The biopharmaceutical sector has been buzzing with activity lately. Over the past several months I have had my eye on four companies in particular. Dynavax Technologies (DVAX) has been working with the FDA to iron out safety issues surrounding its hepatitis B vaccine Heplisav. Affymetrix (AFFY) recently signed an agreement with DNA Link in which DNA Link will get a license to develop and commercialize a global forensic test for human identification and other diagnostic tests. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has been trying to overcome its patent cliff problems and could seek as many as six new product approvals during 2013. The company's two chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) drugs, Breo/Relvar and Zephyr, are both seeking approval this year. Cynapsus Therapeutics (CYNAF.PK), which was on the brink of bankrupcy in the past, has successfully raised capital which has funded the company well going forward. Cynapsus Therapeutics was recently

Bioprinting is new technology that is still evolving, but the process of bioprinting remains the same. Bioprinting uses cells from a moving printer head to place the cells in the correct location. The objective is to produce layers of living cells in a predetermined form that is functional. Just like inkjet printers with which we are all familiar, cells are printed in tiny spheres or cylinders (known as"bio-ink"), contiguously placed spheres fuse in the same fashion as drops of liquid. Bioprinting relies on the principle that groups of individual cells can generate larger aggregates and, if two or more compatible aggregates are placed next to each other, they can be made to combine to produce larger and more complex structures. When the cells are stacked onto a mold, tissue liquidity can be used to produce 3D living structures in specific shapes.

Organovo Holdings (ONVO.PK) designs and creates three-dimensional human

Chevron (CVX), is the second largest U.S. energy company today. Unlike many of its competitors, including Marathon Oil (MRO), BP, and Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron just announced a dividend increase for the twenty fifth year in a row. Chevron just reported impressive fourth-quarter earnings. Chevron posted a record-breaking $7.25 billion in profit in the fourth quarter, which was an increase of over 41% year-over-year, based largely on streamlining refining operations.

What is little known to many investors is a report that is generated yearly by Standard & Poor's that should be a clear indicator to many investors as to what stocks to buy for the long term. The problem is that the report is published to very little fanfare. Many investors have never even heard of this report. Chevron made it into this report.

The report that Standard & Poor's publishes is called the S&P 500 Dividend

When doctors diagnose patients with neuropathic pain, it almost always comes as a shock to patients and family members because it is often difficult to pinpoint and even more difficult to treat. Neuropathic pain is different from muscular or skeletal pain, as the pain or burning sensation is caused by damage to neurons or cells in the nervous system. Most drugs treat the symptoms of neuropathic pain and try to alleviate the physical discomfort and psychological agony without treating the root cause.

Lpath's (LPTN) Lpathomab directly targets Lysophosphatidic Acid (LPA) which plays an important role in neuropathic pain associated with neurotrauma, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. Below, I will discuss how Lpathomab could help people with neuropathic pain by targeting the root cause of the pain, unlike its competitors which target symptoms. Successful Phase 2 trials of Lpathomab could act as a growth catalyst for the stock.

Netflix (NFLX) has announced licensing agreements to bring programming from Warner Bros Television Group and Turner Broadcasting to its subscribers. It will bring in past seasons from Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Dallas. I will explain how the cost of content acquisition for these programming will not favor Netflix's growth. Specifically, I will look at how rising content costs are harming Netflix's overall profitability. These trends will not enable the company to improve its price multiples going forward.

Why is Netflix's sales growth not improving with its license agreements? If you look closely at the chart for streaming content obligation, it will become clear why the company is finding it difficult to make a profit. While the cost for streaming content obligation is rising, Netflix's free cash flow and operating margin are shrinking. Some experts predicted Netflix's streaming costs would rise from $180 million in 2010 to $1.98 billion

The 2012 flu season is not over yet, and more people are getting infected each day. Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO) currently has three ongoing trials for various strains of influenza. Below, I will look at trends surrounding influenza that favor vaccination over other prevention and treatment methods. I will show how these trends support an all-in-one vaccination that targets all common flu strains. I will also discuss the potential of Inovio's product candidates and the company's attractiveness as an investment in the context of the growing influenza epidemic.

Market Potential

The growth potential for players in the vaccine market is vast and growing larger every day. According to GBI Research, a publisher of in-depth reports in a broad range of industries including pharmaceuticals, the global vaccine market is expected to be valued at $52 billion by 2016.

Increasing Demand for Influenza Vaccines

The last several months have been

Organovo Holdings (ONVO.PK), a creator and manufacturer of three-dimensional human tissue for medical research and therapeutic applications, is working together with researchers at Autodesk (ADSK), a maker of cloud-based design and engineering software, to create the first 3D design software for bioprinting.

The software will be used in conjunction with Organovo's NovoGen MMX bioprinter, and represents an important step in improving usability and functionality for the design of 3D human tissues with the potential to extend the population of bioprinting users. Organovo's 3D bioprinting technology can create living human tissue that is three-dimensional, correct architecturally and composed of living human cells. The tissue can function like native human tissue, and this represents an opportunity for advanced drug discovery and development, and potential surgical therapies and transplants in the future. Autodesk is focused on developing state of the art technology for human-computer interaction, computer graphics and digital design.

Macular degeneration is one of the most debilitating age-related degenerative medical conditions. It results in the loss of vision leading to difficulty in reading or recognizing faces. The condition worsens with age if not treated effectively. San Diego-based Lpath (LPTN), which focuses on bioactive lipid-targeted therapeutics, recently won a key patent for its monoclonal antibodies against sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), including sonepcizumab. The patent was awarded by the European Patent Office (EPO), which is usually skeptical of larger pharmaceutical companies from the U.S. or Canada. Lpath's European patent number 1948234 will empower the company to treat a number of ocular conditions, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Lpath has developed three drug candidates. iSONEP is currently in a Phase 2 trial for wet AMD. ASONEP will soon begin a Phase 2 trial in Renal Cell Carcinoma patients. Lpathomab is a preclinical drug candidate that holds promise in

According to IMS Institute For Healthcare Informatics' report entitled "The Global Use of Medicines: Outlook Through 2016," global spending on medicine will reach nearly $1.2 billion by 2016. The report states that "new medicines will transform patient care in a large number of diseases including cancer, heart disease and central nervous system disorders." Another major highlight of the report is that proven medicines will become more widely available over the next five years. This will greatly increase revenues for the players in the therapeutics space and promote further research and development of new advancements in medicine.

In this article, I will focus on Incyte (INCY), ImmunoGen (IMGN), Endocyte (ECYT) and Senesco Technologies (SNT) to see if their current developments in therapeutics warrant investment consideration. I chose these companies because they are all important players in the development of therapies, and they could all benefit from

Goldcorp (GG) has released gold production and cash costs for 2012 and, as always, provided production and cash cost guidance for 2013 and the next four years. Goldcorp ended 2012 on a good note, with gold production totaling 2.39 million ounces, a figure that is within the provided guidance for 2012. For 2013, Goldcorp forecasts gold production to be in the range of 2.55 and 2.80 million ounces. It also expects gold production to increase to 4.0 and 4.2 million ounces by 2017, a 70% increase.

The numbers are somewhat disappointing, because they do not match the initial 3.2 million ounces forecast made one year ago. However, the forecast figures have been dropping from 3.4 million ounces in 2010. Below, I'll explain why Goldcorp is currently a strong buy on the basis of its annual dividend and revenue growth.

Performance on Basis of Annual Dividend

Goldcorp has

Rio Tinto (RIO), one of the largest mining companies in the world, saw a sharp increase in its share price as iron ore prices increased from $115 to $145 in December 2012. Rio Tinto's CEO Sam Walsh quickly told investors that the price increase was due to short-term factors like the cyclone season and restocking, and that the prices will eventually be corrected in the coming weeks. Below, I will assess the implications of short-term fluctuations of iron ore prices on Rio Tinto's net revenue.

Iron Ore Price Fluctuations and Causes

Though Rio Tinto deals with uranium, copper, aluminum and diamonds, 70% of its revenues come from iron ore. The driver behind this increased price of iron ore is due to mounting confidence that China will buy a lot of iron ore to meet the demands of its burgeoning construction industry. Also, analysts believe that China

Chevron (CVX) CEO John Watson recently spoke to The Associated Press regarding affordable energy, natural gas and fracking. These are the key issues that concern energy investors today. Based on the excerpts of the interview published on Tulsa World, Chevron will continue to increase its margins in 2013. To do so, it will tackle three issues that are crucial to the future success of energy companies - affordable energy, natural gas and fracking.

Affordable Energy in an Increasingly Demanding World

Higher gas prices are associated with unrest, social discontent and possible re-elections. Thus, governments are always keen to keep energy prices low and affordable, though it is usually difficult to do so. Mr. Watson revealed that Chevron will invest $33 billion to drill wells, build new refineries, and look for undiscovered oil and natural gas in a quest to meet the growing demand for fuel.

Mr. Watson rightly

According to leading technology website The Verge, Microsoft (MSFT) will launch the Xbox 720 with several new innovations, including next generation Kinect and Kinect Glasses, and a more accessible and targeted design for those who play casual games. The Xbox 720 is going to be a very profitable product that will increase Microsoft's revenues in the long-term.

The graph above shows the popularity surrounding the Xbox 720 console when compared with Sony's (SNE) Playstation 4 console in terms of the number of information searches in Google (y-axis, in millions). Over the last 11 months (x-axis), the number of searches for information on the Xbox 720 has greatly overshadowed the number of searches on the Playstation 4.

This trend suggests Xbox 720 sales will be higher than Playstation 4 sales. Moreover, the Xbox 720 is manufactured by an American company. On the other hand, the Playstation 4 is

MRI Interventions (MRIC.OB), a commercial stage medical device company focused on creating platforms for performing the next generation of minimally invasive brain and heart surgical procedures, recently announced that it has been presented the 2012 Global Company of the Year Award in Image-Guided Neural Interventions by Frost & Sullivan, a global business research and consulting firm.

MRI Interventions' product, ClearPoint, is an integrated system of reusable components, disposable components and intuitive menu-driven software which provides guidance for the placement and operation of instruments during neurological procedures performed within the MRI environment. Utilizing a hospital's existing MRI suite, the company's FDA-cleared ClearPoint system has been installed at 16 hospitals in the United States and two hospitals in Europe. ClearPoint systems are in clinical use in connection with MRI scanners from the three major MRI scanner manufacturers, Siemens (SI), GE Healthcare and Philips Healthcare, as well as the two major interventional

Chieftain Metals (CFTMF.PK), which mines zinc, copper, lead, gold and silver, recently completed a feasibility study for its Tulesquah mine that showed encouraging results.

The Market Outlook For Zinc

The results of Chieftain Metals' feasibility study are encouraging to the company and investors due to the expected demand and lagging supply of zinc through 2015. Zinc is the fourth most common metal used today (after iron, aluminum, and copper). Zinc is used in many different alloys, including brass, bronze and nickel silver. It is also used to make die castings for the electrical, automotive, and hardware industries, which have seen robust demand from Pacific Rim countries. Zinc is used to galvanize other metals to prevent corrosion. Zinc oxide is used in paints, rubbers, cosmetics, plastics, inks, soap, batteries, and pharmaceuticals. A combination of increasing international demand for zinc along with lagging supply due to closures of several

Unfortunately, Netflix's (NFLX) recent deals with companies like Disney and NBC are not lowering the company's high price multiples. Even though Netflix now has seen overall improvements that makes it unique among service providers like HBO and Amazon (AMZN), the growth stories surrounding these new deals do not justify Netflix's high price multiples.

With earnings per share of 0.29, compared with Amazon's 0.24, Comcast's (CMCSA) 2.19, and Verizon's 1.08, and price-to-earnings ratio of 111.61, compared with Verizon's 41.40, Intel's 9.01, and 17.08 for Comcast, Netflix is behind its rivals. To make matters worse, Netflix's competitors are making things alot tougher. Amazon now markets its Prime service for $7.99 per month, matching the monthly subscription fee Netflix charges for its collection of movies and TV shows. Verizon and Coinstar's Redbox unit have formed a joint venture to sell video services aimed at competing against

There have been significant advancements in the area of biotechnology recently that have the potential to create new investment opportunities. Organovo Holdings (ONVO.PK) has been focusing on 3D bioprinting of human tissue for use in medical research and regenerative therapies. Synergy Pharmaceuticals' (SGYP) leading compound plecanatide has been showing promise in treating patients with idiopathic constipation and constipation predominant irritable bowel syndrome. Halozyme Therapeutics' (HALO) has been seeing increased success with its MabThera formulation. Offering MabThera subcutaneously could allow patients to spend less time receiving the formulation in infusion centers. Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR) expects net revenue from Ampyra, which improves the ability of patients with multiple sclerosis to walk, expects revenue of $255 million to $275 million in 2012.

3D printing has been successfully used in the health care industry for the manufacture of prosthetic limbs, custom hearing aids and dental fixtures. But advances in technology

Metal companies have always found British Columbia more lucrative than exotic locations that we often associate such companies with. Blessed with vast amounts of copper, zinc and coal, the Pacific state has seen dramatic investments in mining and energy sectors. Companies that are active in British Columbia are likely to see immense growth in revenue and profits in the coming years. British Colombia based Teck Resources (TCK) plans to spend $685 million at two of its metal operations in BC. The company will spend $210 million on an electronic waste recycling facility at Trail, British Columbia, and $475 million to modernize its 40-year old Highland Valley copper mine.

Teck's decision to spend more than half a billion on facilities located in British Colombia speaks a ton about the promises the region has for investors. While many mining companies find it difficult and exorbitantly expensive to treat chemical and electronic

The American Journal of Preventive Medicine estimates that by 2030, 42 percent of U.S. adults could be obese, which would add approximately $550 billion to healthcare costs over that time frame. In 2012, the FDA approved two anti-obesity drugs: Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) with the drug Belviq and Vivus (VVUS) with Qsymia, formerly Qnexa. Shares of anti-obesity drug makers received a major stimulus after the third largest health insurer in the United States, Aetna (AET), said it will provide coverage for certain categories of patients for anti-obesity treatments. Analysts believe that Aetna's announcement could put pressure on other insurers to also add coverage.

Vivus' Qsymia is in phase 2 clinical development for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obstructive sleep apnea. For the third quarter, the company recognized net product revenues of $41,000 from prescriptions shipped from certified pharmacies to patients. Because of the lack of

In this article, I will focus on three pharmaceutical companies that are seeing new growth catalysts which could push their share prices higher in the coming weeks and months. PROLOR Biotech (PBTH) engages in the development of proprietary versions of already-approved therapeutic proteins. Commencement of its Phase III study of hGH-CTP by the end of 2012 for adult growth hormone deficiency (GHD) and its focus on hGH-CTP in an ongoing Phase II study for GHD in children could prove to be significant growth catalysts. Opko Health's (OPK) next-generation prostate cancer test, 4kScore, could prove to be a significant growth catalyst. Lastly, I will focus on Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) and its Eylea (aflibercept) Injection, which has recently been approved by the European Commission for the treatment of patients with neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD).

PROLOR Biotech is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company applying unique technologies, including