What is CRISPR and Why Should Investors Care?

If you happened to see the cover of the July 4, 2016 cover of Time Magazine, you would have noticed that the cover article was about CRISPR. If you have never heard of CRISPR, I suggest that you keep your eyes open for future features about CRISPR in the media. (Will we see a feature about CRISPR on 60 Minutes?)

So what is CRISPR? CRISPR stands for "clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats". Before you eyes glaze over and you skip the rest of this article, let me tell you what it means in very simple terms. It is a technique for editing and splicing DNA much more quickly, simply, and less expensively than previously done in the past. This is a revolutionary technique that could lead to the potential to cure any genetic disease.

According to the free list of CRISPR stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, there are several publicly traded companies that have jumped on the CRISPR bandwagon, both big and small. Obviously, the CRISPR technology industry is at its very early stages, so there are risks involved with some of the purer plays, none of which are currently generating earnings.

Editas Medicine (EDIT) is a Cambridge, Massachusetts based genome editing company, focusing on treating patients with genetically defined diseases through the development of a proprietary genome editing platform based on CRISPR/Cas9 technology. The company, which sports a market cap of a bit over $800 million, has $229 million in cash, which works out to about $6.51 in cash per share. It carries a debt load of $11.65 million.

Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA) is another pure play CRISPR stock, and is currently collaborating with Novartis (NVS). Intellia is developing in vivo projects which target liver diseases, including transthyretin amyloidosis, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, hepatitis B virus, and inborn errors of metabolism; and ex vivo relating to chimeric antigen receptor T cell and hematopoietic stem cell product candidates. The stock has a market cap of $700 million, cash of $64 million, and is debt free.

Cocrystal Pharma (COCP) is the most speculative of the group, carrying a market cap of $314 million.   This debt free company has over $10 million in cash. Cocrystal is working on CRISPR/Cas9 technologies for developing cures for hepatitis B virus and the human papilloma virus.

CRISP is a narrow field in the biotechnology arena, but it may become the fastest growing and most significant of all the biotech industries. To see a list of over a dozen CRISPR companies, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Disclosure: Author owns COCP.

By Stockerblog.com

How to Invest in the Olympics

The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro had its opening ceremony yesterday, August 5, 2016, and will run until August 21. There will be over 207 nations participating with more than 10,000 athletes. The United States has already received its first gold medal for the women's 10-meter air rifle event.

In 2008, the Summer Olympics had the largest global viewership, and the highest peak viewer share in the world of any television broadcast. With that track record, if 2016 comes even close to that, it will been a boon to the companies connected with the Olympics.

Investors that are looking for a way to play the Olympics have several companies that they can choose from.

First, you have the airlines. United (UAL) is the official airline of the Olympics. LATAM Airlines (LFL ) serves the South American market and will be bringing a large number of passengers to Rio.

In terms of clothing and apparel, there is Ralph Lauren (RL) which made the Olympic outfits. Nike (NKE) is a proud sponsor, and we will be seeing many Nike shoes in several events. Under Armour (UA) is not an official sponsor but has made the uniforms for the US gymnastics teams, and should benefit from the publicity. Finally, there is Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS), which markets various types of athletic apparel and exercise equipment. It is an official sponsor.

Next there is the media. The Olympics are being broadcast on the NBC television network, which is owned by Comcast (CMCSA). Media General (MEG) will have the Olympics aired on 13 of its NBC affiliates.

 Last but not least is Visa (V), an official sponsor, which is handling the Olympic payment system.

Hopefully, some of these stocks can provide a gold medal for your portfolio.

You can see an investment motif of Olympics Stocks at motifinvesting.com. If you like interesting stock lists like this, you should check out many of the free stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

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

By Stockerblog.com

Corporate Earnings Announcements for the Second Week of August

Looking for some interesting moves in some stocks this upcoming week? Check out the companies that will be reporting earnings this week.

If earnings exceed analysts' expectations, the stocks can shoot up. If the numbers underperform, the stock can tank. Then again, occasionally, stocks don't move the way you would have expected.

Anyway, many traders use earnings plays for trading strategies. Also, option traders look for high implied volatility of stocks for for option selling strategies.

Here are many of the enormous number of stocks reporting earnings this week:

Monday

AGN
ARNA
NILE
HTZ
MAIN
BID
TSN
WBMD

Tuesday

AMSC
CECE
CHTR
COH
EXC
GWPH
LSCC
MWW
SCTY
VRX
DIS
YELP

Wednesday

BUFF
RL
SHAK
SLW
WEN

Thursday

BABA
HIMX
M
JWN
NVDA
PBR
RT
JET

Friday

AYA
BAM
JCP
JHX

If you like interesting stock lists like this, be sure to check out many of the free stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the Second Week of August

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.

American Electric Power	AEP	8/8/2016	3.2%
IBM Corp	IBM	8/8/2016	3.5%
A. H. Belo Corporation	AHC	8/10/2016	5.8%
Boeing Co.	BA	8/10/2016	3.2%
Collectors Universe	CLCT	8/10/2016	7.0%
Duke Energy	DUK	8/10/2016	4.0%
Spectra Energy	SE	8/10/2016	4.5%
Wal-Mart Stores	WMT	8/10/2016	2.7%

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