Best Stocks for 2008: Stem cells add new market to Invitrogen (IVGN)

Posted Dec 27th 2007 9:15AM by Steven Halpern
Filed under: Newsletters, Stocks to Buy, Best Stocks for 2008

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"Our favorite speculative pick for 2008 is (NASDAQ: IVGN)," says Daniel Frishberg, editor of The MoneyMan Report and host of BizRadio.

"Invitrogen is a $4.5 billion company that markets tools in kit form and provides other research products and services to corporate, academic, and government entities. The company has over 25,000 products.

"The company is also involved in stem cells, which are cells in an early stage human embryo that have the potential to turn into any other type of cells, e.g., heart, nerve, kidney, pancreas, etc.

"There has been much debate about stem cell research due to the killing of an embryo. However, a major breakthrough suggests that stem cells can be created from your own skin cells.

"No expert has made a public prediction of how long it will take to get some therapeutic products to market, but one well-informed source told me off the record that five to ten years is not out of the question.

"The National Institutes of Health say this type of approach offers the prospect of a renewable source of replacement cells and tissues to treat diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, spinal cord injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis, to name a few.

"Once the general public recognizes the potential benefits from this new research direction, there will be a flood of government money going into stem cell research. More than 1,200 products are focused directly on the stem cell research community, so Invitrogen is in an excellent position to benefit from an upturn in research activity.

"Invitrogen would be a great investment even without this anticipated tailwind from new stem cell research. This 20-year-old, $4.3 billion market-cap company has some of its 25,000 products in just about every medical research lab in the world.

"The stock exhibits the kind of earnings acceleration that I love to see in a growth company. Over the last four quarters, its rate of EPS growth has increased every quarter (3%, 33%, 35%, and 40%), while sales have been growing steadily."

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