There’s a drama unfolding in the health care field that is as dramatic as the daytime soap operas. Lots of “he said, she said” has been tossed around, and just to add a little spice, a “bete noire” has also appeared on the scene to cause trouble. If this drama plays out a certain way, then shareholders of one or two of the companies involved may see a big windfall. The drama began back in 2006 when little-known Pharmathene (NYSE: PIP) sued Siga Technologies (Nasdaq: SIGA) for damages stemming from a broken business deal. Pharmathene had loaned… Read More

There’s a drama unfolding in the health care field that is as dramatic as the daytime soap operas. Lots of “he said, she said” has been tossed around, and just to add a little spice, a “bete noire” has also appeared on the scene to cause trouble. If this drama plays out a certain way, then shareholders of one or two of the companies involved may see a big windfall. The drama began back in 2006 when little-known Pharmathene (NYSE: PIP) sued Siga Technologies (Nasdaq: SIGA) for damages stemming from a broken business deal. Pharmathene had loaned Siga money to fund research into a vaccination against smallpox. The loan was presumed to be an interim step before the two firms eventually merged. At a minimum, Pharmathene hoped to at least be granted rights to Siga’s drug, known as ST-246. The two firms had even drawn up documents that appear to imply a merger discussion was the eventual expected result. Siga appeared to eventually lose interest in any deal, figuring that it no longer needed Pharmathene’s stronger balance sheet to help fund the… Read More

In the last two weeks of May, short sellers boosted their bets on many companies. They hold a dim view for stocks in general during the coming months, as evidenced by the fact that short interest in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPY) and the iShares Russell… Read More

#-ad_banner-#When shares of recent initial public offering (IPO) Boingo Wireless (Nasdaq: WIFI) surged more than 20% on June 13, investors shouldn’t have been so surprised. After all, that was the day analysts were allowed to comment on the stock — the end of the 25-day “… Read More

Active trading is a risky endeavor.  To stay one step ahead of the pack, active investors need to continually monitor existing stock holdings while also researching new investment ideas. It takes a lot of time, and for many, simply parking money into an index… Read More

In the fall of 2008, the global economy headed into freefall, helping to push the stock market down to such an extent that a second Great Depression appeared quite possible. Few would have guessed the global economy would be on the… Read More

If you had a spare $300 billion lying around, then you could acquire Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK). Good thing you resisted the urge to do so back in 2000. Back then, it would have cost you nearly $1.2 trillion to buy the three tech giants. Who has that kind of money lying around? Microsoft looks like the relative hero of this group, having only fallen 55% since the end of the dot-com boom. Cisco has lost more than 80% of its value and Nokia nearly 90%. But if every dog… Read More

If you had a spare $300 billion lying around, then you could acquire Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK). Good thing you resisted the urge to do so back in 2000. Back then, it would have cost you nearly $1.2 trillion to buy the three tech giants. Who has that kind of money lying around? Microsoft looks like the relative hero of this group, having only fallen 55% since the end of the dot-com boom. Cisco has lost more than 80% of its value and Nokia nearly 90%. But if every dog has its day, then which of these dogs can regain some of the former luster? #-ad_banner-#Nokia and Microsoft: permanent casualties of Apple? Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) stunning growth (its market value has risen from $5 billion in 2003 to a recent $300 billion) has come at the expense of so many other tech companies, though perhaps none have felt the pain as much as Microsoft and Nokia, which were themselves once a favorite brand of tech consumers. These days, the two humbled giants are working together in hopes that their… Read More

There is a current raging debate about the merits of government support for Big Oil compared with support for clean-energy technologies such as wind and solar power. The clean-energy crowd is adjusting to a world of fewer government subsidies, but these “green” advocates insist that wind, solar and other technologies… Read More

It’s an open secret that Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) can’t seem to find meaningful growth opportunities. The massive retailer’s sales grew just 1% in fiscal (January) 2010, 3% in fiscal 2011 and will be hard-pressed to grow much more in fiscal 2011 and 2012. Tepid growth explains why shares have… Read More

In this current tough stock market, it pays to play defense with value-oriented stocks. But you should always make sure you have exposure to the more dynamic investment opportunities as well by holding at least a few names that carry major upside potential. Taking this approach, I… Read More

Even as the broader stock market shows signs of a clear pullback, some of the hottest stocks in the market remain near their 52-week highs — and they still carry very high valuations to boot. But if history is any guide, then these are now among the most vulnerable stocks in the market. Any further big drops in the broader market could prove especially painful for these highflyers. Richly-valued stocks can stay aloft at the beginning of a big market pullback, but as we saw in 2001 and again in 2008, they eventually can suffer massive corrections… Read More

Even as the broader stock market shows signs of a clear pullback, some of the hottest stocks in the market remain near their 52-week highs — and they still carry very high valuations to boot. But if history is any guide, then these are now among the most vulnerable stocks in the market. Any further big drops in the broader market could prove especially painful for these highflyers. Richly-valued stocks can stay aloft at the beginning of a big market pullback, but as we saw in 2001 and again in 2008, they eventually can suffer massive corrections as investors shift to defense and start to focus on value instead of growth. If you own highflying names like Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) or VMWare (NYSE: VMW), for example, then you need to seriously reconsider just how vulnerable stocks like these can be.   Salesforce.com As the economy emerged from the recession of 2008, this provider of customer-management software became a key focus area for investment technology (IT) managers. Sales grew 21% in fiscal (January) 2010 and another 27% in fiscal 2011. Look for similar results in the current… Read More