General Motors: Shareholder Gains & Bailout Pain

Shares of General Motors (GM) are driving higher today after the U.S. automaker reported better than forecast earnings.

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The Wall Street Journal has the details on General Motors’ earnings beat:

The No. 1 U.S. auto maker Wednesday reported a profit of $1.72 billion for the July to September period, before the payout of preferred dividends, compared with $1.83 billion a year earlier. Wall Street, however, focused primarily on the 96 cents a share GM earned excluding some charges. That beat the average analyst estimate of 94 cents a share. Revenue rose to $39 billion from $37.6 billion.

Sterne Agee’s Michael Ward calls General Motors’ results “solid.” He writes:

North American auto operations earned $2.2 billion in pretax income; European losses improved owing to cost performance; and cash flow was better than expected. In our view, all boxes were checked positive…GM's third quarter earnings performance was better than expected and increases our level of conviction for the remainder of 2013 and 2014 performance.

General Motors reported earnings just hours after the U.S. government said it had lost money on its bailout of the automaker during the financial crisis. Bloomberg reports:

The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program in a report issued yesterday estimated the realized losses on all GM shares sold from November 2010 through Sept. 13, 2013, at $9.7 billion. At that point, the U.S. owned 101.3 million shares. If it sold those for yesterday's closing price, the government would lose about $760 million more, bringing the total loss to about $10.5 billion.

Top Companies To Invest In 2014

That might be a small price to pay, however, considering what a collapse of the U.S. auto industry would have meant. Bloomberg again:

The auto rescue saved 1.14 million jobs in 2009 at automakers and companies that depend on the industry, according to the Center for Automotive Research. A collapse would have reduced personal income in the U.S. in 2009 and 2010 by $96.5 billion, costing the federal government $28.6 billion in extra jobless benefits and reduced Social Security contributions and income taxes in those years, the center said.

Shares of General Motors have gained 3.7% to $37.41 at 10:57 a.m., while Ford Motor (F) has dropped 0.2% to $17.48 and Toyota Motor (TM) has advanced 1% to $130.18.

Best Medical Companies To Buy Right Now

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

What: Shares of athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN  ) , a cloud-based provider of billing and clinical service to the health care industry, rose as much as 19% after the company announced a deal with Clinical Holdings, the physician services segment of Ascension Health Network.

So what: The deal, which according to research firm Leerink Swann includes 2,700 doctors, would be its largest in history, and could expand athenahealth by 10% and add $42.5 million in top-line annual revenue. Following word of the deal, research firm Piper Jaffray raised its price target on the company to $127 from $104 while keeping its "overweight" rating.

Now what: This is certainly a solid win for athenahealth, and there's little question that its cloud-based software represents one of the future pathways of medical practice management in the health care industry. However, I can't overlook what appears to be an egregiously overvalued company. Prior to the deal with Clinical Holdings, athenahealth's own management team was concerned about its full-year bookings growth. I'm not sold on the idea that one deal -- even its largest to date -- is enough to send this screaming past a forward P/E of 70! As a value-seeker, I'd suggest sticking to the sidelines in the meantime.

Best Medical Companies To Buy Right Now: Revolutions Medical Corp (RMCP)

Revolutions Medical Corporation (Revolutions Medical), incorporated on August 16, 1996, is principally engaged in the designing, developing and commercializing of retractable vacuum safety needle devices. The Company is engaged in the development of technology which can segment and reference MRI images. The Company also has developed a suite of MRI software tools; RevColor, Rev3D, RevDisplay, and RevScan. MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) is used imaging system that safely creates many different and detailed views of selected portions of the internal anatomy.

The RevVac safety syringe uses vacuum technology to retract the needle into the plunger immediately after use. The syringe cannot be reused once the vacuum is activated. When an MRI is taken, the black and white images are sent to a picture archiving and communication system (PACS), which displays the images for a radiologist to view. By using high speed Internet, these images can be securely sent to the Company�� secure Website, after a secure account is opened. This process is called teleradiology.

The Company competes with Med-Design Corporation, New Medical Technologies, Retractable Technologies, Inc., Unilife, Inc., Specialized Health Products International, BD and Covidien Ltd, Terumo Medical Corp. and B. Braun internationally.

Best Medical Companies To Buy Right Now: LeMaitre Vascular Inc (LMAT)

LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. (LeMaitre Vascular), incorporated on November 28, 1983, is a global provider of medical devices and implants for the treatment of peripheral vascular disease. The Company develops, manufacture, and market vascular devices to addresses the needs of vascular surgeons. The Company's diversified portfolio of peripheral vascular devices consists of brand name products that are used in arteries and veins outside of the heart and are well known to vascular surgeons, including the Expandable LeMaitre Valvulotome, the Pruitt F3 Carotid Shunt, and VascuTape Radiopaque Tape. The Company sells 12 product lines, most of which are used in open vascular surgery and some of which are used in endovascular procedures. The Company sells its products primarily through a direct sales force. The Company�� products are used by vascular surgeons who treat peripheral vascular disease through both open surgical methods and endovascular techniques. In July 2013, Lemaitre Vascular Inc acquired the assets of Clinical Instruments International, Inc. In August 2013, Lemaitre Vascular Inc acquired the assets of InaVein, LLC.

In June 2011, the Company divested its TAArget and UniFit stent grafts to Duke Vascular, Inc. In August 2011, the Company terminated its distribution of Endologix�� aortic stent graft products in Europe. In November 2011, it launched the second-generation of The UnBalloon Non-Occlusive Modeling Catheter. In December 2011, the Company launched the Over-The-Wire LeMaitre Valvulotome.

Open Vascular Products

The Company�� open vascular products are used primarily in conventional open vascular surgery for the treatment of peripheral vascular disease. LeMaitre line of embolectomy catheters are used to remove blood clots from arteries or veins. The Company manufactures single-lumen latex and latex-free embolectomy catheters, as well as dual-lumen latex embolectomy catheters. The dual-lumen embolectomy catheter allows clot removal and simultaneous irri! gation or guide-wire trackability. Its Pruitt line of occlusion and perfusion catheters reduces vessel trauma by using internal balloon fixation rather than traditional external clamp fixation.

Pruitt F3, Pruitt-Inahara, Inahara-Pruitt, and Flexcel Carotid Shunts are used to temporarily divert, or shunt, blood to the brain while the surgeon removes plaque from the carotid artery in a carotid endarterectomy surgery. Its Pruitt F3, Pruitt-Inahara, and Inahara-Pruitt shunts feature internal balloon fixation that eliminates the need for clamps, thereby reducing vessel trauma. Its Flexcel shunt is a non-balloon shunt offered for surgeons who prefer to secure their shunt using externally placed clamps.

EndoRE line of remote endarterectomy devices are used to remove severe atherosclerotic blockages from the major arteries of the leg in a minimally invasive procedure requiring a single incision in the groin. Its EndoRE devices are used to separate the sclerotic blockage from the vessel, cut the far end of the blockage to free it for removal, and then withdraw the blockage from the vessel.

Expandable LeMaitre Valvulotome and its Over-The-Wire LeMaitre Valvulotome cut valves in the saphenous vein, a vein that runs from the foot to the groin, so that the vein can function as a bypass vessel to carry blood past diseased arteries to the lower leg or the foot. The Expandable LeMaitre Valvulotome is the only self-sizing and self-centering valvulotome available, and the Over-The-Wire LeMaitre Valvulotome is the only over-the-wire self-sizing valvulotome available.

AlboGraft Woven and Knitted Vascular Grafts are collagen-impregnated polyester grafts used to bypass or replace diseased arteries. They are available in both straight tube and bifurcated versions. LifeSpan ePTFE Vascular Graft is an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) graft used to bypass or replace diseased arteries, and to create dialysis access sites. They are available in both regular and thin wall ! options a! nd with an optional full or partial external spiral support to increase resistance to compression or kinking. Its LifeSpan models are designed to reduce the risk of steal syndrome and high cardiac output, which are complications that may arise in dialysis access grafts.

AlboSure Vascular Patch is a polyester patch used in conjunction with endarterectomy and vascular reconstructions. Vascular surgeons use patches in conjunction with carotid endarterectomy, remote endarterectomy, and other vascular reconstructions. The Company also distributes the XenoSure Biologic Vascular Patch, a patch made from bovine pericardium.

AnastoClip VCS and AnastoClip GC Vessel Closure Systems allow surgeons to attach vessels, native and prosthetic, to one another by deploying titanium clips in place of suturing. These vessel closure systems create an interrupted anastomosis, or a vessel attachment that expands and contracts as the vessel pulses.

Endovascular and Other Products

The Company�� endovascular products are used primarily by vascular surgeons in minimally invasive endovascular procedures, such as stent-grafting, angioplasty, stenting, and atherectomy, and it also sells non-vascular medical devices used in general surgery procedures, primarily laparoscopic cholecystectomy. UnBalloon Non-Occlusive Modeling Catheter is used to apply radial pressure to the inside of an aortic stent graft in order to seal the outer lining of the stent graft against either the aorta or an adjacent stent graft.

VascuTape Radiopaque Tape is a flexible, medical-grade tape with centimeter or millimeter markings printed with its radiopaque ink that is visible both to the eye and to an X-ray machine or fluoroscope. VascuTape Radiopaque Tape is applied to the skin and provides interventionalists with a simple way to cross-reference between the inside and the outside of a patient�� body, allowing them to locate tributaries or lesions beneath the skin.

In some hosp! itals, va! scular surgery procedures are performed by general surgeons. The Company sells on-vascular medical devices used in general surgery procedures, primarily laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The Company�� general surgery product, the Reddick Cholangiogram Catheter is used to inject dye into the cystic duct during laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The Company also offers two laparoscopic accessories used in laparoscopic gall bladder removal.

The Company competes with Applied Medical Resources Corporation, Cardiovascular Systems Inc., Cook Group Incorporated, C.R. Bard, Inc., Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, Getinge AB, Jotec GmbH, Medtronic, Inc., Terumo Medical Corporation, Uresil, LLC and W. L. Gore & Associates.

10 Best Oil Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Compugen Ltd.(CGEN)

Compugen Ltd. operates as a drug and diagnostic discovery company based on computer-based discovery capabilities to predict and select novel product candidates. Through in silico prediction and selection, the resulting novel molecules are synthesized and validated utilizing traditional in vitro and in vivo experimental procedures. The company provides these validated product candidates to pharmaceutical, biotech, and diagnostic companies under licensing and other commercialization arrangements. Its research and discovery efforts are focused primarily on therapeutic proteins and peptides, and monoclonal antibodies, and primarily in the fields of immunology and oncology. Its therapeutic peptide and protein related platforms include Protein Family Members Discovery Platform, Protein-Protein Interaction Blockers, GPCR Therapeutic Peptide Ligands, Disease-Associated Conformation Blockers, Intracellular Drug Delivery, Viral Peptides, and Splice Variant based Therapeutic Proteins . The company?s monoclonal antibody related platforms comprise Monoclonal Antibody Targets. Its other therapeutic and diagnostic platforms consist of Nucleic-Acid Disease Markers, Protein Disease Markers, Nucleic-Acid Preclinical Toxicity Markers, Non-SNP Drug Response Markers, and New Indications. Its therapeutic peptide and protein product candidates comprise CGEN-15001, a novel protein for the treatment of autoimmune disorders; CGEN-25017, a novel peptide antagonist of the Angiopoietin/Tie-2 pathway; CGEN-855, a peptide agonist of the FPRL1 GPCR receptor; CGEN-856 and CGEN-857, which are MAS GPCR peptide agonists; CGEN-25007, an antagonist of the gp96 protein; and CGEN-25009, a peptide of the LGR7 receptor. The company also offers monoclonal antibody target product candidates, including CGEN-671, a drug for multiple epithelial tumors; CGEN-928, a drug for multiple myeloma; and CGEN-15001T, a novel B7/CD28 family member. Compugen Ltd. was founded in 1993 and is based in Te l Aviv, Israel.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  On Monday, small-cap biotechnology company Compugen (NASDAQ: CGEN  ) gave investors something to cheer about when it announced a collaboration and licensing agreement with Bayer for two of its antibody-based immunotherapies. The deal could be worth as much as $540 million for Compugen and gives the company $10 million upfront, as well as the potential for $30 million more in milestone payments during preclinical trials. The two companies will co-develop these drugs, with Bayer getting worldwide rights upon commercialization (though Compugen would still receive a mid- to high-single-digit royalty). This is great news for Compugen, as it solves the problem of seeking out a partner later, helps reduce its clinical testing costs, and staves off the need to dilute shareholders with a secondary offering to raise cash. Shares added 44% this week.

Best Medical Companies To Buy Right Now: Quintiles Transnational Holdings Inc (Q)

Quintiles Transnational Holdings Inc. is a provider of biopharmaceutical development services and commercial outsourcing services. The Company operates in two segments: Product Development and Integrated Healthcare Services. The Company�� Product Development segment operates as a contract research organization (CRO) focused primarily on Phase II-IV clinical trials and associated laboratory and analytical activities. The Company�� Integrated Healthcare Services segment is a global commercial pharmaceutical sales and service organizations and Integrated Healthcare Services provides a range of services, including commercial services, such as providing contract pharmaceutical sales forces in geographic markets, as well as healthcare business services for the healthcare sector, such as outcome-based and payer and provider services. In August 2012, it acquired Expression Analysis, Inc.

Product Development

Product Development provides services and that allow biopharmaceutical companies to outsource the clinical development process from first in man trials to post-launch monitoring. The Company�� service offering provides the support and functional necessary at each stage of development, as well as the systems and analytical capabilities. Product Development consists of clinical solutions and services and consulting. Clinical solutions and services provides services necessary to develop biopharmaceutical products, including project management and clinical monitoring functions for conducting multi-site trials (generally Phase II-IV) (core clinical) and clinical trial support services that improve clinical trial decision making and include global laboratories, data management, biostatistical, safety and pharmacovigilance, and early clinical development trials, and strategic planning and design services that improve decisions and performance. Consulting provides strategy and management consulting services based on life science and advanced analytics, as well as regulatory and comp! liance consulting services.

The Company competes with Covance, Inc., Pharmaceutical Product Development, Inc., PAREXEL International Corporation, ICON plc, inVentiv Health, Inc. (inVentive), INC Research and PRA International.

Integrated Healthcare Services

Integrated Healthcare Services provides the healthcare industry with both geographic presence and commercial capabilities. The Company�� commercialization services are designed to accelerate the commercial of biopharmaceutical and other health-related products. Service offerings include commercial services (sales representatives, strategy, marketing communications and other areas related to commercialization), outcome research (drug therapy analysis, real-world research and evidence-based medicine, including research studies to prove a drug�� value) and payer and provider services comparative and cost-effectiveness research capabilities, clinical management analytics, decision support services, medication adherence and health outcome optimization services, and Web-based systems for measuring quality improvement.

The Company competes with inVentiv, PDI, Inc., Publicis Selling Solutions, United Drug plc, EPS Corporation and CMIC HOLDINGS Co., Ltd.

Best Medical Companies To Buy Right Now: Prosensa Holding NV (RNA)

Prosensa Holding N.V., formerly Prosensa Holding B.V., is a biotechnology company engaged in the discovery and development of ribonucleic acid-modulating (RNA)-modulating, therapeutics for the treatment of genetic disorders. The Company�� primary focus is on rare neuromuscular and neurodegenerative disorders with a large unmet medical need, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy, myotonic dystrophy and Huntington�� disease. The Company�� clinical portfolio of RNA-based product candidates is focused on the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The Company�� platform technology allows the development of RNA-modulating therapeutics that either interferes with splicing (exon skipping, exon inclusion, or splice mutation correction), remove mutant RNA, or block RNA expression, for different indications.

DMD is a rare, severe muscle wasting disease that occurs in up to 1 in 3,500 male births. It is commonly diagnosed between the ages of three to five, when boys begin to show signs of impaired motor development. PRO044, the Company�� product candidate, addresses a separate sub-population of DMD patients. The Company developed PRO044 using its exon-skipping technology to generate a product candidate with the same mechanism of action that is used by drisapersen.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Keith Speights]

  Successful launch
  You couldn't even buy stock in Prosensa (NASDAQ: RNA  ) just a few weeks ago. The biotech launched its IPO on June 28. To say that launch has gone successfully is an understatement. Shares are now more than double the IPO price and climbed 41% this week.

• [By Brian Orelli]

  Ironically, phase 3 data from Sarepta's direct competitor -- GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK  ) and Prosensa's (NASDAQ: RNA  ) drisapersen -- that's due in the fourth quarter could help the FDA answer the question about whether dystrophin is an acceptable surrogate endpoint. If increases in dystrophin correlate with clinical outcomes, it would support approving eteplirsen with less data. It's not clear to me whether Glaxo and Prosensa would have to share that correlation with the FDA -- the clinical phase 3 data should be sufficient for approval -- and if it does make those calculations whether the FDA could legally use it to support the approval of another drug since NDA data is proprietary while under patent.

• [By Keith Speights]

  An "alley-oop" from the opponent
  Prosensa (NASDAQ: RNA  ) shares made something of a slam dunk this week, jumping more than 16%. That dunk was made with what amounts to an "alley-oop" from its primary rival, Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SRPT  ) .

Best Medical Companies To Buy Right Now: Boston Scientific Corp (BSX)

Boston Scientific Corporation is a developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices that are used in a range of interventional medical specialties. During the year ended December 31, 2011, its products were offered for sale by seven core businesses: Interventional Cardiology, CRM, Endoscopy, Peripheral Interventions, Urology/Women�� Health, Neuromodulation, and Electrophysiology. In January 2011, it completed the acquisition of Intelect Medical, Inc. In January 2011, it completed the acquisition of Sadra Medical, Inc. In March 2011, the Company completed the acquisition of Atritech, Inc. In February 2011, it announced the acquisitions of S.I. Therapies and ReVascular Therapeutics, Inc. In January 2011, the Company sold its Neurovascular business to Stryker Corporation. In June 2012, the Company acquired Cameron Health, Inc. of San Clemente, California and, as a result, added to its product portfolio subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator, called the S-ICD System.

Interventional Cardiology

The Company offers coronary stent product. Coronary stents are tiny, mesh tubes used in the treatment of coronary artery disease, which are implanted in patients to prop open arteries and facilitate blood flow to and from the heart. The Company offers a two-drug platform strategy with its paclitaxel-eluting and everolimus-eluting stent system offerings, and it offers a range of stent sizes. The Company markets its next-generation internally-developed and self-manufactured PROMUS Element stent system in the United States, its Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) region and certain Inter-Continental countries, including China and India. It markets the PROMUS everolimus-eluting stent system, supplied to the Company by Abbott Laboratories, in Japan. It also markets its TAXUS paclitaxel-eluting stent line, including its third-generation TAXUS Element paclitaxel-eluting stent system in the U.nited States, Japan, EMEA and certain Inter-Continental countries.

The Compa! ny markets a line of products used to treat patients with atherosclerosis, a principal cause of coronary artery obstructive disease. Its product offerings include balloon catheters, rotational atherectomy systems, guide wires, guide catheters, embolic protection devices, and diagnostic catheters used in percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). The Company markets a family of intraluminal catheter-directed ultrasound imaging catheters and systems for use in coronary arteries and heart chambers, as well as certain peripheral vessels. The iLab Ultrasound Imaging System continues as its flagship console and is compatible with its line of imaging catheters. The system is designed to enhance the diagnosis and treatment of blocked vessels and heart disorders. Sadra is developing a repositionable and retrievable device for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) to treat patients with severe aortic stenosis. The Lotus Valve System consists of a stent-mounted tissue valve prosthesis and catheter delivery system for guidance and placement of the valve. Atritech has developed a device designed to close the left atrial appendage in patients with atrial fibrillation who are at risk for ischemic stroke. The WATCHMAN Left Atrial Appendage Closure Technology, developed by Atritech, is the first device proven in a randomized clinical trial to offer an alternative to anticoagulant drugs, and is approved for use in CE Mark countries.

Cardiac Rhythm Management

The Company develops, manufactures and markets a variety of implantable devices that monitor the heart and deliver electricity to treat cardiac abnormalities, including Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) systems used to detect and treat abnormally fast heart rhythms (tachycardia) that could result in sudden cardiac death, including implantable cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D) systems used to treat heart failure, and implantable pacemaker systems used to manage slow or irregular heart rhyth! ms (brady! cardia), including implantable cardiac resynchronization therapy pacemaker (CRT-P) systems used to treat heart failure. Its product offerings include its COGNIS cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D), its TELIGEN ICD systems and its ALTRUA family of pacemaker systems. During 2011, it began the United States launch of its next-generation line of defibrillators, INCEPTA, ENERGEN and PUNCTUA.

Endoscopy

The Company markets a range of products to diagnose, treat and ease a variety of digestive diseases, including those affecting the esophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas, duodenum, and colon. Common disease states include esophagitis, portal hypertension, peptic ulcers as well as esophageal, biliary, pancreatic and colonic cancer. The Company offers the Radial Jaw 4 Single-Use Biopsy Forceps, which are designed to enable collection of large high-quality tissue specimens without the need to use large channel therapeutic endoscopes. Its exclusive line of RX Biliary System devices are designed to provide greater access and control for physicians to diagnose and treat challenging conditions of the bile ducts, such as removing gallstones, opening obstructed bile ducts and obtaining biopsies in suspected tumors. The Company also markets the Spyglass Direct Visualization System for direct imaging of the pancreatico-biliary system. The Spyglass System is a single-operator cholangioscopy device that offers clinicians a direct visualization of the pancreatico-biliary system and includes supporting devices for tissue acquisition, stone management and lithotripsy. Its products also include the WallFlex family of stents, in particular, the WallFlex Biliary line and WallFlex Esophageal line; and in 2011, the Company launched its Advanix Biliary Plastic Stent System and the Expect Endoscopic Ultrasound Aspiration Needle in the United States and certain international markets. Its Resolution Clip Device is an endoscopic mechanical clip designed to treat gastrointestinal bleeding.

T! he Company markets devices to diagnose, treat and ease pulmonary disease systems within the airway and lungs. Its products are designed to help perform biopsies, retrieve foreign bodies from the airway, open narrowings of an airway, stop internal bleeding, and ease symptoms of some types of airway cancers. Its product line includes pulmonary biopsy forceps, transbronchial aspiration needles, cytology brushes and tracheobronchial stents used to dilate narrowed airway passages or for tumor management. Asthmatx, Inc. designs, manufactures and markets a less-invasive, catheter-based bronchial thermoplasty procedure for the treatment of severe persistent asthma. The Alair Bronchial Thermoplasty System, developed by Asthmatx, has both CE Mark and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval and is the first device-based asthma treatment approved by the FDA.

Peripheral Interventions

The Company sells various products designed to treat patients with peripheral disease, including a line of medical devices used in percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and peripheral vascular stenting. Its peripheral product offerings include stents, balloon catheters, wires, peripheral embolization devices and vena cava filters. In 2010 and 2011, it launched several of its products internationally, including the EPIC self-expanding nitinol stent system in certain international markets, and the Carotid WALLSTENT stent system in Japan. The Company launched three new peripheral angioplasty balloons in 2011, including its next-generation Mustang percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) balloon, its Coyote balloon catheter, a highly deliverable and ultra-low profile balloon dilatation catheter designed for a range of peripheral angioplasty procedures and its Charger PTA Balloon Catheter, a 0.035 inch percutaneous transluminal angioplasty balloon catheter designed for post-stent dilatation, as well as conventional balloon angioplasty to open blocked peripheral arteries. The Company has commenced a limited ma! rket rele! ase of its OFFROAD re-entry catheter system in certain international markets, and in February 2012, it launched its TRUEPATH intraluminal CTO device in the United States.

The Company sells products designed to treat patients with non-vascular disease. Its non-vascular suite of products include biliary stents, drainage catheters and micro-puncture sets designed to treat, diagnose and ease various forms of benign and malignant tumors. The Company continues to market its extensive line of Interventional Oncology product solutions, including the Renegade HI-FLO Fathom microcatheter and guidewire system and Interlock - 35 Fibered IDC Occlusion System for peripheral embolization. The Company�� FilterWire EZ Embolic Protection System is a filter designed to capture embolic material that may become dislodged during a procedure, which could otherwise travel into the microvasculature where it could cause a heart attack or stroke. It is commercially available in the United States, its EMEA region and certain Inter-Continental countries for multiple indications, including the treatment of disease in peripheral, coronary and carotid vessels. It is also available in the United States for the treatment of saphenous vein grafts and carotid artery stenting procedures.

Urology/Women�� Health

The Company�� Urology/Women�� Health division develops, manufactures and sells devices to treat various urological and gynecological disorders. The Company sells a variety of products designed to treat patients with urinary stone disease, stress urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse and excessive uterine bleeding. The Company offers a line of stone management products, including ureteral stents, wires, lithotripsy devices, stone retrieval devices, sheaths, balloons and catheters.

The Company markets a range of devices for the treatment of conditions, such as female urinary incontinence, pelvic floor reconstruction (rebuilding of the anatomy to its original state), and ! menorrhag! ia (excessive menstrual bleeding). It offers a breadth of mid-urethral sling products, sling materials, graft materials, pelvic floor reconstruction kits, and suturing devices. The Company markets its Genesys Hydro ThermAblator (HTA) system, a next-generation endometrial ablation system designed to ablate the endometrial lining of the uterus in premenopausal women with menorrhagia. The Genesys HTA System features a smaller and lighter console, simplified set-up requirements, and an enhanced graphic user interface and is designed to improve operating performance.

Neuromodulation

The Company within its Neuromodulation business markets the Precision Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) system, used for the management of chronic pain. In 2011, the Company launched its Clik Anchor for its Precision Plus SCS System, a rechargeable SCS device for chronic pain management. During 2011, it received FDA approval for and launched the Infinion 16 Percutaneous Lead, a 16-contact percutaneous lead. The Company also markets the Linear 3-4 and Linear 3-6 Percutaneous Leads for use with its SCS systems, which are designed to provide physicians more treatment options for their chronic pain patients. Intelect Medical, Inc. is a development-stage company developing advanced visualization and programming for the Vercise system.

Electrophysiology

The Company within its Electrophysiology business develops less-invasive medical technologies used in the diagnosis and treatment of rate and rhythm disorders of the heart. Included in its product offerings are radio frequency (RF) generators, steerable RF ablation catheters, intracardiac ultrasound catheters, diagnostic catheters, delivery sheaths, and other accessories. Its products include the Blazer and Blazer Prime line of temperature ablation catheters, designed to deliver enhanced performance, responsiveness, and durability. Its cooled ablation portfolio includes the closed-loop irrigated catheter on the market, the Chilli II cooled! ablation! catheter, and the newly launched Blazer Open-Irrigated ablation catheter with a Total Tip Cooling Design.

The Company competes with Abbott Laboratories, Medtronic, Inc., St. Jude Medical, Inc. and Johnson & Johnson.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX  ) , up 23.4%
  Medical-device maker Boston Scientific had two favorable pieces of news during the month. First, it announced data that supported the conclusion that its Watchman device did a better job of preventing conditions like strokes and cardiovascular death than the typical treatment, warfarin. Then about a week later, Boston Scientific revealed that it had found its first patient in its study of its WallFlex Biliary RX self-expanding metal stent. Despite facing big competition and the headwind of Obamacare's medical device excise tax, Boston Scientific's advances are good news for investors.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Boston Scientific (BSX) has dropped 4.2% to $10.81, making it the second-biggest loser in the S&P 500, while Zions Bancorp (ZION) has fallen 4.1% to $28.03.

Best Medical Companies To Buy Right Now: OncoSec Medical Inc (ONCS)

OncoSec Medical Incorporated, incorporated on February 8, 2008, is an emerging drug-medical device company. The Company focused on designing, developing and commercializing medical approaches for the treatment of solid cancers. In March 2011, the Company acquired from Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Inovio) certain assets related to the use of drug-medical device combination products for the treatment of different cancers.

The Company�� acquired assets relate to certain non-deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) vaccine technology and property relating to selective tumor ablation technologies, which it refers to as the OncoSec Medical System (OMS), a therapy which uses an electroporation device to facilitate delivery of chemotherapy agents, or nucleic acids encoding cytokines, into tumors and/or surrounding tissue for the treatment and diagnosis of various cancers. As of January 24, 2012, the Company had not generated any revenue from operations.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bio-Wire]

  Another company that has benefitted from Inovio�� newfound attention is OncoSec Medical (OTC: ONCS) ��a newer ��ffshoot�� company that uses a similar but distinctly different electroporation device known as the OncoSec Medical System (OMS) that is based on Inovio�� technology. The specific amplitude and frequency of the OMS electroporation is calibrated such that plasmid delivery into solid tumor masses is fully optimized, while CELLECTRA electroporation is less specialized and focus more on the vaccination of skin cells. The cross-license agreement made between Inovio and Oncosec also covers the two devices for their distinctly different applications.

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap biotech stocks AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ: AVEO), OncoSec Medical Inc (OTCMKTS: ONCS) and MetaStat Inc (OTCBB: MTST) are focused on or are developing treatments or diagnostic technologies for metastatic cancers. In case you aren�� familiar with the term metastasis or metastatic, it�� the�spread of cancer from its primary site to other places in the body as cancer cells break away from a primary tumor, penetrate into lymphatic and blood vessels, circulate through the bloodstream and then grow in a new focus (metastasize) in normal tissues elsewhere in the body. In other words, it�� a dangerous form of cancer, but there are some small cap biotech stocks targeting it for diagnostics or treatment:

Best Medical Companies To Buy Right Now: Covidien PLC (COV)

Covidien Public Limited Company is engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of healthcare products for use in clinical and home settings. It operates its businesses through three segments: Medical Devices, which includes the development, manufacture and sale of endomechanical instruments, energy devices, soft tissue repair products, vascular products, oximetry and monitoring products, airway and ventilation products; Pharmaceuticals, which includes the development, manufacture and distribution of specialty pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients, and Medical Supplies, SharpSafety products and original equipment manufacturer products. In May 2012, it acquired Newport Medical Instruments, Inc. In May 2012, it acquired superDimension, Ltd. In June 2012, the Company acquired Oridion Systems Ltd. In October 2012, its Mallinckrodt acquired CNS Therapeutics, Inc. In January 2013, the Company acquired CV Ingenuity. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Keith Speights]

  Covidien (NYSE: COV  ) battles against 3M for market share in the medical devices and supplies arena. Net sales for Covidien's medical devices unit in 2012 were $8.1 billion. The company's medical supplies segment contributed another $1.7 billion in sales. The total of the two business segments nearly doubles that of 3M Health Care.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Covidien Ltd. (NYSE: COV) was started as Buy at Needham & Co.

  Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) was reinstated as Outperform and added to the U.S. Focus List with a new price target of $58 (versus $48.30 now) at Credit Suisse, and it was reiterated as Buy and the price target was raised to $63 from $58 by Sterne Agee.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Yet the episode led to criticism of Intuitive Surgical in other arenas. Last month, the president of a major group of OB/GYNs said that using robotic systems for hysterectomy procedures -- a significant area of potential growth for the company -- lacked data showing its usefulness and made procedures far more expensive. That could reduce sales and have an impact not just toward the end of last quarter but for future periods as well. Moreover, you can expect traditional medical-instrument makers Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ  ) and Covidien (NYSE: COV  ) to step in to take advantage of the situation, as they stand to benefit substantially if robotics are shown to be inferior. Both J&J and Covidien supply more traditional instruments and supplies for surgical procedures, and regulators are more familiar with their safety profiles.

Monday Closing Bell: Markets Close Mixed Following Lower Open

October 28, 2013: U.S. markets opened slightly lower Monday morning and indexes wobbled around for a bit before settling. The DJIA and S&P 500 have managed to remain moderately higher, but the Nasdaq composite is slightly lower. Industrial production was better than expected, but pending home sales tumbled 5.6%. Severe weather in the U.K. kept European trading volumes lower than usual today

European markets closed mostly lower today, while Asian and Latin American markets closed higher.

Tuesday's calendar includes the beginning of the two-day FOMC meeting and the following scheduled data releases and events (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Producer price index 8:30 a.m. – Retail sales 9:00 a.m. – S&P Case-Shiller house price index 10:00 a.m. – Business inventories 10:00 a.m. – Conference Board consumer confidence index 11:30 a.m. – 4-week bill auction 1:00 p.m. – 5-year note auction

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Here are the closing bell levels for Monday:

S&P500 1762.11 (+2.34; +0.13%) DJIA 15568.93 (-1.35; -0.01) NASDAQ 3940.13 (-3.23; -0.08%) 10YR TNOTE 2.52% (-0.03125) Gold $1,352.20 (-0.30; flat) WTI Crude oil $98.68 (+0.83; +0.9%) Euro/Dollar: 1.3788 (-0.0020; -0.14%)

Big Earnings Movers: Petroleo Brasileiro SA (NYSE: PBR) is up 9.1% at $17.35 after reporting earnings and getting a ratings boost. Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) is down 2.5% at $45.39 as the company struggles to boost revenues. Burger King Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: BKW) is up 5.8% at $20.91 as franchise revenues rose much faster than costs. Loews Corp. (NYSE: L) is down 0.2% at $48.70.

Stocks on the Move: J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) is up 8.8% at $7.39 after the CEO said he still expects positive growth in third-quarter same-store sales. Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is down 3.3% at $50.25 as investors weigh Facebook against the pending Twitter Inc. IPO. Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) is up 11.1% at $2.81 on talk of a sale of the company. Fusion-io Inc. (NYSE: FIO) is up 16.1% at $11.08 after reports of insider buying.

In all, 175 NYSE stocks put up new 52-week highs today, while just 9 stocks posted new lows.

Why rue21's Earnings May Not Be So Hot

Although business headlines still tout earnings numbers, many investors have moved past net earnings as a measure of a company's economic output. That's because earnings are very often less trustworthy than cash flow, since earnings are more open to manipulation based on dubious judgment calls.

Earnings' unreliability is one of the reasons Foolish investors often flip straight past the income statement to check the cash flow statement. In general, by taking a close look at the cash moving in and out of the business, you can better understand whether the last batch of earnings brought money into the company, or merely disguised a cash gusher with a pretty headline.

Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on rue21 (Nasdaq: RUE  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Data is current as of last fully reported fiscal quarter. Dollar values in millions. FCF = free cash flow. FY = fiscal year. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Over the past 12 months, rue21 generated $8.4 million cash while it booked net income of $43.1 million. That means it turned 0.9% of its revenue into FCF. That doesn't sound so great. FCF is less than net income. Ideally, we'd like to see the opposite.

All cash is not equal
Unfortunately, the cash flow statement isn't immune from nonsense, either. That's why it pays to take a close look at the components of cash flow from operations, to make sure that the cash flows are of high quality. What does that mean? To me, it means they need to be real and replicable in the upcoming quarters, rather than being offset by continual cash outflows that don't appear on the income statement (such as major capital expenditures).

For instance, cash flow based on cash net income and adjustments for non-cash income-statement expenses (like depreciation) is generally favorable. An increase in cash flow based on stiffing your suppliers (by increasing accounts payable for the short term) or shortchanging Uncle Sam on taxes will come back to bite investors later. The same goes for decreasing accounts receivable; this is good to see, but it's ordinary in recessionary times, and you can only increase collections so much. Finally, adding stock-based compensation expense back to cash flows is questionable when a company hands out a lot of equity to employees and uses cash in later periods to buy back those shares.

So how does the cash flow at rue21 look? Take a peek at the chart below, which flags questionable cash flow sources with a red bar.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Data is current as of last fully reported fiscal quarter. Dollar values in millions. TTM = trailing 12 months.

When I say "questionable cash flow sources," I mean items such as changes in taxes payable, tax benefits from stock options, and asset sales, among others. That's not to say that companies booking these as sources of cash flow are weak, or are engaging in any sort of wrongdoing, or that everything that comes up questionable in my graph is automatically bad news. But whenever a company is getting more than, say, 10% of its cash from operations from these dubious sources, investors ought to make sure to refer to the filings and dig in.

With 16.1% of operating cash flow coming from questionable sources, rue21 investors should take a closer look at the underlying numbers. Within the questionable cash flow figure plotted in the TTM period above, stock-based compensation and related tax benefits provided the biggest boost, at 14.6% of cash flow from operations. Overall, the biggest drag on FCF came from capital expenditures, which consumed 87.9% of cash from operations.

A Foolish final thought
Most investors don't keep tabs on their companies' cash flow. I think that's a mistake. If you take the time to read past the headlines and crack a filing now and then, you're in a much better position to spot potential trouble early. Better yet, you'll improve your odds of finding the underappreciated home-run stocks that provide the market's best returns.

Is rue21 the right retailer for your portfolio? Learn how to maximize your investment income and "Secure Your Future With 9 Rock-Solid Dividend Stocks," including one above-average retailing powerhouse. Click here for instant access to this free report.

We can help you keep tabs on your companies with My Watchlist, our free, personalized stock tracking service.

Add rue21 to My Watchlist.

Will Southwest Airlines Continue to Ascend?

Victor Mora

With shares of Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) trading around $16, is LUV an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework.

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

Southwest Airlines is a passenger airline that provides scheduled air transportation in the United States. Consumers and companies across the nation are now looking to travel at an increasing rates, and since air travel is quicker and is becoming less expensive, it is becoming a common transportation method for many. As costs decrease and flights become more efficient, look for business and retail customers to fly at rising rates. Southwest Airlines stands to see soaring profits as consumers and businesses look to travel more than ever.

Southwest Airlines reported earnings and revenues figures on Wednesday morning that have pleased the markets. Gary C. Kelly, company chairman of the board, president, and chief executive officer, said: “We are very pleased to report a record third quarter earnings performance. Our People delivered very strong year-over-year earnings growth as we continued to transform our Company for the future. Our continued focus on strategic initiatives is paying off, and I am very proud of our outstanding Employees for a very solid third quarter financial performance.”

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Strong

Southwest Airlines stock has been exploding to the upside over the past couple of years. The stock is currently trading near all-time highs and looks set to continue. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, Southwest Airlines is trading above its rising key averages, which signals neutral to bullish price action in the near term.

Source: Thinkorswim

Taking a look at the implied volatility and implied volatility skew levels of Southwest Airlines options may help determine if investors are bullish, neutral, or bearish.

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Southwest Airlines Options	22.73%	0%	0%

What does this mean? This means that investors or traders are buying a very minimal amount of call and put options contracts as compared to the last 30 and 90 trading days.

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
November Options	Flat	Average
December Options	Flat	Average

As of Thursday, there is average demand from call buyers or sellers and low demand by put buyers or high demand by put sellers, all neutral to bullish over the next two months. To summarize, investors are buying a very minimal amount of call and put option contracts and are leaning neutral to bullish over the next two months.

E = Earnings Are Mixed Quarter Over Quarter

Rising stock prices are often strongly correlated with rising earnings and revenue growth rates. Also, the last four quarterly earnings announcement reactions help gauge investor sentiment on Southwest Airlines’s stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for Southwest Airlines look like and, more importantly, how did the markets like these numbers?

	2013 Q3	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	161.54%	-19.85%	-17.97%	-0.43%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	5.48%	0.86%	11.27%	17.65%
Earnings Reaction	3.29%*	-0.14%	0%	0.79%

Southwest Airlines has seen decreasing earnings and increasing revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have been pleased with Southwest Airlines’s recent earnings announcements.

*As of this writing.

P = Average Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Southwest Airlines stock done relative to its peers – Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL), US Airways (NYSE:LCC), and JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) — and sector?

	Southwest Airlines	Delta Air Lines	US Airways	JetBlue Airways	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	65.87%	121.9%	68.74%	32.52%	62.75%

Southwest Airlines has been an average relative performer, year to date.

Conclusion

Southwest Airlines provides air travel services to consumers and companies across the nation. A recent earnings release has the markets upbeat about the company. The stock has been moving higher in recent years and is now trading near all-time highs. Over the last four quarters, earnings have been decreasing while revenues have been increasing, which has produced pleased investors. Relative to its peers and sector, Southwest Airlines has been an average year-to-date performer. Look for Southwest Airlines to continue to OUTPERFORM.

The Best Dow DRIPs

Chuck Carlson, editor of DRIP Investor, explains the benefits of dividend reinvestment plans and highlights the best DRIPs among the Dow 30.

Steve Halpern: We are here today with Chuck Carlson, a leading dividend investing expert and editor of DRIP Investor. How are you doing Chuck?

Chuck Carlson: I'm fine, how are you?

Steve Halpern: Great. First off, for listeners who aren't familiar with DRIPs, could you briefly explain what dividend reinvestment plans are and how they work?

Chuck Carlson: Sure, dividend reinvestment plans are programs offered by about 800 companies, that allow investors to buy stock directly from the company. You buy stock in two ways in these plans.

First, many companies allow you to reinvest the dividends, hence the name dividend reinvestment. Where, instead of the company sending you a dividend check, they keep that money and then go into the market to buy additional shares of stock for you, that's one way you buy in the plan.

The second way, is that, in most dividend reinvestment plans, there is what's called an optional cash investment feature, where you can also send additional money directly to the company, or an agent of the company, who in turn will take that money and buy full and fractional shares for you.

They are great plans for: a) dealing directly with companies, so you don't necessarily have to have a brokerage account; b) doing it in a very low-cost way, many DRIPs have little or no fees that they charge, and then finally, c) invest in amounts that make sense for your own pocketbook, where you can typically invest anywhere from $25 to $250, to even $250,000, if you have deep enough pockets. It allows anyone to really mold an investment program based on your own financial restraint.

Steve Halpern: So, these really aren't the kind of investments that a trader would look at, but rather, somebody who's looking to build a position over the long term.

Chuck Carlson: Exactly, the programs are not structured for really trading, for darting in and out of stocks. They are structured for buying and accumulating good stocks over a period of time.

They are typically what you would consider to be more, kind of, buy and hold investments, as opposed to investments where you're going to be flipping in and out of the stock.

Steve Halpern: In your latest newsletter you feature an article called The Best DRIPs in the Dow, and you note that, from a DRIP investor's perspective, the Dow is a fertile hunting ground in your words. How common are DRIPs among the Dow 30?

Chuck Carlson: Well, 27 of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average offer some form of a dividend reinvestment plan.

The only three Dow stocks that do not are actually, interestingly, two of the newest members, Goldman Sachs (GS) and Visa (V), and the third stock is UnitedHealth Group (UNH), which is also a fairly new member to the Dow.

Every other Dow stock has some form of a plan, either a traditional dividend reinvestment plan, where you can invest directly, but you'll need to be an owner of at least one share before you can invest directly in the plan, or companies that are offering, what I call, direct purchase plans, where you can make even your initial purchase of stock directly from the company.

Indeed, 22 of the 30 stocks in the Dow allow anyone to make even their initial investments directly in those companies, so you don't need a broker to get started and the minimum initial investment to get started in most of the plans is just $250 or less.

Steve Halpern: So, let's look at some of the individual DRIPs among the Dow stocks, and one you consider an excellent buy and hold play is Exxon Mobil (XOM). Could you tell us a little about that?

Chuck Carlson: Sure, I've been a long-time owner of the stock; it's been one of my personal longest holdings. I think I've had it for over 20 years.

It's the classic kind of, what I call, Steady-Eddie stock, where it's never at the top of the leader board in a given year, but it's one that just kind of chugs along, churns out good dividend growth, you get a decent yield and reasonable capital gains potential, and over the long period of time it's really put up nice returns.

Exxon has a direct purchase plan where any investor can make even their initial purchase directly. The minimum initial investment is just $250.

Subsequent investments after you've made the initial investment (and these are strictly optional), the minimum is just $50, so, as you can see, you can invest $50 in a stock that trades for about $88, which means you can actually buy fractional shares of stock, much like kind of buying stock on the installment plan if you think of it.

Furthermore, Exxon has a very friendly plan, in a sense that, they don't charge any fees to buy stock through the plan, and they even have, as part of their plan, an IRA option where you can invest directly with Exxon and earmark those funds to go directly into an IRA that Exxon will provide custodial services on, so it's a very user-friendly plan in a stock that typically has done exceptionally well over the long-term.

Steve Halpern: You also put Disney (DIS) in this Steady-Eddie category. Could you explain the attraction there?

Chuck Carlson: Yeah. Some of my favorite sectors for long-term growth are media, and entertainment, and leisure, and Disney encapsulates really all of those sectors in one company.

They've got, obviously, their theme park business and movie business, but they have a substantial broadcasting business with their ABC Network, as well as, kind of, the crown jewel of the cable network, ESPN, which is a Disney property.

It's a company that really ticks off a lot of boxes in terms of sectors that I like. Strong consumer brand name, it's just a good solid company that I think will continue to trend higher over the long-term.

They have a plan where you can make even your initial investment directly; the minimum is just $250. Furthermore, Disney represents kind of a perfect stock if you wanted to introduce a child or a grandchild to this form of investing and get them into a stock that a child can certainly relate to.

Steve Halpern: Now, among the new entrants to the Dow, you point to Visa as a favorite, but, as you noted, they don't have a dividend reinvestment plan in place. Is that still something you'd recommend?

Chuck Carlson: I would. Again, at the end of the day, dividend reinvestment plans are really vehicles by which you buy stock, but just because a company has a dividend reinvestment plan, doesn't necessarily make it a great company or not a great investment.

There are many good companies out there that have DRIPs, but there are also many excellent investments that don't offer the plans, an investor should still consider, and one of those is Visa, which is among the newest members of the Dow.

It does not have a plan, so you would have to Visa through a broker, but nevertheless, it is a favorite of mine among the Dow stocks. It's one of those companies that's often misunderstood by investors, who think it's basically a credit card company.

The reality is, Visa does not issue credit cards, nor does it extend credit, so it's not vulnerable to bad credit from its customers. Visa is really a technology company that takes a piece of every credit and debit payment that runs across its technology network that it processes.

To kind of give you an idea—in the second quarter of this year, the company processed 15 billion transactions, making a smidgeon on each of those 15 billion. They have a very strong competitive position in their group and it's one of those stocks that I just think it going to continue to do well.

Steve Halpern: Well, we really appreciate you joining us today, and it's good to hear an advisor talk about such high-quality blue chip companies. Thank you.

Chuck Carlson: Thank you, Steve.

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The expert featured in this column, Charles Carlson, may or may not own positions in any investment vehicle mentioned here. The views and opinions expressed are his or her own.

Can Delta Air Lines Continue to Fly Higher?

Best China Stocks To Buy Right Now

With shares of Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) trading around $25, is DAL an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

Delta Air Lines provides scheduled air transportation for passengers and cargo in the United States and internationally. Its route network is centered around a system of hub and international gateway airports. The company also provides aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for other aviation and airline customers as well as offers staffing services, professional security, and training services. As air transportation is becoming increasingly more popular, Delta Air Lines is poised to capitalize into the future.

Delta Air Lines reported earnings on Tuesday morning with net profit climbing $444 million year-over-year to $1.2 billion or $1.41 a share. Analysts had expected Delta to post earnings of $1.36 a share. GAAP income was $1.4 billion, or $1.59 a share. Delta's total operating revenue was $10.49 billion, compared to $9.92 billion a year ago and topping estimates of $10.47 billion. Delta's earnings report repeatedly cited the hard work of the company's employees as a reason for the successful quarter, and the company announced a $249 million profit-sharing expense “in recognition of Delta employees' contributions to the company's financial performance.”

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Strong

Delta Air Lines stock been doing well in the last several years. The stock is currently trending higher and is trading at all time high prices. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, Delta Air Lines is trading above its rising key averages, which signal neutral to bullish price action in the near-term.

(Source: Thinkorswim)

Taking a look at the implied volatility (red) and implied volatility skew levels of Delta Air Lines options may help determine if investors are bullish, neutral, or bearish.

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
Delta Air Lines Options	33.91%	0%	0%

What does this mean? This means that investors or traders are buying a very small amount of call and put options contracts as compared to the last 30 and 90 trading days.

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
November Options	Flat	Average
December Options	Flat	Average

As of today, there is an average demand from call buyers or sellers and low demand by put buyers or high demand by put sellers, all neutral to bullish over the next two months. To summarize, investors are buying a very small amount of call and put option contracts and are leaning neutral to bullish over the next two months.

On the next page, let’s take a look at the earnings and revenue growth rates and the conclusion.

E = Earnings Are Mixed Quarter-Over-Quarter

Rising stock prices are often strongly correlated with rising earnings and revenue growth rates. Also, the last four quarterly earnings announcement reactions help gauge investor sentiment on Delta Air Lines’s stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for Delta Air Lines look like and more importantly, how did the markets like these numbers?

	2013 Q2	2013 Q2	2012 Q1	2012 Q4
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	14.63%	-500.00%	-93.33%	-98.61%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	5.68%	-0.26%	1.03%	2.42%
Earnings Reaction	3.81%	1.71%	10.43%	1.24%

Delta Air Lines has seen decreasing earnings and rising revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have been pleased with Delta Air Lines’s recent earnings announcements.

P = Excellent Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has Delta Air Lines stock done relative to its peers, Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV), United Continental (NYSE:UAL), JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU), and sector?

	Delta Air Lines	Southwest Airlines	United Continental	JetBlue	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	115.70%	59.77%	33.23%	28.67%	60.34%

Delta Air Lines has been a relative performance leader, year-to-date.

Conclusion

Delta Air Lines provides services that are seeing increased demand as travel for work or leisure becomes more important. A recent earnings release has the markets upbeat about the company. The stock has moved higher in recent years and is currently trading near all time high prices. Over the last four quarters, earnings have declined while revenues have been on the rise which has pleased investors in the company. Relative to its peers and sector, Delta Air Lines has been a year-to-date performance leader. Look for Delta Air Lines to continue to OUTPERFORM.

China Mobile Eyes Fixed-Lines, VNOs In May Launch

We're rapidly running out of days in October for two major telecoms developments that many were expecting this month, namely the awarding of new licenses for 4G wireless service and for new telecoms service providers known as virtual network operators (VNOs). There are still 10 days left in the month, so it's possible that one or both could still happen. But the usual delays could mean we may not see any major announcements for a little while longer. Meantime, media are reporting some new information on a timetable for the VNO roll-out, and in another major development that could shake up the status quo, media are also saying that leading wireless telco China Mobile (CHL) could soon get a license to offer fixed-line telecoms services.

I've been writing about the VNO development for awhile now, as it's really quite exciting with the potential to instantly triple the number of telecoms service providers in the market from the current three to a new field of 8-9 operators. Equally important, most of those new operators, which would lease network capacity from the existing three telcos, are private sector firms. That means they should be much more nimble and innovative than the current monopoly of three big state-run companies, China Mobile, China Unicom (CHU) and China Telecom (CHA).

In the other development, the award of a fixed-line service license for China Mobile could also bring some much needed new life to the market for broadband services delivered over wired networks into homes and offices. That market is currently controlled by Unicom and China Telecom, which came under the microscope two years ago when China's powerful state planner investigated the pair for monopolistic behavior. (previous post)

So now let's turn to the latest reports, starting with one that says the upcoming field of VNO operators could formally launch their new services during next year's May 1 holiday. (Chinese article) That's when the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China's! telecoms regulator, is reportedly set to formally give out the first set of phone numbers to the new set of VNOs, which would then be allowed to start selling those numbers to retail and business customers.

The reports say the three existing telcos recently finished their selection process for VNO partners, and that each has recently submitted its choices to the MIIT. Previous reports indicated that electronics retailers Gome and Suning were among the finalist candidates, though no pure Internet companies were included. This latest timetable makes an official October VNO announcement look unlikely, though I'm still hopeful we'll see something by the end of this year.

From the VNO development, let's look at the other reports that cite a knowledgeable source saying China Mobile will soon receive a license to operate a fixed-line network. (Chinese article) China Mobile has been strongly lobbying for such a license for the last few years, since such wired service typically offers faster and more stable broadband connections than current wireless technology. But the regulator resisted the pressure, worried that China Mobile already dominates the wireless space with around two-thirds of the market.

These latest reports say the MIIT finally changed its mind after coming under pressure from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's state planner, which first accused China Telecom and Unicom two years ago of monopolistic behavior in the fixed-line space. The awarding of a license to China Mobile would inject some much needed competition into the fixed-line sector, and would also give China Mobile a major new potential growth source.

This solution isn't really ideal, since China Mobile is another big state-run company that's prone to the same monopolistic behavior that we're seeing from Unicom and China Telecom. But the politically sensitive nature of network ownership means we're unlikely to see Beijing let private companies build telecoms networks in China a! nytime so! on, meaning this might be the best solution we'll see for now.

Bottom line: China is likely to award VNO licenses by the end of this year, with service likely to launch around next May.

Source: China Mobile Eyes Fixed-Lines, VNOs In May Launch

LinkedIn Lists “World’s Most In Demand Employers

LinkedIn (NYSE: LNDK) did what few firms have been able to, at least with any believability. It has ranked the most “in demand employers”. based on a huge sample size. The research comes from  “billions of interactions with LinkedIn’s 238 million members.” Most of the companies are not a surprise. They are the same ones which end up on many lists of places many college and graduate students want to work–the largest tech companies with the most famous brands, and the world’s largest management consulting firms.

The Top 10 list from LinkedIn:

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is in first place. That should not come as any surprise because its brand is ranked as one of the most valuable in the world by Interbrand, it employs an army of engineers, it the world’s largest search engine, and continues to grow at a remarkable pace.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is second. Despite its recent problems, it is usually considered the most valuable brand in the world, and is the public company with the largest market cap.

Unilever is third, a bit of a surprise. However, it is one of the largest consumer goods companies in the world, and does business in score of countries.

Procter & Gamble (NASDAQ: PG) is one of Unilever’s major competitors is fourth on the list, The company recently turned over CEOs because Wall St. pressure the board about the firm’s lackluster performance

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Fifth on the list is Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) which continues to go through great turmoil of its own. Steve Ballmer, CEO for more than a decade has been forced out. The company’s massive Windows franchise is sun setting with the PC.

Six is Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) which has largely replace Microsoft as the world’s hottest tech company. Facebook’s 1.1 billion members continue to grow, and Facebook has barely tapped the Chinese market.

Seventh, eight, ninth, and tenth places are taken by Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), Shell, and McKinsey & Co

For the full list

Why Lululemon Is Poised to Keep Pulling Back

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, yoga gear retailer lululemon athletica (NASDAQ: LULU  ) has received a distressing two-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Lululemon and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Lululemon facts

Headquarters (founded)	Vancouver, Canada (1998)
Market Cap	$9.8 billion
Industry	Apparel
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$1.4 billion
Management	Founder/Chairman Dennis Wilson CFO John Currie
Return on Equity (average, past 3 years)	35.5%
Cash/Debt	$590.2 million/$0
Competitors	Adidas AG Nike Under Armour

Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 24% of the 1,369 members who have rated Lululemon believe the stock will underperform the S&P 500 going forward.

Just yesterday, one of those Fools, sikiliza, succinctly summed up the bear case for our community:

The problem with fads is that they come to an end. Granted, Lululemon targeted an existing and fast growing core market of yoga enthusiasts who were not afraid to talk it up but over time, the company's growth depended more and more on the ordinary lady picking up a pair of well-fitting yoga pants for everyday wear. This might have signaled one of two things: 1) That the core market was saturated or 2) That the initial allure and exclusivity of the product was now broken.

Product issues aside, management has not been stellar and I see an [Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO  ) ] situation brewing where a good company with great products gets distracted by management side-shows.  

Lululemon has the potential to grow its sales by 10 times if it can penetrate other markets like it has in Canada, but the competitive landscape is starting to increase. Can Lululemon fight off larger retailers and ultimately deliver huge profits for savvy investors? The Motley Fool answers these questions and more in its most in-depth Lululemon research available. Thousands have already claimed their own premium ticker coverage; gain instant access to your own by clicking here now.

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The Dow Ends a Rollercoaster Week With Triple-Digit Gains

It's been a topsy-turvy week for the markets, but stocks are back on the rise today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) has gained 137 points, or 0.91%, as of 2:20 p.m. EDT, with all but a few of its 30 component stocks in the green.

Labor market gains have boosted Wall Street today. U.S. payroll growth increased over the past year's average, adding 175,000 jobs in May. However, sequestration's impact forced the federal government to cut 14,000 workers in the month, and more jobs could be lost in the future as further cuts come down the line. That's not hurting stocks today, however. Let's check out which stocks are lighting up your end to the week.

Boeing flies high
Boeing (NYSE: BA  ) ranks among today's top Dow stocks, gaining 2% in its latest 2013 surge. The aerospace giant has cleared the turbulence of its 787 aircraft's grounding. Singapore Airlines made a Dreamliner purchase last month after the aircraft's battery problems were resolved. Competitor Airbus is still right on Boeing's heels, however: The European rival is looking to use its planned A350 aircraft to fight Boeing's control of the long-haul airline market. Still, with the 787 now free to fly and start clearing its huge order backlog, Boeing's stock looks ready to keep soaring throughout the year.

Top Heal Care Companies To Own For 2014

The biggest winner so far today, has been Travelers (NYSE: TRV  ) , which has jumped 2.1% despite a potentially bumpy hurricane season to come that could weigh on the company's performance. While warnings of hurricanes to come could push some to purchase property and risk insurance in the days ahead, forecasts that up to five powerful hurricanes could form in the Atlantic Ocean this year may foretell a costly season for this insurer.

Down at the bottom of the Dow, telecom stocks AT&T (NYSE: T  ) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ  ) have struggled to make gains today. They're indirect victims of yesterday's news bombshell, when British newspaper The Guardian reported that the U.S. National Security Agency had been mining data from mobile-phone records, including those of Verizon customers. A court order released by the paper showed the company was told to release its records for intelligence purposes, and while only select numerical data was mined, it's still a shocking and potentially damaging release for the company.

Should Verizon or AT&T investors -- or any telecom investors, really -- be concerned about this revelation? While the release's political impact can't be understated, it shouldn't affect your investing decisions. Verizon and AT&T are corporations first and foremost. Regardless of this situation, the performance of their shares depends on how they advance their businesses. Considering that they're the top two providers in the U.S. wireless industry, both AT&T and Verizon are still relatively safe. AT&T projects a strong improvement in customer growth in the second quarter after a relatively lackluster first quarter, and Verizon has widened its lead on its rival somewhat. Both stocks should get past this PR mishap without incident. As with all stocks, keep your eye on the long term.

Can Boeing continue to soar?
Boeing is a major player in a multitrillion-dollar market in which the opportunities are massive. However, emerging competitors and the company's execution problems have investors wondering whether Boeing will live up to its shareholder responsibilities. In our premium research report on the company, two of The Motley Fool's best industrial-sector minds have collaborated to provide investors with the must-know info on Boeing. They'll be updating the report as key news hits, so don't miss out -- simply click here now to claim your copy today.

IPO on moneymaking potential of Arian Foster

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Here's a new twist on fantasy sports: a San Francisco startup is offering a chance to bet on the moneymaking potential of star athletes.

The unusual investment opportunity kicked off Thursday with an IPO filing proposing to sell stock for a stake in the future income of the Houston Texans' Arian Foster, a top running back in the National Football League.

The initial public offering hinges on a deal requiring Fantex Holdings to pay Foster $10 million in return for a 20% share of his remaining contract with the Texans, his endorsement income and any other future money tied to his football career. Those earnings could include potential broadcasting jobs that Foster gets after his playing career is over. It doesn't include money Foster would make if he pursues a career unrelated to football.

Fantex plans to sell about 1 million shares at $10 apiece to pay Foster and cover other expenses. The tracking stock won't trade on a major stock exchange; instead, it will be bought and sold on a trading platform set up by Fantex, which was co-founded last year by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Buck French.

Foster, who is in his fifth season with the Texans, is just the first player in what Fantex hopes will become a diversified line-up of star athletes. Foster declined to comment citing Securities and Exchange Commission regulations.

The company is aiming to do IPOs featuring players in professional baseball, basketball, hockey and golf, as well.

"Our philosophy is to work with people who we believe have interesting brand attributes that we can work with and they can work with us," said French who got rich during the dot-com boom after selling a software company to Siebel Systems. "You don't have to be a superstar. I could see us working with big names and no names. The question is do they have attributes to build a brand for the long haul."

At least one person associated with Fantex knows something about a long sports career. John Elway, the former Denver Bro! ncos quarterback who is now executive vice president of football operations for his former team, is a member of Fantex's parent company, Fantex Holdings.

This isn't the first time that a public figure has bet on his future moneymaking potential in the securities markets. British rocker David Bowie famously sold shares in his future earnings with the issue of "Bowie Bonds."

Just like any securities investment there are risks. The marketability of professional athletes can go through wild swings if they become embroiled in scandals, as superstars such as bicyclist Lance Armstrong and golfer Tiger Woods have proven. There's also no guarantee that athletes will have long playing careers.

Foster, 27, already has suffered injuries to his knees and hamstring that have sidelined him in previous seasons and limited his ability to play in other games. He also has been plagued by an irregular heartbeat since he was 12, according to the IPO filing.

So far, Foster has remained healthy enough to be one of the main cogs on the Texans, a team that was widely expected to be a Super Bowl contender. It's been a disappointment so far this season with a 2-4 record.

Fantex is betting it can help Foster line up a lot of lucrative endorsements, as well as help him make money after his career is over. The Texans signed Foster to a five-year contract that will pay him $23.5 million during the period covered by the Fantex IPO. He also could earn up to $2 million in bonuses, depending on his performance, according to the IPO filing. He's also lined up endorsement deals that could pay nearly $700,000.

If Foster collects the maximum amounts from his Texans contract and current endorsements, Fantex would receive about $5 million.

IBM Misses on Revenue Again; Shares Plummet in After-Hours Trading (IBM)

IBM (IBM) was among several blue chips to report after the bell today, though it did not fare as well as some of its peers.

Analysts had been expecting EPS of $3.96, a figure that IBM beat with a reading of $3.99. It was the predicted revenues of $24.77 billion where IBM fell short, noting $23.7 billion in that category. Shares slumped as much as 6% in after-hours trading, as a drop in revenue is a trend that has been worrying investors.

IBM’s grip on emerging markets has been slipping, with revenues declining this past quarter in key markets overseas. Now, the firm has shown declining revenues in each of the last six quarters, causing quite the sell-off of its stock.

IBM shares had been up $2.07, or 1.11%, when markets closed Wednesday. With the losses in after-hours trading, IBM’s stock is down more than 5% this year.

Top Biotech Stocks To Own Right Now

The market has soared to begin 2013 with many biotech companies leading the way. That should be no surprise given the massive swings that companies can make in just a week's time. Unfortunately, some biotech stocks have also lagged the returns of the broader market. In the following video, Fool contributor Maxx Chatsko reviews the five coldest biotech stocks through the first five months of the year and tells investors if things are about to get better any time soon. Not all laggards are created equal.

Resurgence, or dead cat bounce?
Shares of Dendreon have surged in recent months, with the stock gaining new life from the depths of late 2012. Has the company really solved its underlying problems, or are investors setting themselves up for more disappointment? Our new premium research report on Dendreon answers these questions, and many more, while also outlining just how Dendreon intends to regain its former glory. Claim your copy by clicking here now.

Top Biotech Stocks To Own Right Now: Amarantus Bioscience Holdings Inc (AMBS)

Amarantus BioScience Holdings, Inc., formerly Amarantus BioSciences, Inc., incorporated on March 22, 2013, is focuses on developing intellectual property and proprietary technology in order to develop drug candidates and diagnostic blood tests to diagnose and treat human diseases. The Company owns the intellectual property rights to a therapeutic protein known as Mesencephalic-Astrocyte-derived Neurotrophic Factor (MANF), owns the intellectual property rights to biomarkers related to oncology and neurodegeneration named BC-SeraPro and NuroPro respectively, has a license to an Alzheimer�� disease blood test named LymPro, and owns a number of proprietary cell lines called PhenoGuard. MANF was the first therapeutic protein discovered from a PhenoGuard Cell Line. In December 2012, the Company acquired neurodegenerative diagnostic portfolio from Power3 Medical Products. On March 22, 2013, the Company was merged with into Amarantus Bioscience Inc.

The Company also owns an inventory of 88 cell lines that Amarantus refers to as PhenoGuard Cell Lines. MANF is a protein that corrects protein misfolding. The Company�� MANF product development effort is centered on a therapy for Parkinson�� disease.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  Two weeks ago I penned some bullish thoughts on Amarantus BioScience, Inc. (OTC:AMBS). In simplest terms, I liked the way the stock had spent some time in consolidation mode, and looked like was testing the upper boundary of that zone - I figured a breakout from AMBS was imminent. So I waited... and waited.... and waited. Nothing. A week and a half later, I let the stock fall off my mental radar. As it turns out, I should have been a little more patient. Amarantus BioScience finally did the deed yesterday, and is following through today.

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  I've taken bullish swings on - and been wrong to do so - Amarantus BioScience, Inc. (OTC:AMBS) before. My most recent bullish call on the budding biotech name was in April... a rally that fizzled shortly after I said it was just getting started. Somehow though, I find myself coming back to AMBS as a breakout candidate. This time, however, it's for a slightly different reason.

Top Biotech Stocks To Own Right Now: InterMune Inc.(ITMN)

InterMune, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the research, development, and commercialization of therapies in pulmonology and fibrotic diseases. In pulmonology, the company focuses on therapies for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a progressive and fatal lung disease. It markets pirfenidone, an orally active drug that inhibits the synthesis of TGF-beta under the Esbriet name in the European Union, as well as in a Phase III clinical trial in the United States. Pirfenidone is also approved for the treatment of IPF in Japan, where it is marketed by Shionogi & Co. Ltd. under the Pirespa trade name. The company?s research programs focus on the discovery of small-molecule therapeutics and biomarkers to treat and monitor serious pulmonary and fibrotic diseases. InterMune, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Brisbane, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  On Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged a former vice president of finance, accounting officer, and controller of InterMune (NASDAQ: ITMN  ) with insider trading.

Hot Companies To Invest In Right Now: StemCells Inc (STEM)

StemCells, Inc. (StemCells), incorporated in August 1988, is engaged in the research, development, and commercialization of stem cell therapeutics and related tools and technologies for academia and industry. The Company is focused on developing and commercializing stem and progenitor cells as the basis for therapeutics and therapies, and cells and related tools and technologies to enable stem cell-based research and drug discovery and development. The Company�� primary research and development efforts are focused on identifying and developing stem and progenitor cells as potential therapeutic agents. The Company has two therapeutic product development programs, including its CNS Program, which is developing applications for HuCNS-SC cells, its human neural stem cell product candidate, and its Liver Program, which is characterizing the Company�� human liver cells as a therapeutic product.

CNS Program

The Company in its CNS Program, is in clinical development with its HuCNS-SC cells for a range of disorders of the central nervous system. The CNS includes the brain, spinal cord and eye. In February 2012, the Company had completed a Phase I clinical trial in Pelizeaus-Merzbacher Disease (PMD), a fatal myelination disorder in the brain.

The Company�� CNS Program is focused on developing clinical applications, in which transplanting HuCNS-SC cells protect or restore organ function of the patient before such function is irreversibly damaged or lost due to disease progression. The Company�� initial target indications are PMD, and more generally, diseases in which deficient myelination plays a central role, such as cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis; spinal cord injury, disorders in which retinal degeneration plays a central role, such as age-related macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa. The Company�� product candidate, HuCNS-SC cells, is a purified and expanded composition of normal human neural stem cells. Its HuCNS-SC cells can be directly transp! lanted.

Liver Program

Liver stem or progenitor cells offer an alternative treatment for liver diseases. A liver cellular therapy or cell-based therapeutic provide or support liver function in patients with liver disease. The Company held a portfolio of issued and allowed patents in the liver field, which cover the isolation and use of both hLEC cells and the isolated subset, as well as the composition of the cells themselves.

The Company�� range of cell culture products, which are sold under the SC Proven brand, includes iSTEM, GS1-R, GS2-M, RHB-A, RHB-Basal, NDiff N2, and NDiff N2B27. Its iSTEM is a serum-free, feeder-free medium that maintains mouse embryonic stem cells in their pluripotent ground state by using selective small molecule inhibitors to block the pathways, which induce differentiation. RHB-A is a defined, serum-free culture medium for the selective culture of human and mouse neural stem cells and their maintenance and expansion as adherent cell populations. RHB-Basal is a defined, serum-free basal medium. When supplemented with specific growth factors, this media is formulated for the propagation and differentiation of adherent neural stem cells. RHB-Basal can also be tailored to specific-cell type requirements by the addition of customer preferred supplements.

The Company�� NDiff N2 is a defined serum-free scell culture supplement for the derivation, maintenance, expansion and/or differentiation of human and mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells and tissue-derived neural stem cells supplement. Its NDiff N2-AF is a serum-free and animal component-free version of NDiff N2. Its NDiff N2B27 is a defined, serum-free medium for the differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells to neural cell types. NDiff N27-AF is a serum-free and animal component-free version of NDiff N27. Its GS1-R is a serum-free media formulation shown to enable the derivation and long-term maintenance of true, germline competent rat embryonic stem cells without the add! ition of ! cytokines or growth factors. Its GS2-M is a defined, serum- and feeder-free medium for the derivation and long-term maintenance of true, germline competent mouse iPS cells.

The Company also markets a number of antibody reagents for use in cell detection, isolation and characterization. These reagents are also under the SC Proven brand and it includes STEM24, STEM101, STEM121 and STEM123. Its STEM24 is a human antibody that recognizes human CD24, also known as heat stable antigen (HSA), a glycoprotein expressed on the surface of many human cell types, including immature human hematopoietic cells, peripheral blood lymphocytes, erythrocytes and many human carcinomas. Its CD24 is also a marker of human neural differentiation. Its STEM101 is a human-specific mouse antibody that recognizes the Ku80 protein found in human nuclei. Its STEM121 is a human-specific mouse antibody that recognizes a cytoplasmic protein of human cells. Its STEM123 is a human-specific mouse antibody that recognizes human glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP).

The Company�� Other products marketed under SC Proven include total cell genomic DNA (gDNA), RNA and protein lysate reagents purified from homogenous stem cell populations for intra-comparative studies, such as Epigenetic fingerprinting, Southern, Western and Northern blots, PCR, RT-PCR and microarrays. This range of purified stem cell line lysates includes mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells propagated in SC Proven 2i inhibitor-based GS2-M media and mouse ES cell-derived and fetal tissue-derived neural stem (NS) cells propagated in SC Proven RHB-A media.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  The results of a recent Pew Center Poll regarding attitudes towards abortion and various forms of stem cell research could be a good sign for the stem cell industry along with small cap stem cell stocks like StemCells Inc (NASDAQ: STEM), NeoStem Inc (NASDAQ: NBS), Neuralstem, Inc (NYSEMKT: CUR),�International Stem Cell Corp (OTCMKTS: ISCO) and BioRestorative Therapies (OTCBB: BRTX). Basically, Americans think that having an abortion is a moral issue with 49% of American adults believing abortion is morally wrong, 23%�view it not as a moral issue and and 15% view it as morally acceptable. However and when Americans were asked about issues surrounding�human embryos, such as stem cell research or in vitro fertilization, as a matter of morality, their views were different.

• [By James E. Brumley]

  When an investor thinks of spinal-related stem cell stocks, usually a name like Neuralstem, Inc (NYSEMKT: CUR) or StemCells Inc (NASDAQ: STEM) comes to mind. And well they should. STEM has logged some amazing breakthroughs in the field of spinal cord repair, while CUR has done the same. Not all back problems are spinal cord related though. In fact, most back problems - and therefore the most opportunity - are bone and disc related problems. That's where a young gun like BioRestorative Therapies (OTCBB: BRTX) can step in and make stem cell waves. BRTX has developed an approach to rejuvenate and revive failing spinal discs, potentially ending pain for millions of back-pain sufferers, and circumventing expensive spinal surgeries that are in increasing burden on insurance companies.

Top Biotech Stocks To Own Right Now: Merck & Company Inc.(MRK)

Merck & Co., Inc. provides various health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. The company?s Pharmaceutical segment provides human health pharmaceutical products, such as therapeutic and preventive agents for the treatment of human disorders in the areas of bone, respiratory, immunology, dermatology, cardiovascular, diabetes and obesity, infectious diseases, neurosciences and ophthalmology, oncology, vaccines, and women's health and endocrine. This segment also offers human health vaccines, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines. Its Animal Health segment discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets animal health products. This segment offers antibiotics, anti-inflammatory products, vaccines, products for the treatment of fertility disorders, and parasiticides for cattle, swine, horses, poultry, dogs, cats, salmons, and fish. The Consumer Care segment develops, manufac tures, and markets over-the-counter, foot care, and sun care products. Its over-the-counter product line includes non-drowsy antihistamines; treatment for occasional constipation; decongestant-free cold/flu medicine for people with high blood pressure; nasal decongestant spray; and treatment for frequent heartburn. This segment?s foot care products comprise topical antifungal, and foot and sneaker odor/wetness products; and sun care products include sun care lotions, sprays and dry oils; and sunburn relief products. The company serves drug wholesalers and retailers, hospitals, government agencies, physicians, physician distributors, veterinarians, animal producers, and managed health care providers, as well as food chain and mass merchandiser outlets in the United States and Canada. Merck & Co., Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Divine]

  Only four blue chips closed in the red on Friday. Both of the day's worst performers pay handsome dividends to investors. Merck (NYSE: MRK  ) , for instance, which lost 0.8% today, dishes out 3.7% a year to shareholders. There's nothing wrong with rewarding investors with healthy quarterly payouts, but on days as bullish as today was, the market can sometimes get fixated on the immediate lure of capital gains over the steady cash sought by the patient long-term income investor.

Top Biotech Stocks To Own Right Now: RXi Pharmaceuticals Corp (RXII)

RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation (RXi), incorporated on September 8, 2011, is a development-stage company. The Company is a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing therapies addressing medical needs using RNA interference (RNAi)-targeted technologies. As of July 12, 2012, RXi was focusing on its internal therapeutic development efforts in fibrosis. RXI-109 is its RNAi product candidate, which is a dermal anti-scarring therapy that targets connective tissue growth factor (CTGF). The Company�� therapeutic platform consists of two main components: RNAi Compounds (rxRNA) and Advanced Delivery Technologies. RNAi compounds include rxRNAori, rxRNAsolo and sd-rxRNA, or self-delivering RNA. On April 26, 2012, it completed the spin-off transaction from Galena Biopharma, Inc. (Galena).

In January 2011, the Company announced research results in collaboration with Generex Biotechnology Corporation, and RXi�� wholly owned subsidiary Antigen Express, Inc., in developing vaccine formulations for immunotherapy. In January 2011, it announced initial results as part of its collaboration with miRagen Therapeutics, Inc. in creating microRNA mimics, or artificial copies of microRNAs, using the Company�� sd-rxRNA technology. In February 2011, it announced the initiation of RXi�� development program for RXI-109.

Top Biotech Stocks To Own Right Now: Dyadic International Inc (DYAI)

Dyadic International, Inc. (Dyadic), incorporated in September 2002, is a holding company. The Company is a global biotechnology company. The Company has operations at the United States and the Netherlands. Dyadic uses its technologies to conduct research and development (R&D) and commercial activities for the discovery, development, manufacture and sale of enzymes and proteins for the bioenergy, industrial enzyme, and biopharmaceutical industries. The Company derives all of its revenues from the licensing of its technologies, the sale of its enzymes and conducting research and development (R&D) activities for third parties. The Company operates in two segments: the United States operations and The Netherlands operations. The United States segment includes a subsidiary in Poland.

The United States operating segment is a developer, manufacturer and distributor of enzyme products, proteins, peptides and other bio-molecules derived from genes and a collaborative licensor of enabling technologies for the development and manufacturing of biological products and use in R&D. The Netherlands operating segment is also a researcher and developer of enzyme products, proteins, peptides and other bio-molecules derived from genes and, to date, has mainly invested in R&D activities.

Dyadic�� R&D activities focus on its fungal strains and associated technologies. Dyadic uses its Trichoderma and C1 fungal strains in the production of its industrial enzymes. Dyadic manufactures and sells liquid and dry enzyme products to global customers for use within the animal feed, pulp and paper, starch and alcohol, food and brewing, textiles, and biofuels industries.

Dyadic also utilizes a technology platform based on its patented and C1 fungus (the C1 Platform Technology), which enables the development and manufacture of proteins and enzymes for diverse market opportunities. The C1 Platform Technology can also be used to screen for the discovery of novel genes and proteins. The C1 Platf! orm Technology also has the potential of developing and producing other biological products such as antibodies, vaccines, proteins and polypeptides for the biopharmaceutical industry.

Top Biotech Stocks To Own Right Now: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated(VRTX)

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated engages in discovering, developing, manufacturing, and commercializing small molecule drugs for the treatment of serious diseases worldwide. Its products include telaprevir, a prescription medicine used for the treatment of patients with genotype 1 hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection; and Ivacaftor, a prescription medicine used for the treatment of cystic fibrosis. The company markets its products under the INCIVEK brand name in the United States and Canada; INCIVO brand in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden, Austria, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, and Norway; KALYDECO brand in the United States; and TELAVIC brand in Japan. Its drug candidates comprise VX-222, a Phase II clinical trial drug candidate, and ALS-2200 and ALS-2158, a Phase I clinical trial drug candidates that are designed to inhibit the replication of HCV; VX-809 and VX-661, a Phase II clinical trial drug candidates that improve the function of defective cystic fibro sis; VX-509, a Phase II clinical trial drug candidate for the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases; VX-765, a Phase II clinical trial drug for the treatment of epilepsy; and VX-787, an investigational drug candidate for the treatment of influenza A. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sue Chang and Saumya Vaishampayan]

  Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) �shares gained 3.9%. Geoff Meacham, an analyst at J.P. Morgan, said last week that he rates the drug maker�� stock at overweight due to opportunities for the company in the cystic fibrosis area.

• [By Northwest Trader]

  That was the case until Vertex's (VRTX) successful launch of VX-770 (Kalydeco) in January of 2012.

  Kalydeco (Ivacaftor) addresses the G551D mutation via CFTR modulation (potentiator), and is an orphan drug with a steep price tag of $294,000 per year. As CF is a chronic disease, this represents a potential gross revenue of roughly 340 million dollars per year.

• [By Brian Orelli]

  Analyzing Johnson & Johnson's underlying business isn't as black and white, but Johnson & Johnson stock sure looks like it's on a comeback thanks to a recovering over-the-counter business and solid growth from new drugs, including hepatitis C drug Incivo, which the health-care giant sells abroad for Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX  ) ; Johnson & Johnson's sales of Incivo, which goes by the name Incivek stateside, were up 17% quarter over quarter. Vertex will get a piece of the $162 million sales in the form of a royalty.

• [By Brian Orelli]

  As for new drugs, watch Incivo, which Johnson & Johnson sells abroad for�Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX  ) . While U.S. sales of Vertex's hepatitis C drug -- called Incivek stateside -- have slumped as patients wait for newer medications, sales outside the U.S. continue to increase, benefiting both Johnson & Johnson and Vertex, which receives a royalty on sales.

Top Biotech Stocks To Own Right Now: Pharmacyclics Inc (PCYC)

Pharmacyclics, Inc., incorporated on April 19, 1991, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing small-molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer and immune mediated diseases. The Company's clinical development and product candidates are small-molecule enzyme inhibitors designed to target biochemical pathways involved in human diseases. As of June 30, 2011, it had three drug candidates under clinical development and a number of preclinical lead molecules. This includes an inhibitor of Bruton�� tyrosine kinase (Btk) (PCI-32765) in Phase II studies in hematologic malignancies; a Btk inhibitor lead optimization program targeting autoimmune indications, an inhibitor of Factor VIIa (PCI-27483) in a Phase II clinical trial in pancreatic cancer, and a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor (PCI-24781) in Phase I and II clinical trials in solid tumors and hematological malignancies as of June 30, 2012.

As of June 30, 2012, the Company developed ibrutinib, which has demonstrated clinical activity and tolerability in Phase I and Phase II clinical trials in a variety of B-cell malignancies, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and a number of non-Hodgkin�� lymphoma (NHL) subtypes. CLL, mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), follicular lymphoma (FL), diffuse B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and multiple myeloma (MM) are specific indications of its current or planned Phase Ib/II and Phase III development program. had development programs for B-cell malignancies and autoimmune diseases. For malignant indications it has developed PCI-32765, which has demonstrated clinical activity and tolerability in Phase I and Phase II clinical trials in a range of B-cell malignancies, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and a number of non-Hodgkin�� lymphoma (NHL) subtypes. CLL, mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), follicular lymphoma (FL), diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and multiple myeloma (MM) are specific indications of its Phase II development. It has developed an assay! to measure occupancy of Btk in PBMCs using a cell-permeable fluorescently-labeled derivative of PCI-32765.

Factor VII is an enzyme that becomes activated (FVIIa) by binding to the cell surface protein tissue factor (TF), a protein found in the body that helps to trigger the process of blood clotting in response to injury. TF is over expressed in many cancers including gastric, breast, colon, lung, prostate, ovarian and pancreatic cancers. In these tumors, the FVIIa/TF complex induces intracellular signaling pathways by activating protease activated receptor 2 (PAR-2), another cell-surface protein. This in turn increases the expression of interleukin-8 (IL-8), a protein produced by white blood cells and other immune cells in response to pathogenic stimulation, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a signal protein produced by cells that stimulate the growth of blood vessels. Both proteins play an important role in tumor growth and metastases as well as angiogenesis (growth of new blood vessels). FVIIa/TF complex also initiates the coagulation (a process by which blood forms clots) processes implicated in the high incidence of thromboembolic (the process by which the blood clots within a blood vessel) complications seen in patients with TF-expressing cancers. Thromboembolic events are a cause of death in patients with cancer and anticoagulant treatment has been shown to improve survival in a variety of cancers (Klerk et al. JCO. 2005).

PCI-27483 Factor VIIa Inhibitor

The Company�� Factor VIIa inhibitor PCI-27483 is a first-in-human small molecule inhibitor that selectively targets FVIIa. As an inhibitor of FVIIa, PCI-27483 has two potential mechanisms of action: inhibition of intracellular signaling involved in tumor growth and metastases and inhibition of early coagulation processes associated with thromboembolism.

Factor VIIa PCI-27483 Clinical Development Update

A multicenter Phase I/II of PCI-27483 in patients with locally a! dvanced o! r metastatic pancreatic cancer that are either receiving or are planned to receive gemcitabine therapy has completed enrollment. The Phase II portion of the study randomized patients to receive either gemcitabine alone or gemcitabine plus PCI-27483 (1.2 mg/kg twice daily). The objectives are to assess the safety of FVIIa Inhibitor PCI-27483 at pharmacologically active dose levels, to assess potential inhibition of tumor progression and to obtain initial information of the effects on the incidence of thromboembolic events. Due to a paradigm shift away from the use of gemcitabine alone for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, enrolling patients in this randomized study has been challenging. PCYC is evaluating other alternatives for development of this agent.

A multicenter Phase I/II of PCI-27483 in patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer that are either receiving or are planned to receive gemcitabine therapy has completed enrollment. The Phase II portion of the study randomized patients to receive either gemcitabine alone or gemcitabine plus PCI-27483 (1.2 mg/kg twice daily). PCI-27483 is covered by United States patents and patent applications and counterpart patents and patent applications in fourteen ex-United States territories, including Europe, Canada, Mexico, Japan, China, India, South Korea, Australia and Brazil.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  We've witnessed first-hand what a crapshoot the space can be. Four years ago,�Pharmacyclics (NASDAQ: PCYC  ) looked like just another biotechnology company that was going to waste away into nothing with its share price trading for less than $1. In the years since, it's forged nearly a $1 billion licensing partnership with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ  ) for its relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia drug hopeful, Ibrutinib, and delivered some of the strongest overall response rates ever witnessed in trials for these two diseases. Shares of Pharmacyclics closed yesterday above $80 per share.

• [By Sean Williams]

  What's perhaps more remarkable is the fact that Pharmacyclics (NASDAQ: PCYC  ) has three of those 23 approved breakthrough therapy designations for its lead experimental drug, ibrutinib. Ibrutinib, which is also licensed to Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ  ) subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, was designated as a breakthrough therapy for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, mantle cell lymphoma, and Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia. The big potential indication here is CLL, which is the most common adulthood leukemia and occurs in 113,000 people in the U.S. By comparison, MCL diagnoses number about 5,000 each year.

• [By Keith Speights]

  Last year, Pharmacyclics (NASDAQ: PCYC  ) shares gained a whopping 280%. That was enough to land the biotech a spot on The Motley Fool's list of top health-care stocks in 2012. How is 2013 looking so far? Shares have gained more than 30% year to date but have been anemic since early March.

• [By Maxx Chatsko]

  The astounding rise of Pharmacyclics (NASDAQ: PCYC  ) through the markets has been largely based on its BTK inhibitor ibrutinib, which is being evaluated in four types of blood cancers and in a preclinical study for autoimmune indications. The rise is no fluke, either. Ibrutinib has shown very promising results in two phase 2 trials as a monotherapy and will soon be moved to phase 3 trials for both. With billions of dollars between the lymphoma and autoimmune markets up for grabs, it is easy to see why shares have risen 2,000% since the company acquired its lead drug candidate in 2006. Can Celgene tap into this multibillion opportunity with CC-292? Ask me again in about five years.�