Investing in the Future

Mar. 11, 2011

Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTIC)

Cell Therapeutics is a pharmaceutical company involved in the development and marketing of cancer drugs. The world market for cancer drugs is huge, though it usually takes many years for the drugs to make it from the r&d stage, to the testing stage and then finally to market. Due to this lengthy span, most companies developing cancer drugs tend to burn through millions and millions of dollars, often issuing more stock for private placement and reverse splitting their stock when its value gets too low. CITC was worth hundreds per share years ago and recently hit a low of 22 cents, which seemed like a great time to buy. When looking at pharmaceutical stocks involved in cancer drugs, many people reference Denderon (NASDAQ:DNDN) which jumped up over 1000% when one of its big products was approved for market by the FDA. Investors are always hoping to find the next Denderon, and Cell Therapeutics just may be it. With numerous products in the pipeline and a close relationship with the FDA due to continued requests for more information on the Pixantrone pivotal trials, we are all hoping to see CTIC make the move up from it's currant range of 33 cents to a more attractive 3 to 5 dollars. Keep an eye on this one during 2011.



Mar. 1, 2011

Cannabis Science (OTC:CBIS)

"Cannabis Science™ works with World Authorities on phytocannabinoid science targeting critical illnesses. Adhering to scientific methodologies to develop, produce, and commercialize phytocannabinoid based pharmaceutical products."

Quoted from http://www.cannabisscience.com/

The future of medicine is so far advanced, it's like returning to square one. Going back to living off the land and growing your own food and remedies, more and more research is now being done on the effects of cannabis on cancerous tumors. Reports are positive, but not all governments are listening.

Cannabis has been used medicinally for thousands of years in China, India and the Middle East. Of course, most traditional medicines were plant-based, but until recently no one knew how or why they worked. Modern science now routinely verifies the efficacy of this "folk medicine" tradition and the door is opening to a more systematic and effective use of cannabinoid therapies.

While cannabis was widely used in the West during the 19th century, the technology was lacking to detect and understand its active ingredients, to standardize dosages of those ingredients, and to effectively deliver those ingredients, owing largely to cannabis's non-water-solubility. Consequently, it became less widely used in the early 20th century and was eventually renamed "marijuana"� and banned as part of a politically-driven prohibition craze. It was gradually removed from the pharmacopeiae of most advanced countries; research was discouraged, and when beneficial results were discovered, the studies were sometimes suppressed.

For example, when Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) was recently diagnosed with a form of brain cancer, malignant glioma, the media largely ignored reports from the medical cannabis community of studies showing that cannabinoids can kill glioma cancer cells.

Nearly a decade ago, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws' weekly news release for December 31, 1998 reported that "Cell studies performed by researchers at Madrid's Universidad Complutense demonstrate that THC, one of the active compounds in marijuana, can induce cell death in certain brain tumor cells without affecting the surrounding healthy cells."

Dr. Franjo Grotenhermen of the German-based Association for Cannabis as Medicine (ACM) proposed that marijuana's constituents may one day play a role in cancer treatment. "It is desirable to have a substance that induces programmed cell death in tumor cells but not in health cells for the treatment of cancer," he wrote in the December 13 issue of the ACM-Bulletin. "It has been demonstrated by the Spanish scientists ... that THC could be such a substance."



Feb. 16, 2011

Fresenius Kabi Pharma. Holding Inc. (NASDAQ:APCVZ)

Fresenius Kabi Pharma. Holding Inc. has crazy rumors circulating about a speculative $6 per share payout, a product of their September 2008 takeover of APP Pharmaceutical. Shares surged this morning from 8.9 cents to a high of 12 cents with volume topping 15 million by 11:30 am EST today. It is said this announcement will be made following their Q4 earnings statement later this month. APCVZ has many great products in the pipeline and is currently undervalued. Their sister company, Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. (NYSE:FMS) is a 19 billion dollar company while APCVZ has a market cap of around 20 million dollars. This is definitely one stock to watch during the next couple of weeks.



Jan. 29, 2011

Great Western Mineral Group LTD. (CVE:GWG)

Great Western Minerals is focused on exploration and extraction of Rare Earth Metals, which have been all over the news in 2011. China currently produces around 95% of the worlds rare earth metals, but it the process they are rapidly consuming their own supply. This has lead China to slash its rare earth exports by 35% for the first half of 2011 and resulted in increased interest in rare earth stocks, such as Rare Earth Elements (AMEX:REE), Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE:MCP) and China Shen Zhou Mining & Resources Inc. (AMEX:SHZ).

Luckily, there is actually a lot more rare earth resources that have yet to be discovered, and China's reduction in exports has spurred the search for more of these rare earths. Great Western Minerals already has property and exploration underway in North America as well as a contract with Electron Energy Corp. in Pennsylvania. GWG has seen it's shares rise from 43 cents on Christmas Eve, to a high of 68 on January 4th and now, with the markets closed, GWG shares are valued at 89 cents a share and are showing no signs of slowing down.



Dec. 28, 2010

China Shen Zhou Mining & Resources Inc. (AMEX:SHZ)

Breaking news out of China reports the cutting of rare earth export quotas. Rare earth metals are a group of elements, namely scandium, yttrium and the fourteen lanthanides, including Holmium, Cerium and Neodymium among others and are used in lasers, florescent lamps, computer memory, camera lenses, aerospace components and hundreds of other applications. China, which produces about 95% of the global supply of the metals used in the production of numerous high-tech products, cut export quotas by 35 percent for the first half of 2011, saying it wanted to conserve reserves.


Dec. 20, 2010

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS

The markets are bound to see a little action during the holidays, but I think this is a good time to look forward to 2011. Scan your favorite blogs, news and futurist sites and pick something to go after in the new year. Pick a sector and study it or maybe just a few competing companies. Enjoy your turkey and stuffing, but be sure to get in a little research on the side. Happy Holidays!


Dec. 18, 2010

UPDATE: PC Gold (TSX:PKL)

Seems like a few other investors were thinking what I was thinking, but it looks like they jumped in at a bit higher price than I was planning to. PC Gold (TSX:PKL) obviously has something in the works, and I am sure some news will be out shortly. Watch this one on Monday, December 20, as last time PC Gold (TSX:PKL) ran up, it doubled in a day!


Dec. 10, 2010

PC Gold (TSX:PKL)

PC Gold (TSX:PKL) owns one of the best known underground gold mines in Canada, the Pickle Crow Mine in Northwestern Ontario. This past producing mine still has plenty of gold deposits to be found and PC Gold is confidant that they will succeed in their quest. PC Gold shares shot up in late March of this year to a high of $1.80 in early April. Hovering in the mid 60 cent range for the last week or so, PC Gold is looking attractive with November news of multiple high grade gold intersections, it's recent completion of $10 million in flow-through shares and an honest and hardworking management team.


Dec. 6, 2010

UPDATE: Pacific Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ:PCBC)

Pacific Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ:PCBC) has a short interest ratio of 1 based on average daily volume of 9 million shares and 9.4 million shares short. That equates to 0.3% of the 2.9 billion shares outstanding. This is among the lowest short interest ratio of Regional Banks and may be telling us that very few people are bearish on this stock.


Dec. 3, 2010

Pacific Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ:PCBC)

Pacific Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ:PCBC) is a holding company, providing full financial services through it's community branches in California. Their stock has recently surged up to $0.31 on Friday from its yearly low of $0.22 earlier this week with a huge trading volume of over 40 million shares.

In April of this year, Pacific Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ:PCBC)was purchased for $500 million by billionaire banker Gerald Ford through a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ford Financial Fund, L.P. Way down from it's 52-week high of $5.49, PCBC could be rebounding and heading back up like some other banks have done years after the implementation of the TARP program, or, it could head in the other direction and down to $0.002 before being delisted.


Nov. 30, 2010

SLAM Exploration (TSX-V:SXL)

With reports of a drilling program starting today on their Reserve Creek gold project in Ontario, shares of SLAM Exploration (TSX-V:SXL) were up 8% ending the day at $0.20, just down from the days high of $0.21. A gain of 35% in the last 5 trading days has brought volume up to over 3 million shares traded today, the highest since September and triple the daily average. Watch for more drilling news and results from other Canadian junior miners such as Canasia Industries (TSX-V:CAJ), TAD Mineral Exploration (TSX-V:TJ) or Eskay Mining (TSX-V:ESK).

Gold seems to be a safe haven these days and a smart investment in the future, with all the turmoil within the worlds financial systems. You can buy shares in a variety of companies that deal with gold a certain form. For example you can buy shares in Tiffany & Co (NYSE:TIF) who sells the finished gold product or you can invest in the big producers like Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) and hope for a nice dividend or a huge merger (wink). Since most of these companies have share prices a bit to high for most of us to purchase a decent amount, you can keep it Canadian and buy loads of shares in exploration companies like PC Gold (TSX:PKL) and hold until they, and you, strike it rich!


Nov 26, 2010

Western Potash (TSX:WPX)

After the failed takeover attempt of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (TSX:POT) by BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) and the friendly takeover of Potash One (TSX:KCL) by K&S AG (ETR:SDF), Western Potash (TSX:WPX) is now the biggest of the junior potash miners. With its share price recently hitting a 52-week high of $1.23 CDN, Western Potash ended off the week at $1.21, with resistance located at $1.22 and $1.17. Watch for price fluctuations on any news regarding the potash industry and keep an eye on Encanto Potash (CVE:EPC) and IC Potash (CVE:ICP) who may be takeover targets as well.

Potash is used around the world as fertilizer to increase crop yields and decrease growing time. With the current strain on world food sources, the decline of fertile farmland and the recent debate around home-grown, natural and organic foods and urban farms, the potash sector is poised to face increased demand in the years to come.