If investigators could find a way to make breast cancer survivors truly cancer free, and if a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer were less dire, investors could reap windfalls while patients and their families rejoice. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Maxim Group Senior Equity Analyst Echo He brings two important names to the table and explains why she believes the potential upside is worth the risk.

The Life Sciences Report: Dr. He, you are a senior equity analyst covering biotech in the U.S. and China. Which companies in the space are you excited about?

Echo He: Threshold Pharmaceuticals (THLD) is trading at just over $5, and I have it Buy-rated with a $10 price target. The company has a $317M market valuation. Investor interest in Threshold arises from pancreatic cancer, a very difficult-to-treat disease-probably one of the most vicious cancers. At the time of

The fixed-income strategy that has been "working" over the past several months is elongating duration when the 10-year Treasury Yield hits 2%, then simply riding down the curve when rates near 1.5%. Portfolio managers that have gritted their teeth, trusted the Fed, and used this channel to their advantage have been handsomely rewarded. Now that the 10-year Treasury rate is back at the upper end of its trading range, will history repeat itself, or will the rising rate believers finally have their day in the sun?

With both bonds and equities starting to reintroduce volatility, where can a conservative income investor "hide out" and wait for better opportunities?

I'm always reminded of the fact that when individual investors and institutions make changes to their portfolios, the money from those transactions has to end up somewhere. So in taking a look at the investment landscape, I attempt to rule out places

Quick Take

• Microsoft unveiled its eighth generation console, the Xbox One, and said that it will charge pre-owned fees for used games installed on the new console.
• In comparison, Sony has allowed used games to run on its eighth generation console.
• GameStop earns more than 40% of its gross profits from used game sales.
• Although new consoles are expected to increase inventory and grow used game sales, Microsoft’s console could cut into almost a quarter of the potential sales of the retailer.

GameStop’s (GME) stock dropped 5% after Microsoft (MSFT) unveiled its eighth generation console, the Xbox One. [1] Although the highly anticipated console will help revive hardware and software sales, Microsoft’s decision to charge “pre-owned” fees for used games that are installed on the new Xbox One will cut into GameStop’s main cash cow: used video game products. (Xbox One Makes It Difficult to Borrow Video Games With

By Matt Doiron

Joel Greenblatt has become a somewhat well-known name in investing circles due to his time managing Gotham Capital, his several books on investing including You Can Be A Stock Market Genius, and his founding of the Value Investors Club. In mid May, Greenblatt's Gotham Asset Management filed its 13F with the SEC, disclosing many of its long equity positions as of the end of March. We have found that these filings can be a useful source of information for investing strategies (for example, the most popular small cap stocks among hedge funds outperform the S&P 500 by an average of 18 percentage points per year) and of course they can also serve as a useful source of initial investment ideas. Read on for our thoughts on the five largest holdings by market value in Greenblatt's portfolio with both trailing and forward earnings multiples, see the

Q1 2013 Earnings Call

May 24, 2013 08:00 AM ET

Executives

Kevin Theiss - IR

Junqiu Gao - Deputy CEO and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer

Analysts

Presentation

Operator

Greetings and welcome to the China Zenix Auto International first quarter 2013 financial results conference call. At this time all participants are in a listen only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. (Operator Instructions). As a reminder this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host Kevin Theiss. Thank you sir, you may begin.

Kevin Theiss

Thank you for joining us today and welcome to China Zenix Auto International first quarter 2013 financial results conference call. My name is Kevin Theiss and I am with Grayling, Zenix Auto’s U.S. investor relations advisor. Joining us today are Mr. Junqiu Gao, Deputy CEO; and Mr. Frank Li,

Colgate-Palmolive (CL) had publicly announced a patent filing earlier this year for a new toothbrush that releases chemicals straight into your mouth as you brush. This innovative idea, if successful, may work wonders for the company and help it to further strengthen its dominance in the oral care market worldwide. As of December 2012, Colgate Palmolive owned 33% of the global market for toothbrushes.

The patent, filed in October 2012, is for a toothbrush capable of releasing small doses of chemicals in the user’s mouth for as long as three months of continued usage. This is made possible by adding a specialty-shaped patch on the back of the brush’s head. The patch releases the chemical in a controlled manner to provide users with an enhanced brushing experience. The oral care division contributes more than 44% to Colgate Palmolive’s intrinsic value.

We estimate this proportion to increase if the patent gets

Yesterday, the U.S. Census Department released its monthly New Residential Home Sales Report for April. It showed an improvement, with sales climbing 2.25% from March and rising

Home improvement retailer Home Depot (HD) released its Q1 results on May 21. Earnings for the quarter stood at $1.2 billion compared to $1 billion million in Q1 2012, an increase of nearly 18.5%. Net earnings were propelled by top-line growth with a steady recovery in the US housing market driving consumer appetite for home improvement products. The company’s net sales for the quarter stood at $19.1 billion, an increase of about 7.4% over Q1 2012. ^[1]

Based on its excellent performance and outlook for the balance of the year, Home Depot raised its sales expectations. It now expects sales to be up by approximately 2.8% year-over-year with a rise in comparable store sales of approximately 4%.

Home Depot’s results were robust despite the wet and chilly weather which normally impacts home improvement spending negatively. This only shows the strength of recovery in the U.S. housing market,

I'm still bearish on the French economy (see here and here). The big reason is the terrible history of GDP growth. In 2011 the economy was barely positive and in 2012 the economy has printed three quarters of negative GDP growth.

The latest GDP read is also negative. From the report: In Q1 2013, French growth domestic product (GDP) in volume* decreased again: –0.2% after –0.2% in Q4 2012. It is the third decrease in the last four quarters.

Let's look at the overall data:

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First note this is the third quarter in the last four where the economy has contracted. And the respite from contraction in 3Q12 is hardly encouraging, as the economy only grew .1%. Last quarter we see contraction across all major GDP categories: PCEs decreased .1%, government spending decreased .8%, all categories of invested dropped and exports declined -.5%.

Let's now

By Matt Doiron

Jim Simons has become a multi-billionaire as a result of the success of the hedge fund he founded, Renaissance Technologies, which has delivered strong returns even as it has increased in size- allowing the fund to charge above-market fees to outside investors. Renaissance recently filed its 13F for the first quarter of 2013, disclosing many of its long equity positions as of the end of March; we track 13Fs from hundreds of hedge funds and use the included information for a number of purposes, including developing investment strategies (we have found, for example, that the most popular small cap stocks among hedge funds earn an average excess return of 18 percentage points per year). We can also look at individual funds' top picks in a number of areas, including high yield stocks. Read on for our thoughts on Renaissance's five largest holdings paying dividend yields of

With the newly released Lumia 928 and 925, Nokia (NOK) will finally have a wider U.S. presence for its flagship Windows Phones. The Finnish handset maker made two important announcements this month, launching the Lumia 928 on Verizon and announcing that the 925 will be launched globally in the coming months. In the U.S., the 925 will be sold exclusively on T-Mobile. With AT&T (T) already selling the 920, this means that the high-end Lumia will now be available on each of the U.S. carriers that had initially offered support for the Lumia. Sprint (S) remains the only carrier in the top four to have not yet offered the Lumia, but it has announced that it will be launching a Windows Phone 8 smartphone soon. It is however not clear if Sprint will launch a Lumia or one of the rivals’ WP8 smartphone.

Due to the limited presence of the

If income investing were as simple as picking the stock with the highest yield, everyone would be an expert. Most assume (rightfully so) that yield is heavily influenced by risk, but much more goes into determining yield. The industry the company operates in, legal considerations (REITs and MLPs), maturity and growth potential all have an effect on an individual stock's yield, along with the company's ability to grow its dividend.

Below are some companies that understand the importance of growing their cash dividends:

Extra Space Storage, Inc. (EXR) operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) in the United States. May 22nd the company increased its quarterly dividend 60% to $0.40 per share. The dividend is payable on June 28, 2013, to stockholders of record at the close of business on June 14, 2013. The yield based on the new payout is 3.7%.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

By Tim Seymour

The latest fund flow data is out, and emerging market funds have posted a small increase ($0.02 billion) for the week ended May 22. Overall, the picture is very moderate with the last 10 weeks showing five weeks of inflows and five weeks

The USD has rallied over 5% since the beginning of the year and now stands close to 84 (nearly a 3-year high). This happened in spite of a strong rally in stocks and corporate bonds - further proof that the bi-polar risk on/off logic has waned

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But the main question for the next few months is going to be the policy of the FED. The Fed exit will be a rather complex mix of talks, jawboning, and actions. To put it simply, before the Fed acts through a reduction/cancellation of its bond purchases or raises rates (Fed funds, IOER…) it will probably test potential market reaction.

Rates: The forward guidance of the Fed is clear: rates will not be raised for a while. Interestingly enough, the DXY has totally disconnected from the DXY-weighted 3-month swap rates spread. Even the spread of swap curves (two-year

One of Apple's (AAPL) latest patent filings isn't for a new laptop, cell phone, or tablet. It's not even for a new kind of TV. Instead, Apple seems to be exploring diving into the computer accessories market with an iPen. This new iPen combined with the recent talk in the press over the last few months about a new iWatch suggest that Apple may be looking to shift its strategy surrounding major products going forward.

Historically, Apple has tended to make major products that represent a significant purchase for an individual. The uniformity across products allowed individuals to link these products together, but creating an ecosystem for each product was by and large left to third parties (think about the App stores, or most of the software for MacBooks, or even most of the accessories available for iPods). For example, Apple produces the accessories that are essential for a given

The May Advance Report on April Durable Goods was released this morning by the Census Bureau. Here is the Bureau's summary on new orders:

New orders for manufactured durable goods in April increased $7.2 billion or 3.3 percent to $222.6 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This increase, up two of the last three months, followed a 5.9 percent March decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 1.3 percent. Excluding defense, new orders increased 2.1 percent.

Transportation equipment, also up two of the last three months, led the increase, $5.1 billion or 8.1 percent to $67.6 billion. This was led by nondefense aircraft and parts, which increased $1.9 billion. Download full PDF

The latest new orders number at 3.3 percent was above the Briefing.com consensus of 1.6 percent. Year-over-year new orders are up 2.4 percent. This is a welcome improvement over the previous month's -5.9 percent MoM and

We think that Hydrogenics Corporation (HYGS) is one of the most undervalued stocks in the market. Hydrogenics is the leader in the very large renewable energy storage market. It also has a fuel cell power systems business that addresses substantial emerging markets. Hydrogenics is on the cusp of profitability, and has some of the best intellectual property, partners, and contracts in its markets.

The five most important trends and catalysts for Hydrogenics are:

1) Renewable Energy Growth is a Major Trend Globally

• Renewable Energy has Grown Substantially - Wind and solar energy have grown rapidly around the world.
• Renewable Energy Is Becoming Economically Viable - Wind and solar energy are reaching "grid parity" in many places and becoming economically competitive with traditional energy sources.
• Renewable Energy Should Grow Swiftly For a Long Time - Wind and solar energy are set to grow exponentially in the coming years.

This article is about the cherry on the top of a sundae. I invested in MGT Capital Investments (MGT) because it is the only stock for exposure to the daily fantasy sports sector, and I agree with a billion-dollar fund manager's prediction that daily fantasy sports will grow 2,000% by 2020. Daily fantasy sports is the "meat and potatoes" of my investment, but I have already written about that. I want to talk about dessert.

Coincidentally, MGT is suing five casino companies for up to billions of dollars in patent infringement. I want to analyze this lawsuit- the maraschino cherry. Again, I believe MGT's daily fantasy sports business - by itself - is cause enough for shares to hit $6 per share this year. The lawsuit is a bonus, an unnecessary but pleasant topping to an otherwise satisfying meal.

In my full report on MGT

It looks like the Fed's debate about tapering has a long tail. Just mention the word taper and it seems some asset class is going to contract. Last night it was the Japanese Nikkei225 that sold off over 7%. This gave the equity bears some momentum. European markets were down 2 to 3%, and now U.S. equities are trading lower by .40 to .93%.

Perplexing as it may seem, we are now in a convoluted world where good economic news is as intrepid as bad news for some markets. Interrupt the flow of Bernanke's monthly $85B injection and there may be a hissing sound as some of the bubbles start to deflate.

In the U.S. it looks like some of this money has been going into the oil market. It has been baffling to me how record stocks of oil in storage, a slowing of global demand, and an increase

What a difference 6 months makes! Not long ago, AMR Corporation (AAMRQ.PK), parent company of American Airlines, was a penny stock on the pink sheets headed for a slow and seemingly inevitable death. The dreaded "Q" that was added to its ticker kept most serious investors away.

On November 16th 2012, you could buy AMR at $0.36 a share. But then came speculation of a merger (now confirmed and in the process of being approved). Last week, AMR reached an intra-day high of $7.15 (before fading a bit this week); still that's almost 20 times its all-time low, an unprecedented turnaround! Its market cap is even within sight of its soon-to-be partner, US Airways (LCC), which isn't in Chapter 11.

AMR shares may be worth as much as $15

Believe it or not, the meteoritic rise of AMR's share price actually makes rational sense! At first

On May 21, 2013, Actavis (ACT) announced that it would acquire Warner Chilcott (WCRX) for $20.08 per share and the deal is expected to close by year-end 2013.

On April 30, 2012, we gave Warner Chilcott a sell recommendation after the stock gained more than +50% in 3 months. After that sell recommendation, Warner Chilcott declined -35% by mid-December. We reiterated our sell recommendation of Warner Chilcott on September 6, 2012, from that level the stock decline -12.93%, to the December 13, 2013 low.

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There are several concerns regarding the transaction between Actavis and Warner Chilcott that should be taken into consideration. First and foremost, is the current price action of Actavis stock. Price action determines a majority of relative fundamental value attributes. Below is the Speed Resistance Lines [SRL] based on the stock price for Actavis since June 2006.

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Any

Nokia (NOK) has looked like dead money for a long time now.

At its peak, in 2007, this was a $40 stock. Back then, your mobile phone was just a phone, not really an Internet client. That was Symbian, the real-time operating system Nokia developed, and nearly everyone used it.

Nokia's fall during the smartphone era has been truly brutal. Stephen Elop was brought in to arrest it, and his strategy of tieing the company to Microsoft (MSFT) Windows Phone is seen by many as a disaster. When he was hired, in September of 2010 this was still a $10 stock. Now it's fighting to keep $3.50, but that's a vast improvement over the 2012 low of $1.80.

So there's a division in the Nokia ownership base. There are long-term shareholders who are out 85% on their investment and see no way back. There are somewhat shorter-term investors who are

By Matt Doiron

Citadel Investment Group, a hedge fund managed by billionaire Ken Griffin, has filed its 13F for the first quarter of 2013 with the SEC (see the full filing on the SEC's website). Our database of 13F filings, which we use to develop investing strategies (including our finding that the most popular small cap stocks among hedge funds earn an average excess return of 18 percentage points per year), allows us to track individual managers' holdings over time and compare them to stocks satisfying a number of criteria, including those which insiders have been buying recently (we also track insider trading activity). See a history of Citadel's stock picks. Here are our thoughts on the fund's five largest holdings as of the end of March which at least one company insider has bought within the last three months:

Griffin and his team increased the size

The small-cap growth style ranks tenth out of the twelve fund styles as detailed in my Style Rankings for ETFs and Mutual Funds report. It gets my Dangerous rating, which is based on aggregation of ratings of 10 ETFs and 432 mutual funds in the small-cap growth style as of May 3, 2013. Prior reports on the best and worst ETFs and mutual funds in every sector and style are here.

Figure 1 ranks from best to worst the seven small-cap growth ETFs that meet our liquidity standards and Figure 2 shows the five best and worst-rated small-cap growth mutual funds. Not all small-cap growth style ETFs and mutual funds are created the same. The number of holdings varies widely (from 27 to 1,344), which creates drastically different investment implications and ratings. The best ETFs and mutual funds allocate more value to Attractive-or-better-rated stocks than the worst, which

Reviewed by Martin S. Fridson, CFA

Consider the following:

• The food-locating strategy used by Native American hunters and Norwegian fishermen is the same as that used by ants.
• Human neurons operate several orders of magnitude more slowly than silicon chips.
• There is evidence that Islamic physicians in Morocco treated mental illness as early as the eighth century.

These are not facts that business schools typically expose their students to. But in Investing: The Last Liberal Art, Robert Hagstrom maintains that the knowledge conveyed in a liberal arts curriculum begets wide understanding that improves investment skills. Hagstrom's success in the profession -- he is senior vice president and portfolio manager at Legg Mason Capital Management -- makes his opinion on the subject worth considering.

Lest investors miss the relevance of studying the disciplines for which Hagstrom provides overviews (physics, biology, sociology, psychology, literature, and mathematics), he connects a few dots.