WEALTH on WIRE

It will be interesting to analyse the stock picks from world’s greatest investors of all time. These four people who’ve proved they can make good money in stocks even in difficult times. And indeed, some were more upbeat after the market’s ugly summer tumbles than they were before it—after all, their favorite stocks were cheaper.

The Four Top Investors are:

• Warren Buffett, CEO of CEO, Berkshire Hathaway
• Thyra Zerhusen, Chief Investment Officer, Optimum Investment Advisors
• David Herro, Portfolio Co-Manager, Oakmark International Fund
• Susan Byrne, Chief Investment Officer, Westwood Holdings

Warren Buffett is World’s Greatest Investor who has proved he can make good money in stocks even in difficult times. He is investing through is investment company Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett’s 44-year investment record at the helm of Berkshire is the stuff of legend. The 20 percent–a–year increase in the company’s book value per share—the company’s assets minus its liabilities—is more than double the S&P 500’s 9.3 percent return over the same stretch. This month Buffett celebrates 80 years on this planet.

 Buffett is usually eager to buy American brands like General Electric (NYSE: GE), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) for his investment portfolio—but when the price is right elsewhere, he’ll change direction. And as it turns out, he’s just as willing to make over his company as he is his wardrobe.

Recently Buffett successfully managed the groundbreaking $26.3 billion acquisition of Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI). To help raise money for the purchase, Berkshire sold shares of long-held names like Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) and Kraft (NYSE: KFT). And other signs have recently emerged that Buffett is less inclined to play the market: At his 2010 annual shareholder’s meeting, Buffett and his longtime partner Charlie Munger floated the possibility of paying a dividend, a previously sacrilegious idea that would further shrink Berkshire’s pool of investable money.

Here is Buffett’s Top Stock Picks.

Buffett has sold shares of some of his favorite names over the past year, but he’s quietly bought these companies’ stock.

Republic Services (NYSE: RSG)
Fast-growing waste-management company also pays a healthy dividend.

Becton Dickinson (NYSE: BDX)
Uncertainty about health care reform made shares of this medical-device maker look cheap.

Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM)
Information-management firm is benefiting from fears about cyber-snooping.

Tesco (Other OTC: TSCDY.PK)
UK-based 4,800-store chain has been adept at adapting to local markets worldwide—including, since 2007, in the U.S.

Cell Therapeutics (CTIC.O) suffered a setback on Monday as a U.S. advisory panel said the company had not collected enough data to win clearance for an experimental lymphoma drug.

Today was the doom day for may CTIC  investors.  Two decade old company had half a billion market capitalization a few days back.  

Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration, in a 9-0 vote, said the company’s single trial of pixantrone was inadequate to back marketing approval.

“I don’t see this as being a well-designed or well-executed study,” said Dr. Wyndham Wilson, a panel member and a lymphoma specialist at the National Cancer Institute.

Shares of Cell Therapeutics lost 44 cents, or 48 percent, to close at 47 cents Monday. Trading had been halted until the early afternoon. The stock has ranged between 11 cents and $2.23 over the last year. Shares had been halted ahead of the panel vote.

The panel decision makes it unlikely the FDA will approve pixantrone without additional data. The agency usually follows panel recommendations, and FDA scientists who spoke to the committee also were critical of the company’s study.

Cell Therapeutics wants to sell pixantrone under the name Pixuvri for treating non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that has stopped responding to other treatments. The blood cancer affects about 66,000 Americans annually.

The company said pixantrone offered an effective therapy for patients whose cancer worsened after at least two prior chemotherapy regimens. Patients at that stage have no approved treatments and often live less than six months.

In the Cell Therapeutics study of 140 patients, 20 percent had a major decrease in their disease if they got pixantrone, compared to about 6 percent with a different medicine.

“It is clear to me pixantrone provides an important benefit in these very poor prognosis patients,” said Dr. John Leonard, a cancer specialist at Weill Cornell Cancer Center and a Cell Therapeutics consultant.

But FDA reviewers questioned the company’s conclusions. They said the study tested less than half the number of people originally planned and included just eight U.S. patients. The agency also said heart damage and decreased white blood cells were more common with pixantrone versus other cancer drugs.

Despite their concerns, several panel members said they saw signs the drug could be helpful and urged additional study.

“This drug has some activity. I don’t think anybody on this committee would debate that point. The population enrolled in this study, however, doesn’t reflect the U.S. population of lymphoma patients,” said Dr. Mikkael Sekeres, an oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic.

In a statement after the panel vote, Cell Therapeutics Chief Executive James Bianco said the company was “committed to working closely with the FDA to address the committee’s comments as quickly as we can.”

“We continue to believe that pixantrone should be considered as a treatment option for patients” with aggressive NHL, he said.

The FDA is scheduled to make a decision on the drug by April 23. Swiss drugmaker Novartis (NOVN.VX) has an option for a worldwide license to develop and sell the drug.

While credit cards and debit cards may look almost identical, not all plastic is the same. Debit cards have different protections and uses.

It’s important to understand the difference between a debit card and a credit card. There’s a difference in how the transactions are processed and the protections offered to consumers when they use them.

While debit cards and credit cards each have advantages, each is also better suited to certain situations. And since a debit card is a direct line to your bank account, there are places where it can be wise to avoid handing it over — if for no other reason than complete peace of mind. 

Credit card offers better dispute rights, buyers protection, renters insurance etc..  So it sounds good to use credit card for large purchase of electronics goods and renting a car.

Criminals are getting better with skimmers and planting them in places you’d never suspect — like ATM machines on bank property. So take a good look at the machine or card reader the next time you use an ATM or self-check lane. Does the machine fit together well or does something look off, different or like it doesn’t quite belong?  “Make sure it doesn’t look like it’s been tampered with.”

Let us look at the years Top Biotech Stocks.  In 2010, small and mid caps along with some selected large caps should perform better. Overall sentiment towards stock market and particularly biotech remains negative, which could create an attractive entry point. We think 2010 will be a year when performance is event-driven, not earnings-driven.  Small and mid caps should continue to lead innovation in the sector, which could spark M&A activity and a favorable deal environment.

Pharma companies at the 2009 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference cited a willingness to do ‘more deals and bigger deals’.  This will hopefully give the required stimulus for the Biotech sector.  J.P. Morgan has released a list of Biotech stocks with “high strategic value” in 2010.

1. Acorda Therapeutics(ACOR)
2. AMAG Pharmaceuticals(AMAG)
3. OSI Pharmaceuticals(OSIP)
4. Medivation(MDVN)
5. United Therapeutics(UTHR)
6. Vertex Pharmaceuticals(VRTX)
7. Human Genome Sciences(HGSI)
8. Seattle Genetics(SGEN)
9. Savient Pharmaceuticals(SVNT)

Lehman Brothers also issued its 2010 biotech forecast “Opportunities for the U.S. biotechnology group are selective and we tend to prefer small-mid cap stocks over large-cap stocks overall”.  Their list includes:

1. Amylin Pharmaceuticals(AMLN)
2. Cephalon(CEPH)
3. Human Genome Sciences
4. Onyx Pharmaceuticals(ONXX)
5. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals(REGN)

New FDA date for reviewing pixantrone of Cell Therapeutics is March 22.  The earlier scheduled meeting was cancelled due to severe winter weather in February.

In advance of the postponed advisory panel meeting, the FDA issued a critical review of pixantrone, highlighting numerous concerns about pixantrone’s safety and efficacy.

Shares of Cell Therapeutics were down 10% to 60 cents Monday after auditors attached a “going concern” letter to the company’s 10-K annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday.  For the investor, if the drug works and gets approval, auditors concern doesn’t matter.  But what if the drug fails to get an approval?

Other drug of Opaxio as a treatment for lung cancer is irrelevant as better alternatives are already in the market.  So  Pixantrone approval is very critical to the company. 

Cell Therapeutics’ total share count reached more than 615 million at the end of January, compared to 296 million shares at the end of January 2009, according to SEC filings.  Whereas, in 2009, the top five Cell Therapeutics executives earned $32 million in total compensation, most of which came in the form of company stock awards.  A classic case of Executives feasting on investors money.

For the melanoma patients who signed on to try a drug known as PLX4032, the clinical trial was a last resort. Their bodies were riddled with tumours, leaving them almost certainly just months to live.

But a few weeks after taking their first dose, nearly all of them began to recover.

Lee Reyes (30) of California, who had begun using a feeding tube because of a growth pressing against his throat, bit into a cinnamon roll. Randy Williams, 46, who drove 600 miles from his home in Arkansas to the M D Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for the experimental drug, rolled out of bed. “Something’s working,” he thought, “because nothing’s hurting.

It was a sweet moment, in autumn 2008, for Dr Keith Flaherty, the University of Pennsylvania oncologist leading the drug’s first clinical trial. A new kind of cancer therapy, it was tailored to a particular genetic mutation that was driving the disease, and after six years of disappointments, his faith in the promise of such a targeted approach finally seemed borne out. His collaborators at five other major cancer centres, melanoma clinicians who had tested dozens of potential therapies for their patients with no success, were equally elated.

In a kind of pinch-me exercise, the six doctors sent one another before and after CT scans of their patients.
The trial of PLX4032 offers a glimpse at how doctors, patients and drug developers navigate a medical frontier as more drugs tailored to the genetic profile of a cancer are being widely tested on humans for the first time.

Throughout the fall, the only two patients on the trial whose tumours continued to grow were the ones who did not have the particular gene mutation for which the drug had been designed. They were removed from the trial. By late December, tumours in the 11 patients who did have the mutation had shrunk. Those involved in the trial held their collective breath waiting to see how long the remissions would last.

One of them was Mark Bunting, 52, an airline pilot from Utah. His initial scan in early October showed the cancer in his bones, an incursion considered virtually impossible to reverse. After two months on the drug, it had all but disappeared. From New York, Paul B Chapman of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, perhaps the most determined sceptic of the group, acknowledged, “This looks impressive.”

It was a far cry from where they had been a year earlier, when a previous incarnation of the drug had no effect. Urged on by Flaherty and Chapman, the companies that owned it had spent months devising a new formulation that could be absorbed at higher doses.

But the new drug, still in the earliest phase of testing, had to pass several more hurdles before federal regulators would determine whether it was safe and effective enough for widespread use.

In December, as the doctors added more patients to the Phase 1 trial, looking for the highest dose they could give without intolerable side effects, they scrambled to prepare slides with graphs and statistics to convince the Food and Drug Administration that the drug should be tested in a larger Phase 2 trial. The agency required a summary of any and all side-effects there had been only a few and any deaths of patients on the study; thankfully, there had been none since the drug was reformulated. In a matter of days they needed to submit their findings for a prestigious meeting of clinical oncologists in June.

Which insiders are selling and buying chunks of stocks? While trading penny stocks, insider open market trading is one of the best way to judge the stock movements.  

Below are lists of the top 10 open-market insider purchases and sales filed at the Securities and Exchange Commission in January 2010,  as ranked by dollar value. Company executives and directors are in the best position to assess the attractiveness of their firms’ shares, and here is how many of them are voting their wallets! Please note, however, that these are factual lists, not buy and sell recommendations. Dollar value is only one metric to assess the importance of an insider transaction.

SpongeTech® Delivery Systems, Inc. (OTC: SPNG – News) is pleased to announce a new soap-infused sponge designed for cleaning all marine surfaces and water crafts. The new “Marine Wash & Wax System” comes with one infused wash and wax sponge, one detail sponge, and one Eliminator™ chamois. The sponges are manufactured with the same patented technology used in SpongeTech’s innovative reusable cleaning products. They are embedded with specially formulated antibacterial soap and wax which dispenses only when wet and squeezed with the ability to wash and wax boats and water crafts multiple times. SpongeTech’s “delivery system” technology also inhibits the growth of germs and/or bacteria within the sponge.

The Marine Detail Sponge removes scuff and dock marks; polishes propellers; and removes dirt, scum, grease, oil, fish blood and salt residue, all while being safe for use on water crafts, fish finders, and GPS systems. The system also comes with an “Eliminator™ Chamois” which holds 8 times its weight in water and dries each vessel to a high shine.

SpongeTech’s COO Steven Moskowitz commented, “The marine products add significant value to our already popular product lines. We believe this is just what the marine industry needs to help keep boats and water crafts cleaner with an affordable multi-use product.”

The Marine Wash & Wax System is available to purchase online and is expected in retail locations this year.

SpongeTech® Delivery Systems is a company which designs, produces, and markets unique lines of reusable cleaning products for Car Care, Child Care, Home Care and Pet Care usages. These sponge-like products utilize SpongeTech’s proprietary, patent (and patent-pending) technologies and other technologies involving hydrophilic (liquid absorbing) foam, polyurethane matrices or other ingredients. The Company’s sponge-like products are pre-loaded with specially formulated ingredients such as soap, conditioner and/or wax that are released when the sponge is soaked and applied to a surface with minimal pressure. SpongeTech is currently exploring additional applications for its technology in the health, beauty, and medical markets. SpongeTech® Delivery Systems, Inc. intends to globally brand its products as The Smarter Sponge™.

Cord Blood America, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: CBAI), the umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation company (http://www.cordblood-america.com ) focused on bringing the life saving potential of stem cells, a biological insurance policy, to families nationwide and internationally, announced today that the Grand Opening of its Las Vegas corporate office and laboratory, beginning at Noon to 5 p.m. on Friday, January 22, 2010, will occur whether it rains or the sun shines.

“We anticipate nice weather and look forward to meeting all our investors. But even if Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate, our Grand Opening will go on,” said Matthew Schissler, co-founder and CEO. The facility is at 1857 Helm Drive, Las Vegas 89119, near the city’s airport in the Spencer Airport Business Park.