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Market Folly submits:Given our focus on following hedge fund movements, we thought it would be prudent to post up Goldman Sachs' VIP list. The 'VIP' stands for 'Very Important Positions' for hedge funds that employ fundamental strategies rather than technical or trading. In essence, these are the 50 stocks that most frequently appear among the top ten holdings of hedge funds. In our hedge fund portfolio tracking series you may have noticed various stocks popping up over and over again in Goldman's top 10 holdings. This is simply an aggregation of a larger set of data and stems from our previous coverage of the top ten hedgie holdings.This basket of stocks returned 40% in 2009 versus 27% for the S&P 500. Goldman also notes that this list has,Complete Story »

ChinaBio Today submits: Three of big pharma’s biggest companies, Merck (NYSE: MRK), Lilly (NYSE: LLY) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), have banded together to create an Asian not-for-profit company that will construct a pharmacogenomic cancer database in Singapore (see story). The database will compile its information using 2,000 tissue samples from patients with lung and gastric cancer. The information will be made available to researchers with the goal of developing new treatments for gastric and lung cancers, which are prevalent in Asia. China's Ministry of Finance (MoF) announced Friday that the central government had authorized the spending of 37 billion RMB ($5.5 billion) as part of its larger 850 billion RMB healthcare reform, announced last year (see story). The new money will help give medical care access to lower-income citizens. Complete Story »

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (TEVA)
Q4 2009 Earnings Call Transcript
February 16, 2010 8:30 am ETComplete Story »

Don Dion submits:
The iShares MSCI Israel Capped Index Fund (EIS) is designed to give investors access to the total Israeli market, but it is heavily influenced by its top holding, Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA), which accounts for over 22% of the fund’s total portfolio.While having such a large slice devoted to a single firm makes a fund riskier, TEVA’s optimistic outlook for the future may actually strengthen the case for holding EIS.Complete Story »

Joseph Krueger submits: At the 28th annual JP Morgan Healthcare conference, which ran from January 11- January 14th 2010, there were more than 300 companies represented, making their presentations to more than 6000 public and private equity and venture capital investors.Leading up to the conference and early last week there was bullish movement in many companies presenting at the conference. Many of the many of the larger companies like Amgen (AMGN), Genzyme (GENZ), Biogen (BIIB), Celgene (CELG), Gilead Sciences (GILD), TEVA Pharmaceuticals TEVA), Watson Pharmaceuticals (WPI) and OSI Pharmaceuticals (OSIP) previewed 2009 earnings during the conference.Complete Story »

ETF Database submits: As a country with virtually no natural resources that is surrounded by hostile neighbors, Israel’s path from an emerging market to first world status mirrored to some extent that of Singapore, embracing innovation and technological know-how in order to propel itself to developed status. This model has served the small country of just over seven million people remarkably well over the years and especially well in the face of the recent global economic slowdown. In fact, Israel has resiliently plowed through the Great Recession and its GDP is projected to grow at a 3.5% rate for 2010. With a bright future outlook, many investors seeking to diversify developed market exposure to a technology-driven, market economy are taking a close look at the Israel ETF.Diversified EconomyComplete Story »

Hao Jin submits:Forbes’s Fundamental Opportunity Index is based on the idea of value investing: buying underpriced, fundamentally sound stocks. Many people believe that emerging markets, which were up more than 70% in 2009, are likely to pull back, or at least take a breather in 2010. Nonetheless, there are still opportunities in those markets.The most popular ETF to provide emerging markets diversification is iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (EEM), which provides investment results that correspond to publicly traded securities in emerging markets.GDP vs. Market CapEEM weights countries based on their market capitalization rather than GDP. The following chart shows its top 10 countries breakdown:click to enlargeAs you can see from the BRIC countries GDP chart below, China accounts for 7.1% of world GDP, much higher than Brazil’s 2.6%. However, its share in EEM is smaller than Brazil's.Top 5 Countries within EEMCountry ETFs are another great way to find undervalued opportunities. Following are the top 5 countries and their ETFs within EEM:Fund (Symbol)AssetsP/EMSCI Brazil Index Fund (EWZ)$11.4B25.3MSCI South Korea Index Fund (EWY)$3.1B18.2FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI)$10.3B24.8MSCI Taiwan Index Fund (EWT)$3.7B27.8MSCI South Africa Index Fund (EZA)$0.5B17.5 Over the past decade China has spent massively on roads, bridges, ports and other infrastructure. Even though China's infrastructure is already superior to that of many other developing economies, it still continues to expand: now it focuses on high speed railroads and subways.Currency ETFsWhile the U.S. struggles with the effects of heavy stimulus spending and bailouts, investors could benefit from a weakening dollar by boosting their exposure to foreign currency. Followings are emerging market currency ETFs:FundSymbolCurrencyShares Mexican Peso TrustFXMCurrencyShares Russian Ruble TrustXRUWisdomTree Dreyfus Brazilian RealBZFWisdomTree Dreyfus Chinese YuanCYBWisdomTree Dreyfus Emerging CurrencyCEWWisdomTree Dreyfus Indian RupeeICNWisdomTree Dreyfus South African RandSZRTop 15 Holdings inside EEMFollowings are EEM’s top 15 stocks (by % of assets) traded on US exchanges:Name (Symbol)Sector% Net AssetsForward P/EMarket CapPETROLEO BRASILEIRO (PBR)Energy2.814.4212.6bTAIWAN SEMICOND ADS (TSM)IT2.715.657.50BITAU UNIBANCO ADS (ITUB)Financials2.714.0103.01BPOSCO (PKX)Materials2.413.941.84BCHINA MOBILE LIMITED (CHL)Telecom1.811.8192.59BHDFC BANK LTD (HDB)Financials1.824.219.44BBANCO BRADESCO ADS (BBD)Financials1.812.866.70BKB FINL GP INC (KB)Financials1.817.117.25BVALE S.A. ADS (VALE)Materials1.718.3164.10BCHUNGHWA TEL ADS (CHT)Telecom1.713.819.63BCHINA LIFE INS CO (LFC)Financials1.327.652.88BTEVA PHARMACEUTICAL (TEVA)Health Care1.313.152.28BUNITED MICROELECTRC (UMC)IT1.324.710.63BINFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES (INFY)IT1.324.731.1bAMERICA MOVIL, S.A.B (AMX)Telecom1.212.780.2BBased on Yahoo Finance's estimated EPS for the next year, the top 15 holdings’ average forward P/E is 17.2 (Note: PBR and CHL’s P/E is current P/E).EEMs’ biggest sector is Financial, which accounts for 25.4%. Energy is 15.3% and Materials is 14.9%. Emerging markets climbed in part because they tend to be heavily dependent on financials and materials companies, both of which benefited from government stimulus plans around the world.Short-sellers and hedge funds, though sometimes shadowy, are sometimes seen as the smartest guys in the room. They've done their homework and they'll bet their capital against the crowd. Other than UNITED MICROELECTRC (UMC), the stocks mentioned above don’t massive short ratios.ConclusionWarren Buffett has a clear strategy for making money. His first rule of investing is: don't lose money. With a current P/E of 23 and a forward P/E of 17, based on the average of EEM’s top 15 holdings, emerging markets overall are certainly not cheap. People buy into bubbles for various reasons: the desire to "get rich quick" or to seek comfort. If you can avoid it, the worst thing that happens is the market keeps rallying and you miss out on the bull market.However, investors (especially people near retirement) face two main financial concerns – longevity risk and inflation. In order to boost your overall returns, emerging markets should remain 10%-20% of your long term portfolio.The chart below shows that when EEM pulled back 10% in November 2009, heavy volume entered into the market and pushed shares back to current levels.Disclosure: I have long positions in EEM and CHL. Data is from iShares, Google and Yahoo Finance as of January 8, 2010.Complete Story »

Zacks.com submits:
n a move to expand its branded product offering, generic player Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) recently entered into a global license and collaboration agreement with OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OGXI). Teva and OncoGenex are collaborating for the development and commercialization of OncoGenex’ late stage pipeline candidate OGX-011 which is being studied for the treatment of different types of cancer. OGX-011 has been co-discovered with Isis Pharmaceuticals (ISIS) to inhibit cancer treatment resistance. The candidate is being developed for use as adjunct therapy to increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy. OGX-011 has completed phase II studies in prostate and lung cancer and is scheduled to enter into two phase III studies in 2010. Complete Story »

Mike Havrilla submits:Since I first wrote about my idea for a new generic drug exchange-traded fund (ETF) nearly two years ago, the global index of 80 stocks has been a strong performer as it catches up with the strong underlying fundamentals for the generic drug industry which are outlined below. 1.) approximately 70% of all prescriptions in the U.S. are filled with generic drugs; 2.) IMS Health estimates $135 billion in branded drug sales (including $90 billion in U.S.) will face generic competition / patent expiration over next five years (including blockbusters such as Lipitor and Plavix); 3.) IMS Health estimates $42 billion in global generic drug sales in 2011, representing growth from an expected $28 billion in global sales in 2009 and $17 billion in 2008; 4.) IMS Health estimates that the generic drug industry is growing at 7.8%, which is a faster pace than the worldwide market for pharmaceuticals; and 5.) the National Association of Chain Drug Stores estimates that in 2007 the average retail price of generic prescription drugs was $34.34 as compared to a much higher (over 3X) average price for brand name drugs at $119.51. The HavRx Global Generic Drug Index is passively managed and tracks the performance of companies which meet any of the following three requirements: 1.) Derive either $500 million (USD) OR more than 50% of trailing 12-month revenue from the manufacture and sale of any type of generic (off-patent) prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) drug product intended for use by humans, including contract manufacturing services, active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) suppliers, and intermediate product suppliers for drug products and biological agents; 2.) Have one or more compound(s) in active clinical development OR have a pending ANDA with the FDA for a generic drug candidate; and 3.) Receive FDA approval for an ANDA within the past 12 months. The index excludes all companies that derive over 50% of trailing 12-month revenue from the sale of patent-protected or legacy brand prescription or OTC drug products. Approximately 75% of the companies in the index are based outside of the U.S. (including many small / mid-cap stocks based in China and India), which strengthens the case for a Global Generic Drug ETF since it would provide average retail investors with a cost-efficient means to trade the entire industry in a single investment vehicle. The accompanying tables include statistics for a semi-active generic drug ETF that would be rebalanced on a quarterly basis and equally weighted among active components with a market cap of at least $200 million and three-month average daily trading volume of at least 30,000 shares, in addition to the 15 largest index components by market cap.click to enlargeAs of late November, 55 of the generic drug index component stocks met these requirements with an average stock price gain of approximately 95% over the past year and over 15% gain for the entire index in the past three months. Generic drug stocks have outpaced the overall healthcare sector and related ETFs, such as the PowerShares Dynamic Pharma (PJP), iShares DJ US Pharma (IHE), Pharma HOLDRs (PPH), S&P Pharma SPDR (XPH), Healthcare Sector SPDR (XLV), iShares Nasdaq Biotech (IBB), and SPDR S&P Biotech (XBI).A Global Generic Drug ETF would also provide instant, diversified access to the small / mid-cap generic drug makers and suppliers that are tracked in this index and the subject of possible acquisitions by leaders in the industry such as Teva Pharma (TEVA), Mylan (MYL), Watson Pharma (WPI), and even big pharma companies such as Novartis (NVS) and Pfizer (PFE) that have significant generic drug divisions.Disclosure: No positionsComplete Story »

Jett Winter submits: For the week ending December 11, 2009 Nuance Communications (NUAN) lead all sentiment gainers with a stunning 11.35 increase in their Piqqem sentiment index. Colgate-Palmolive (CL) came in with a close second at an impressive 11.30 increase in sentiment, and Teva (TEVA) saw its sentiment increase by 7.95 pts. Change in sentiment provides a timing mechanism to understand underlying changes in a security potentially ahead of a price move. For example, a large increase in sentiment should be seen as positive even if the underlying stock has a low absolute sentiment, while a large decrease in sentiment should be seen as negative even if the underlying security has a high absolute sentiment.Complete Story »