My family and friends know that I like to take small bets almost on any topic. They also know that I win most of them. I did lose big one with one of my colleague on Hillary vs Trump (no one would have imagined Trump would win except may be few folks like my colleague Arun). I ended up buying lunch for my colleagues for losing the bet. Investing is somewhat like betting. Depending on analysis and confidence, one is really making bets on companies doing well (or not) and investing (aka making bets) on stock prices going up (or down). Markets being at all time high, one must be wondering: Are there any sectors which are still worth making bets? Based on my analysis there are still opportunities in three of my favorite sectors - Biotech, Energy and Technology. In today's world of acronyms like FANG, I decided to call these as "BET". Let's look at why these three sectors?
Biotech: Two years back our family went thru experience on cancer. Since then, I have been doing quite a bit of reading on biotech field. I am reading The Emperor of All Maladies as well as follow various trials and FDA submissions. This field is really on cusp on major break thru for treatments for many fatal and rare diseases as well a finally some kind of cure for cancer. Last week Barrons even had cover-story on Gene Therapy With phase 3 trails for CAR-T, Gene Editing, Personalized medicines, world of cure is going to significantly change in 10 years. And biotech companies are leading the way. On investing side, this field is really brimming with activities with startups, big biotech companies as well pharma companies trying to transform into biotech companies (e.g Gilead buying Kite for $12B). Trial results and FDA decisions being "binary" event, one needs to be really brave, knowledgeable and lucky to make investing decisions. With this backdrop, here are my picks. Biotech ETF (IBB $330), Biogen (BIIB $320), Zogenix (ZGNX $38), Newline (NLNK $10), Regenxbio (RGNX $32). Most of these are extremely risky so best way to get exposure to biotech would be thru ETF (IBB)
Energy: With oil finally settling up above $50, I still stand behind my hypothesis that Energy stocks would have repeat of 2H of 2016 as I covered in my previous blog "It's time to get some Energy" So to avoid repeating myself, just check out my previous blog.
Technology: Outside of FANG, there is vast world of technology. So while FANG stocks are up significantly, there are still opportunities to grab. Personally I like small to mid-cap tech companies which are on upswing. With tax reforms almost here, tech companies are going to significantly benefit from worldwide economic growth as well as favorable repatriation rates. With trillions coming back to US, big tech companies would be on acquisition spree in next 2 years. Whom they are going to acquire? small to mid-cap companies to close portfolio gaps. Here are some picks: Nutanix (NTNX $22), AMD (AMD $13), Blackberry (BB from Oct 16, $10-11), FireEye (FEYE $17), Cloudera (CLDR $16), ServiceNow (NOW $100). With semiconductors back in action, SMH ($90) could be worth a look.
October is always tricky month - there are always surprises in Oct like political, economical as well as investing world. So to avoid getting caught in these surprises, I would recommend let the third quarter earnings season play out. It would give good indication on how companies in all three sectors have performed in Q3 and confidence level their CEOs are projecting, Then decide to do your own analysis and invest. Just don't "bet" based on my analysis!
It's also time to celebrate Holidays - starting with Diwali all the way to New Year! So enjoy the holidays with your family and friends!
Biotech: Two years back our family went thru experience on cancer. Since then, I have been doing quite a bit of reading on biotech field. I am reading The Emperor of All Maladies as well as follow various trials and FDA submissions. This field is really on cusp on major break thru for treatments for many fatal and rare diseases as well a finally some kind of cure for cancer. Last week Barrons even had cover-story on Gene Therapy With phase 3 trails for CAR-T, Gene Editing, Personalized medicines, world of cure is going to significantly change in 10 years. And biotech companies are leading the way. On investing side, this field is really brimming with activities with startups, big biotech companies as well pharma companies trying to transform into biotech companies (e.g Gilead buying Kite for $12B). Trial results and FDA decisions being "binary" event, one needs to be really brave, knowledgeable and lucky to make investing decisions. With this backdrop, here are my picks. Biotech ETF (IBB $330), Biogen (BIIB $320), Zogenix (ZGNX $38), Newline (NLNK $10), Regenxbio (RGNX $32). Most of these are extremely risky so best way to get exposure to biotech would be thru ETF (IBB)
Energy: With oil finally settling up above $50, I still stand behind my hypothesis that Energy stocks would have repeat of 2H of 2016 as I covered in my previous blog "It's time to get some Energy" So to avoid repeating myself, just check out my previous blog.
Technology: Outside of FANG, there is vast world of technology. So while FANG stocks are up significantly, there are still opportunities to grab. Personally I like small to mid-cap tech companies which are on upswing. With tax reforms almost here, tech companies are going to significantly benefit from worldwide economic growth as well as favorable repatriation rates. With trillions coming back to US, big tech companies would be on acquisition spree in next 2 years. Whom they are going to acquire? small to mid-cap companies to close portfolio gaps. Here are some picks: Nutanix (NTNX $22), AMD (AMD $13), Blackberry (BB from Oct 16, $10-11), FireEye (FEYE $17), Cloudera (CLDR $16), ServiceNow (NOW $100). With semiconductors back in action, SMH ($90) could be worth a look.
October is always tricky month - there are always surprises in Oct like political, economical as well as investing world. So to avoid getting caught in these surprises, I would recommend let the third quarter earnings season play out. It would give good indication on how companies in all three sectors have performed in Q3 and confidence level their CEOs are projecting, Then decide to do your own analysis and invest. Just don't "bet" based on my analysis!
It's also time to celebrate Holidays - starting with Diwali all the way to New Year! So enjoy the holidays with your family and friends!
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