in 2015, and 29.8% of sales in 2014. Lam Research accounted for 20.7% of sales in 2016, 20.3% of sales in 2015, and 19.9% of sales in 2014. No other customer accounted for greater than 10% of our sales in 2016, 2015, or 2014. The loss of Applied Materials, Inc. or Lam Research as a customer could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

My Path Forward

I'm very much interested in this company. Based on current fundamentals the company seems to be valued about right. But looking forward at the estimates, it starts to look extremely undervalued. Earnings growth is estimated to accelerate quickly in the years ahead. This could easily justify a price of about $90 per share a year from now and about $110 per share a year after that. That's tremendous growth from a relatively small company. It's also the kind of growth I'm always looking for.

Unfortunately I'm not the first investor to recognize this change in earnings growth going forward. One look at the chart of the company's stock and it quickly becomes obvious that investors started to push this stock higher in early 2016. As nice as the chart looks, I believe it's just the beginning of the move that could double the price of these shares within the next three years. That might not be exciting enough for some, but that's a really great return on an investment.

I plan to take advantage of this pullback that started in June and try to buy as much as I can afford before it rises about $80 per share again. I intend for this to be a semi-permanent member of my portfolio with the intent of holding the shares over a multi-year period. I believe I can obtain a very nice return of about 25-30% per year. That's the kind of money that'll fatten up my portfolio rather nicely.

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Corindus Vascular Robotics

8/10/2017

0 Comments

Corindus Vascular Robotics is in the robotic-assisted precision vascular intervention systems industry. They design, manufacture, and sell robotic systems for use in interventional vascular procedures. Corindus came to my attention during one of my screens because of its change in trend earlier this year. During the spring of this year the stock around support along the 200 day moving average. As the stock moved higher and the 50 day moving average crossed above the 200 day moving average, the stock found new support just above the 50 day moving average. This signaled for me a significant and sustainable move higher. My conclusion has been to start a small position and see where it goes.

Corindus Vascular Robotics, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells robotic-assisted precision vascular intervention systems for use in interventional vascular procedures. The company offers CorPath system, a medical device with robotic-assisted precision for radial, coronary, and peripheral procedures. Its CorPath system facilitates stent positioning for PCI procedures by allowing a physician to measure, manipulate, and advance devices with robotic precision; and CorPath GRX system enables the precise, robotic-assisted control of coronary guide catheters, guidewires, and balloon/stent devices from the safety of a radiation-shielded interventional cockpit. The company sells its products through direct sales force and distributor relationships in the United States and internationally. It serves vascular, coronary, peripheral vascular, neurointerventional, and structural heart markets. The company is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.
(Summary) (Company) (Chart)

9 August 2017
Price $1.78
1yr Target $3.00
Analysts 1
Dividend $0.00
Payout Ratio 0.00%

1yr Cap Gain 68.53%
Yield 0.00%
1yr Tot Return 68.53%

P/E ---
PEG ---
Beta ---

EPS (ttm) $-0.29
EPS next yr $-0.19
Forward P/E ---
EPS next 5yr ---
1yr Price Support ---

Market Cap $323.33 Mil
Revenues $2.50 Bil
Earnings $-35.30 Mil
Profit Margin ---

Quick Ratio 4.70
Current Ratio 4.90
Debt/Equity 0.07

1yr RevGR 4.14%
3yr RevGR ---
5yr RevGR ---

1yr EarnGR ---
3yr EarnGR ---
5yr EarnGR ---

1yr DivGR ---
3yr DivGR ---
5yr DivGR ---

ROA -123.80%
ROE -182.90%

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HealthEquity

8/8/2017

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Health Savings Accounts may just be the solution to this country's current healthcare crisis and HealthEquity Inc may just be the company with that solution. HealthEquity Inc is a non-bank health savings trustee which allows HealthEquity to be the custodian of health savings accounts regardless of which financial institution the funds are deposited with.

HealthEquity was incorporated in January 2002, in Tucson, Arizona, by Stephen D. Neeleman MD and David Hall to re-introduce consumerism into health care. It moved its incorporation to Draper, Utah in February 2004.

HealthEquity, Inc. provides various solutions for managing health care accounts, health reimbursement arrangements, and flexible spending accounts for health plans, insurance companies, and third-party administrators in the United States. Its products and services include healthcare saving and spending platform, a cloud-based platform for individuals to make health saving and spending decisions, pay healthcare bills, compare treatment options and prices, receive personalized benefit and clinical information, earn wellness incentives, grow their savings, and make investment choices; and health savings accounts. The company also offers online-only investment advisory services through HealthEquity Advisor, a Web-based tool; and healthcare incentives that enable its employer partners and health plan partners to offer, and its members to earn, financial incentives for participation in wellness programs. HealthEquity, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Draper, Utah.
(Summary) (Company) (Chart)

6 August 2017
Price $46.77
1yr Target $56.50
Analysts 10
Dividend $0.00
Payout Ratio 0.00%

1yr Cap Gain 20.80%
Yield 0.00%
1yr Tot Return 20.80%

P/E 87.58
PEG 2.69
Beta ---

EPS (ttm) $0.53
EPS next yr $0.70
Forward P/E 67.10
EPS next 5yr 32.50%
1yr Price Support $22.75

Market Cap $2.84 Bil
Revenues $189.80 Mil
Earnings $32.30 Mil
Profit Margin %

Quick Ratio 21.20
Current Ratio 21.30
Debt/Equity 0.00

1yr RevGR 40.68%
3yr RevGR ---
5yr RevGR ---

1yr EarnGR 57.14%
3yr EarnGR ---
5yr EarnGR ---

1yr DivGR ---
3yr DivGR ---
5yr DivGR ---

ROA 11.80%
ROE 12.40%

Company Overview

HealthEquity is the leader and an innovator in the high growth category of technology-enabled services platforms that empower consumers to make healthcare saving and spending decisions. The Company's platform provides an ecosystem where consumers can access their tax-advantaged healthcare savings, compare treatment options and pricing, evaluate and pay healthcare bills, receive personalized benefit and clinical information, earn wellness incentives, and make educated investment choices to grow their tax-advantaged healthcare savings. HealthEquity can integrate with any health plan or banking institution to be the independent and trusted partner that enables consumers as they seek to manage, save and spend their healthcare dollars. The Company believes that the secular shift to greater consumer responsibility for healthcare costs will require a significant portion of the approximately 189 million consumers under the age of 65 with private health insurance in the United States to use a platform like HealthEquity's platform.

The core of the Company's ecosystem is the health savings account, or HSA, a financial account through which consumers spend and save long term for healthcare on a tax-advantaged basis. As of January 31, 2017, the Company was the integrated HSA platform for 87 health plans in the country and employees at more than 34,000 employer clients. Their customers include individuals, employers of all sizes and health plans (The Company refers to their individual customers as members, their health plan customers as Health Plan Partners and employer clients with more than 1,000 employees as Employer Partners). The Company's Health Plan Partners and Employer Partners collectively constitute Network Partners. Through existing Network Partners, the Company has the potential to reach over 87 million consumers, representing more than a third of the under-age 65 privately insured population in the United States. As of January 31, 2017, HealthEquity had over 2.7 million HSAs on their platform, representing over 5.9 million lives. During the years ended January 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, the Company added approximately 703,000, 751,000 and 476,000 new HSA Members, representing approximately 1.5 million, 1.7 million and 1.1 million lives, respectively.

The Company has developed technology and a differentiated focus on the consumer to facilitate the transition to a more consumer-centric approach to healthcare saving and spending. HealthEquity's solution is deployed as a cloud-based platform that is accessible to customers through the Internet and on mobile devices and is hosted on private servers, which allows the Company to scale on demand. Core to their technology is a configurable framework and open platform that they believe provides them greater functionality and flexibility than generic technologies used by competitors and requires less investment and time to configure and customize to our customers’ needs.

The Company is able to seamlessly integrate third-party applications into the platform, which has afforded the Company an advantage in an expanding consumer healthcare landscape. A growing number of companies are attempting to integrate into the consumer's daily healthcare spending experience by leveraging HealthEquity's platform. These companies offer functions such as price transparency, benefits enrollment, population health, wellness, analytics, health insurance and investment services, and are looking to reach the consumer at the critical "save" and "spend" moment. In an effort to capitalize on this opportunity, the Company continues to expand the number of ecosystem partners with whom the platform is integrated.

The Company's business model provides strong visibility into their future operating performance. As of the beginning of the past several fiscal years, the Company had approximately 90% visibility into the revenue of the subsequent fiscal year. HealthEquity earns monthly service revenue, primarily through multi-year contracts with our Health Plan Partners and employer clients, and our custodial agreements with individual members. The Company earns custodial revenue primarily from custodial cash assets that are deposited with the Company's FDIC-insured custodial depository bank partners or invested in an annuity contract with an insurance company partner. In addition, HealthEquity earns record keeping fees in respect of assets held with their investments partner and they earn fees for investment advisory services through a registered investment advisor subsidiary. The Company also earns interchange revenue, which is primarily interchange fees charged to merchants on payments made with the Company's cards via payment networks. Monthly service revenue, custodial revenue, and interchange revenue are recurring in nature, providing strong visibility into the Company's future business.

Products and Services

Healthcare saving and spending platform. HealthEquity offers a cloud-based platform, accessed by members online via a desktop or mobile device, through which individuals can make health saving and spending decisions, pay healthcare bills, compare treatment options and prices, receive personalized benefit and clinical information, earn wellness incentives, grow their savings and make investment choices. The platform provides users with access to services the Company provides as well as services provided by third parties or by Network Partners.

Among other features, the platform includes the capability to present to users medical bills upon adjudication by a health plan, including details such as the amount paid by insurance, specific nature of the medical service provided, and diagnostic code. Users of the platform can pay these bills from an account of ours or from any bank account, online, via a mobile device, or using our payment card. All users of the platform gain access to the healthcare consumer specialists, available every hour of every day, via a toll-free telephone number or email. Specialists can assist users with such tasks as contacting a medical provider to dispute a bill, negotiating a payment schedule, optimizing the use of tax-advantaged accounts to reduce medical spending or selecting from among medical plans offered by an employer or health plan.

Health savings accounts. The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 created HSAs a tax-exempt trust or custodial account managed by a custodian that is a bank, an insurance company, or a non-bank custodian specifically authorized by the U.S. Department of the Treasury as meeting certain ownership, capitalization, expertise and governance requirements. HealthEquity is an Internal Revenue Services, or IRS, approved non-bank custodian of members' HSAs. In December 2016, the Company submitted a request to the IRS for approval to serve as both a passive and non-passive non-bank custodian of HSAs.

To be eligible to contribute to an HSA, an individual must be covered under a high deductible healthcare plan, or HDHP, have no additional health coverage, not be enrolled in Medicare, and not be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return. HSAs have several tax-advantaged benefits, which we call the "triple tax savings": (1) individuals can claim a tax deduction for contributions they, or someone other than their employer, make to their HSAs; contributions to their HSAs made by their employer may be excluded from their gross income for purposes of federal and most state income and employment tax; (2) the interest or earnings on the assets in the account, including reinvestment, are tax free; and (3) distributions may be tax free if they pay qualified medical expenses. There is no requirement to provide receipts to substantiate HSA distributions to members, whether made through a payment card or directly from the online platform. Additionally, distributions other than for qualified medical expenses are permitted penalty-free after age 65. Balances remain in the account until used, i.e. , there is no “use or lose” requirement. An HSA is owned by the account holder; it remains the account holder’s property upon a change of employment, health plan or retirement.

Investment advisory services. HealthEquity offers an online-only automated investment advisory service to all members whose account balances exceed a stated threshold. This service is entirely elective to the member. The advisory service is delivered through a web-based tool, HealthEquity Advisor, which is offered and managed by HealthEquity Advisors, LLC, the Company's SEC-registered investment adviser subsidiary. HealthEquity Advisors, LLC provides investment advice to its clients exclusively through the HealthEquity Advisor tool on an interactive website. Members who subscribe for HealthEquity Advisor pay asset-based fees, which include the cost of the advisory service and all trading commissions and other expenses associated with transactions made through the online tool.

HealthEquity Advisor provides guidance and management, including how much cash (liquidity) to maintain in an HSA and how to diversify optimally among the mutual funds and other investment vehicles offered on the HealthEquity platform. Advice reflects the personal risk preferences of the individual member.

HealthEquity offers three levels of service to investors:

Self-driven: For members who do not subscribe for HealthEquity Advisor the Company provides a mutual fund investment platform to invest HSA balances. Neither the Company nor HealthEquity Advisor provides advice to members in respect of platform investments;
GPS: HealthEquity Advisor provides guidance and advice, but the member makes the final investment decisions and implements portfolio allocation and investment advice through the HealthEquity platform; and
Auto-pilot: HealthEquity Advisor manages the account and implements portfolio allocation and investment advice automatically for the member.

Regardless of the level of service selected, members are responsible for their proportionate share of fees and expenses payable by the underlying mutual funds and other investment vehicles in which they invest.

Reimbursement arrangements. Reimbursement arrangements, or RAs, include health reimbursement arrangements, or HRAs, and flexible spending arrangements, or FSAs. An HRA may be administered by any third-party administration, or TPA, firm. Most HSA custodians are not TPAs, and most TPAs are not HSA custodians. HealthEquity is among only a few firms that are able to administer HSAs and HRAs on the same technology platform.

RAs are employee benefits wherein an employer provides a fixed dollar amount of reimbursement for qualified medical or dependent care expenses. Payments must be substantiated with electronic claims from a health plan, data gleaned from operation of our payment card where permitted, or submission of receipts or other documentation by the employee. RAs have the tax benefit that, like HSAs, their value may be excluded from employees’ gross income for federal and most state income and employment tax purposes. RAs are not portable; any remaining value is lost upon termination of employment, but are subject to COBRA requirements. An HRA must be paid for entirely by the employer with no salary reduction, is typically integrated with a major medical plan, and typically allows unused benefits to be rolled over from year to year. An FSA is typically paid for entirely through salary reduction from the employee, is typically a stand-alone, voluntary offering, and is subject to “use or lose” restrictions limiting to $500 the amount that may be rolled over from year to year. As of January 31, 2017, HealthEquity had approximately 528,000 RAs on our platform.

Healthcare incentives. HealthEquity enables their Employer Partners and Health Plan Partners to easily offer, and our members to earn, financial incentives for participation in wellness programs. The Company's technology platform includes a financial incentives framework and integration with several wellness providers used by Network Partners. Once earned, incentives may be deposited directly into an HSA, RA or cash account, with Network Partner-specific messaging to make clear to the member the source of funds. The platform routes incentives to the right type of account to maintain tax compliance, for example, by creating and routing funds to an RA where an HSA Member is ineligible to receive HSA contributions due to disqualifying coverage.

My Path Forward

I'm not an expert on healthcare or health savings accounts, but this company is a great company in a new and expanding area. And HSA's may just be the answer for at least part of the healthcare problem in this country. But HealthEquity isn't one of those undiscovered companies. It's already been discovered and it's not cheap by any means. Just notice the P/E and PEG above and you start to get the idea of how expensive it really is. And it's not getting any cheaper.

A closer look at the weekly chart and it instantly becomes apparent that the stock has been bouncing off it's 20 week moving average for over a year. Today it's doing it once again. So this week may be the perfect time to start a position in HealthEquity Inc. And that's exactly what I intend to do. I believe this company has the potential to grow 30% per year for the remainder of the decade and beyond.

I expect this to be a very long term position for me as I believe this company is poised to be a cornerstone in the solution to the healthcare crisis in this country. It's a crisis the United States is bent on solving but the crisis may last for many years to come.

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Vertex Pharmaceuticals

8/3/2017

1 Comment

Vertex Pharmaceuticals is an American pharmaceutical company founded in 1989 and located in Boston, Massachusetts. The Company was one of the first biotech firms to use an explicit strategy of rational drug design rather than combinatorial chemistry. Its product pipeline focused on viral infections, inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, and cancer.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals discovers, develops, manufactures, and commercializes medicines for serious diseases. The company focuses on developing and commercializing therapies for the treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF) and advancing its research and development programs. It markets ORKAMBI (lumacaftor in combination with ivacaftor) for the treatment of patients with CF 12 years of age and older who have two copies (homozygous) of the F508del mutation in their cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene; and KALYDECO (ivacaftor) for the treatment of patients with CF 2 years of age and older who have the G551D mutation or other specified mutations in their CFTR gene. The company also develops Tezacaftor (VX-661), a corrector compound that is in a Phase III development program in combination with ivacaftor in multiple CF patients; VX-152 and VX-440 that are CFTR corrector compounds in Phase II clinical trials, as well as VX-659 and VX-445 that are CFTR corrector compounds in Phase I clinical trials; and VX-371, an investigational epithelial sodium channel, which is in a Phase II development program. In addition, it engages in the research and mid-and early-stage development programs in the areas of oncology, pain, and neurology. The company sells its products primarily to specialty pharmacy providers and wholesalers in North America, as well as government-owned and supported customers internationally. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has collaborations with Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Incorporated; Parion Sciences, Inc.; CRISPR Therapeutics AG; Moderna Therapeutics, Inc.; BioAxone Biosciences, Inc.; Merck KGaA; and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
(Summary) (Company) (Chart)

1 August 2017
Price $153.20
1yr Target $178.22
Analysts 23
Dividend $0.00
Payout Ratio 0.00%

1yr Cap Gain 16.33%
Yield 0.00%
1yr Tot Return 16.33%

P/E 146.74
PEG 2.11
Beta 1.80

EPS (ttm) $1.04
EPS next yr $3.06
Forward P/E 50.08
EPS next 5yr 69.69%
1yr Price Support $213.25

Market Cap $38.66 Bil
Revenues $2.13 Bil
Earnings $259.90 Mil
Profit Margin 12.15%

Quick Ratio 2.60
Current Ratio 2.70
Debt/Equity 0.00

1yr RevGR 64.92%
3yr RevGR 11.88%
5yr RevGR 3.83%

1yr EarnGR ---
3yr EarnGR ---
5yr EarnGR ---

1yr DivGR ---
3yr DivGR ---
5yr DivGR ---

ROA 8.90%
ROE 18.70%

Business Overview

Vertex Pharmaceuticals is in the business of discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing medicines for serious diseases. The Company uses precision medicine approaches with the goal of creating transformative drugs for patients in specialty markets. Their business is focused on developing and commercializing therapies for the treatment of cystic fibrosis, or CF, and advancing research and development programs in other indications, while maintaining financial strength.

Cystic Fibrosis

The Company's two marketed medicines are ORKAMBI and KALYDECO, which together are approved to treat approximately 40% of the 75,000 CF patients in North America, Europe and Australia. ORKAMBI (lumacaftor in combination with ivacaftor) is approved as a treatment for approximately 25,000 patients who have two copies (homozygous) of the F508del mutation in their cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, or CFTR, gene. KALYDECO (ivacaftor) is approved for the treatment of approximately 4,000 CF patients who have the G551D mutation or other specified mutations in their CFTRgene. Our goal is to develop treatment regimens that will provide benefits to as many patients with CF as possible and will enhance the benefits that currently are being provided to patients taking our medicines.

Research and Development Programs

Vertex is also engaged in a number of other research and mid- and early-stage development programs, including programs in the areas of pain and neurology. The Company also has entered into third-party collaborations pursuant to which they are engaged in the discovery and development of nucleic acid-based therapies for a variety of diseases, including CF. The Company plans to continue investing in research programs and fostering scientific innovation in order to identify and develop transformative medicines. Current research programs include programs targeting cystic fibrosis, adrenoleukodystrophy, alpha-1 antritrypsin deficiency, sickle cell disease and polycystic kidney disease. Vertex believes that pursuing research in diverse areas allows them to balance the risks inherent in drug development and may provide drug candidates that will form their pipeline in future years.

Research and Development Programs

Vertex's approach to project selection and drug design aims to enhance their ability to discover and develop drug candidates by combining transformative insights into the causes of serious diseases with innovative approaches to therapeutics. Historically, the Company's approach to drug discovery focused on the research and development of small molecule drugs, which has been validated through success in moving novel small molecule drug candidates into clinical trials and obtaining marketing approvals for ORKAMBI, KALYDECO and INCIVEK (telapravir). Recently, the Company has expanded their research capabilities to include additional innovative therapeutic approaches with a focus on nucleic acid-based therapies. Vertex believes that attempting to identify multiple approaches to the treatment of diseases enhances their potential to develop treatment options that, either as monotherapies or combination therapies, are transformational in nature.

They focus their research activities on developing products that would be prescribed by specialist physicians for the treatment of rare or life-threatening diseases. They begin by applying knowledge of human genetics and human biology and focus on validated targets that have shown a causal relationship with respect to serious diseases. They then generate biological assays to query the underlying biology of disease and utilize clinical biomarkers as tools to predict clinical response. They leverage their expertise in assay automation, medicinal and process chemistry, modeling and informatics, drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics, toxicology, material sciences and formulation to develop, select and advance drug candidates that have the potential to offer transformative benefits and have an efficient path to approval. The Company's current research programs include programs targeting cystic fibrosis, pain, adrenoleukodystrophy, alpha-1 antritrypsin deficiency, sickle cell disease and polycystic kidney disease.

To augment their internal research programs, Vertex seeks to collaborate with biopharmaceutical and technology companies, leading academic research institutions, government laboratories, foundations and other organizations as needed to advance research in our areas of therapeutic interest as well as to access technologies needed to execute their strategy. They have established such relationships with organizations around the world and intend to extend and leverage that experience to further our research efforts to discover transformational medicines for serious diseases.

In addition to the continuing research efforts in CF, the Company's research and mid- and early-stage development programs currently include VX-371 for the treatment of primary ciliary dyskinesia, VX-150 for the treatment of pain and VX-210 for the treatment of acute cervical spinal cord injury. They are also collaborating with CRISPR Therapeutics AG, or CRISPR, on the discovery and development of potential new treatments aimed at the underlying genetic causes of human diseases using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology and Moderna Therapeutics, Inc., or Moderna, to identify and develop messenger ribonucleic acid, or mRNA, therapeutics for the treatment of CF.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Daily Chart

My Path Forward

There's no doubt that Vertex Pharmaceuticals is an expensive company by several measures. But it's also a company that growing extremely fast by several measures. So I think there's room for initiating a position in this company at the right price. And that's where a well defined stock chart comes in handy. Looking at the chart above it can be seen that the stock price popped about two weeks ago. Usually those gaps will fill in so I intend to wait for a pullback to around $140 per share for a more reasonable entry. I believe it may be possible to obtain that price simply based on the beta of 1.80 which should allow for decent volatility in the share price.

A rise above $200 per share would also raise the one year estimated capital gain to 27%. And despite the estimated one year price target of $178, I believe these shares could easily rise even higher to above $200 per share.

There are other fundamentals that both attract and repel me as I look at the potential of adding shares to my portfolio. The P/E and the PEG are somewhat higher than I like so that gives me pause but the earning growth rate will easily offset this if it continues into the future. The 69% forward growth rate, on the other hand, is very appealing to an investor despite the fact that it doesn't pay a dividend.

So my path forward is to attempt to get into these shares by putting in a buy near $140 per share. That may or may not happen any time soon but I believe that's a pretty good buy order. I would also be an investor that would be buying these shares to hold onto for several years and therefore am willing to wait for a better price. Traders may differ from this strategy but I'm not a day traders nor am I a short term swing trader. Those individuals may have a different strategy.

1 Comment

Four Years Later and Still No Ads

8/1/2017

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Four years ago I had this little idea of creating a website for the purpose of sorting out all my ideas about investing. Writing everything down on scraps of paper and then trying to learn from my mistakes wasn't working. I kept losing my notes and then making the same mistakes over and over again. I had to find a better way.

So I created this website and I initially set it up for my two passions in life - investing and photography. At the time I made the conscious decision to resist any and all advertising on the site and to this day there hasn't been any annoying ads. Perhaps one day I may put forced to display a very limited number of advertisements on the photography side of this site, but only if I can find what I consider appropriate support from camera equipment companies. On the investment side, however, I will resist placing any ads completely. For now, and for the most part, there aren't any advertisements on either side of the site.

I'd like to keep it that way for a very long time.

"Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don't have for something they don't need."
-- Will Rogers, Humorist

Now I’m not adverse to making money (you'll notice I do write articles about investing) but I’ve been perplexed by all those advertisements I see on other investing websites. I understand the idea behind all that advertising. Bloggers sell space on their websites so that naive investors who visit those investing websites looking to read the interesting investing content are bombarded with advertisements. At times those advertisements may even look like content. Readers are then expected to click on those ads and the site owner, in return, makes money. It's a "pay-per-click" moneymaker.

This is a fairly simple concept to understand, but it makes me wonder why any investing sites would have any ads at all. Think about it. Is the purpose of the site to sell ads? Or is the purpose of the site to provide information on investing? Do the ads make more money for the website author than simply executing the advice that’s being provided? Why doesn't the author just use his own advice and invest accordingly? Surely there's a hundred times more money to be made by buying and selling stock based upon the websites advice (if the advice is any good) than there would be in the few dollars made from all those annoying advertisements.

"The public doesn't particularly care for advertisements."
-- John C. Malone, Chairman of Liberty Media

I find these advertisements on other investing sites simply annoying or down right irritating and I assume others would find them annoying on mine too. So I've made the conscious decision not to include these annoyances. Fortunately I have the luxury of not having to pay for this site (thank you Weebly) because it is so graciously hosted by Weebly.com for free.

I’ve had other websites in the past and I can honestly say this is the best development site I have ever used. Weebly.com makes putting websites up on the net easy and simple. If anyone wishes to create a website for just about any purpose, I highly recommend you at least visit their site and spend a little time reading their literature. You’ll be surprised at just how user friendly it is. It’ll allow you to quickly get past the mechanics of putting a website together and allow you to concentrate on the content you want to include on your site. And that should be what your website is all about, right?

If you've read any of my articles you've come to understand that I write about my investing style and the stocks that I am or am not investing in at the moment. I also include many of my investing ideas and the reasoning and rationale behind my buys and sells. I do not charge to visit my site and I don't sell advertising. I put it all out there and with both quantitative data and enough hot links that I can be checked and criticized.

I have a relatively simple investing philosophy and only a few guidelines and processes. To tell the truth, I sometimes think I’m just repeating that philosophy and those guidelines and processes from article to article to article. But I may be wrong. In the end only the readers of these articles can really decide if these articles are repetitive or redundant. I’ll eventually find out when the statistics of this website start to falter.

Hopefully each article articulates or explains a slightly new or different approach to the way I invest. And hopefully I can spark a new idea in the minds of those who read these articles. It’s just one of the reasons I continue to write. But most important of all, I’m not just writing about the topic of investing, I’m writing about the strategies and methods I use when I’m investing with my own money.

So how do I make money with this website?

At this point you may be asking yourself exactly how can I afford to write all these articles. Or how do I make money writing these articles? Well, I don’t. Not a dime. These articles are truly a labor of love. But before you start to feel sorry for me, I must tell you that I do make money from these articles in a round about way.

The way I make money from this site is by taking my own investing advice. I actually research, write and then do the things I discuss in my articles. The result is that I'm able to make some very profitable trades by taking my own advice. Writing these articles ends up being my way of clarifying my ideas about the investing I do. They end up being a catharsis for me. They’re my epiphany.

If no one ever reads these articles they’ve still been worth creating just for the fact that they have improved my understanding of the markets and my trading. Every day my trading strategy becomes clearer and clearer to me. If I ever begin to second guess my decisions, I simply refer to my earlier articles. These articles continue to reassure me on a daily basis that my investing philosophy, guidelines and processes remain on track. And if any of this has helped anyone else, then all the better.

Good Luck and Good Trading.

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Four Years Later and Still No Ads

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