Sinovac (SVA): Chinese biotech bet

"As a result the Chinese Central Government's is participating in a large-scale effort to improve public health. That leads us to our recommendation for Sinovac, a fully integrated, profitable China-based biopharmaceutical company.

"The company focuses on the research, development, manufacturing and commercialization of vaccines that protect against human infectious diseases.

"Their portfolio of regulatory-approved products consists of vaccines against the hepatitis A, hepatitis B and influenza viruses.

"In 2002, they launched their first product, Healive, which was the first inactivated hepatitis A vaccine developed, produced and marketed in China.

"In 2005, they received regulatory approvals in China for the production of Bilive, a combination hepatitis A and B vaccine, and Anflu, a split virus influenza vaccine.

"In April 2008, they received regulatory approvals in China for the production of their whole viron pandemic influenza vaccine.

"SVA is not a shot-in-the-dark biotech company that hasn't earned any money yet. The firm's recent filings indicate annual increase in sales on 38.62% which is in line with the type of increase that history suggests precede a very solid price gains.

"Looking at additional numbers reflects solid management as well, as is evidenced by a very healthy operating margin 33.51% and ROE of 20.1%.

"A quick glance at the amount of shares outstanding reflects that 14.02% of the shares are held by insiders, which is an indication that management has some skin in the game as well - and that's always good.

"SVA hasn't been sitting their hands with the existing products that are already profitable in the market. Their pipeline consists of vaccine candidates in the pre-clinical and clinical development phases in China, including human vaccines for the EV71, Japanese encephalitis and rabies currently in pre-clinical development.

"Sinovac also has a vaccine for the SARS virus that has completed a Phase I clinical trial and a split viron vaccine for the H5N1 influenza virus that has completed a Phase II clinical trial. Their pipeline also includes a vaccine for rabies in animals that is currently in field trials.

"We enphasize that investors should not chase this stock. Only buy it under $2.50 and plan to hold it for 12 months with no trailing stop. As recently as 18 months ago this stock was trading at $6.75.

"Even though the price was hammered during the global stock market sell-off, SVA has continued to increase sales and earnings. It might not be very long before SVA gets back on the radar of Wall Street - when it does, we could be off to the races."

Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a free daily overview of the favorite stock picks and investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.