Can I Make Money Off the New Lens in My Eye?

Last week I got the lens yanked out of my eyeball and replaced with a new one. A cataract operation! What a pleasurable experience that was, especially the after-effects of the anesthesia, vomiting all the way home. Anyway, my vision is clearer and since I am always looking for ways to turn lemons into lemonade, I was wondering if there are any stocks involved involved in the treatment of cataracts.

Anyone who reads many of my posts know that I come up with unusual and obscure lists of stocks, lists such as candy and chocolate stocks, caffeine stocks, cord blood stocks, and cosmetic surgery stocks. Did you notice that all these examples begin with the letter 'C'? So here is another one, cataract stocks, the list of which can be found at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

A cataract is a clouding of the lens of the eye. Surprisingly, it is not just senior citizens that are afflicted with cataracts; people in their forties and fifties can have cataracts, according to the National Eye Institute of the National Institute of Health. The causes are numerous, everything from smoking to medications to  ultraviolet light.

I started to do my research on the publicly traded cataract companies by looking at the manufacturers of the three different types of eyedrops that were prescribed for me. One, the Prednisolone Acetate, is distributed by Sandoz, a Novartis (NVS) company, the largest pharmaceutical company in the world by sales. However, the other two drops, Ketorolac Tromethamine and Ofloxacin, are made by a lessor known company, Akorn (AKRX).

Novartis is far from a pure play as it produces and market numerous types of pharmaceuticals for all types of treatments, not just eye care, plus they have extensive products in the animal health arena. The stock trades at a reasonable 12.6 times trailing earnings and 19.1 times forward earnings. It sports a yield of 2.7%.

Akorn is a $5 billion manufacturer and seller of prescription pharmaceuticals. The stock has a price to earnings ratio in the nosebleed area of 131 but a forward PE of 18.3. Potential investors should be aware that the company received a NASDAQ Delisting Notice for not filing its Form 10-Q on time.

Let's get to the nitty-gritty. STAAR Surgical Company (STAA) is a developer and manufacturer of the implantable lenses for the eye, along with the lens delivery systems. The company is currently generating negative earnings. Revenues for the latest quarter were down 6.6% year-over-year.

Keep an eye on these stocks. Keep them in your sight. Maybe you will see a good one on the free list of cataract stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author didn't own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com


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Did You Make 20% on Greek Stocks Today?

Over a week ago, on July 3 when the stock market was closed, I wrote an article called Hey Contrarians! Why Not Buy the Stocks of Greece? In that posting, I wrote about a few stocks of Greece  that a contrarian might take a chance on. Did you invest?

The first stock mentioned in the article was National Bank of Greece (NBG), a low priced speculative stock that you could have bought the next business day at 99 cents a share, based on the closing price that day. Today you could have sold the stock for 1.20 a share, however the stock traded as high as 1.35 a share today. This would have generated a 20% return for you in just one week.

Costamare Inc. (CMRE) was another stock in the write-up, which went from 18.10 a share to 18.14 a share, a slight increase. However, buyers of Safe Bulkers (SB) would have banked, as the stock went from 3.36 a share a week ago to 3.66, an increase of 8.9%. StealthGas (GASS) was the only stock that dropped.

Congratulations on those that took the risk.

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Third Week of July

Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends,' also commonly referred to as 'Dividend Capture.' This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets, and can work in flat or choppy markets, but you need to avoid the technique during bear markets.

In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable list of the stocks going ex dividend in the near future. The list contains many dividend paying companies, lots with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date, and the yield.

Comtech Telecommunications	CMTL	7/15/2015	4.0%
McGrath RentCorp	MGRC	7/15/2015	3.2%
BG Staffing Inc	BGSF	7/16/2015	8.3%
Caterpillar Inc.	CAT	7/16/2015	3.5%
Apollo Senior Floating Rate Fund	AFT	7/17/2015	6.6%
Apollo Tactical Income Fund Inc	AIF	7/17/2015	8.8%

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.com. (If you have been to the website before, and the latest link doesn't show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out some of the other high yield stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com. Most of the lists are free. Dividend definitions:
Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Monthly Dividend Stock List
Record date: the day when you must be on the company's books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks at two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Book now available: Buying Dividends Revised and Expanded

Book now available: Stock Market Trivia Makes a Great Gift!

Don't forget to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the company before implementing this technique.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Hey Contrarians! Why Not Buy the Stocks of Greece?

Every day, you read about the bad news relating to  Greece, including its debt, the limits on cash withdrawals, the country running out of food, the difficulty in getting medicine, and on and on. Many Greek stocks have tanked due to this onslaught of news from the media.

But you may or may not already know that this is old news. I published an article back in 2010 about what Googlers (GOOG) where thinking about Greece (and gold). With all this bad news. investors tend to overreact, and when that happens, opportunities are created for stock snapbacks. Those willing to speculate may want to take a look at Greek stocks.

National Bank of Greece (NBG) has dropped from 1.79 to 1.13 so far this year. Revenues for the latest reported quarter dropped by over 31% and the company is currently generating a loss.

Greek shipping stocks may provide better opportunities. Costamare Inc. (CMRE), which has a fleet of 68 containerships, trades at 12.6 times trailing earnings and 9.9 times forward earnings. Earnings for the latest quarter were up a substantial 32.5% on a 5.2% rise in revenues. The stock sports a fat 6.1% yield. The stock has taken a dip of almost two dollars a share from where it was ten days ago.

StealthGas, Inc. (GASS), based in Athens, is a provider of seaborne transportation services to liquefied petroleum gas producers. The stock has a price to earnings ratio of 24.5 and a forward PE of 7.7. Quarterly revenues increased by 5.3%, however, earnings fell 23.6%. No dividend on this stock.

Safe Bulkers (SB) is a provider of marine dry bulk transportation services. The stock pays a yield of 1.2%, but that may not last as the company is generating negative earnings and revenues went down by over 22% for the latest quarter.

Choppy seas may be ahead for these shipping stocks, so be aware of the risks. If you like interesting stock lists like this, get the lists of stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author didn't own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com