"According to the Spectrem Group, which recently polled the country's wealthiest people, they're the most optimistic they've been in months," says Marc Lichtenfeld.

The contributing editor to Investment U explains, "Let's take a look at 3 stocks that millionaires (and aspiring ones) should pay attention to: Apple (AAPL), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) and Varian Medical Systems (VAR).

"And according to Fidelity, 83% of millionaires surveyed said the financial crisis did not shake their confidence in investing. And of those who said they'll invest more money in the stock market, nearly 60% of them plan to buy technology stocks. And just under half expect to acquire pharmaceutical and healthcare stocks.

Continue reading Three Favorite Stocks of Wealthy Investors

Three Favorite Stocks of Wealthy Investors originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Many growth and income investors will eventually need to start taking dividends to supplement other forms of cash flow," says Chuck Carlson, an expert in dividend reinvestment plans.

The editor of the DRIP Investor explains, "And many investors would like to receive those dividends on a regular basis. And, in fact, you can get monthly dividend check from a portfolio holding just three stocks.

Continue reading Monthly Dividends from a 3-Stock Growth Portfolio

Monthly Dividends from a 3-Stock Growth Portfolio originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Foreign corporations have been on a mini buying spree in 2010. Not surprising, merger and acquisition activity has heated up a bit in the drug sector," says Chuck Carlson, editor of The DRIP Investor.

The dividend expert explains, " Global merger and acquisition activity topped $1 trillion in the first half of 2010, a 9.4% increase over the previous year. And Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), recommend stock in our Editor's Portfolio, has been one of the more active participants.

Continue reading Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY): Buying Growth?

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY): Buying Growth? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 29 Sep 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Early Friday morning, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) and AstraZeneca (AZN) announced the results of their randomized, double-blind Phase 3 clinical study in adults with type 2 diabetes that is inadequately controlled with metformin therapy. The study showed that dapagliflozin was non-inferior compared to glipizide (sulphonylurea) and improved glycosylated hemoglobin levels (HbA1c).

In addition to these results, the study also showed that dapagliflozin plus metformin brought about "significant reductions in efficacy secondary endpoints: reduction in total body weight from baseline, compared with a weight gain on glipizide plus metformin therapy, and a reduced number of patients reporting one or more hypoglycemic events."

Continue reading Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca Report Success in Diabetes Trial

Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca Report Success in Diabetes Trial originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Bristol-Myers Squbb Boosted by Blood Thinner Study

Bristol-Myers Squbb Boosted by Blood Thinner Study originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Protective Parents Could Send Mead Johnson Higher

Protective Parents Could Send Mead Johnson Higher originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) broke above a key down-trending resistance level yesterday after the company received positive phase-three trial data for a drug that treats advanced skin cancer.

Bristol-Myers' ipilimumab compound is proving to be an effective treatment for patients with metastatic melanoma -- a disease with few available pharmaceutical treatments.

With the good news from the FDA and the positive breakout, Bristol-Myers is looking like a great buy candidate.

Continue reading Skin Cancer Breakthrough Boosts Bristol-Myers

Skin Cancer Breakthrough Boosts Bristol-Myers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Although the new health care legislation means that the pharmaceutical industry will face about $90 billion in new taxes and fees over time, the legislation also brings many benefits to pharmaceutical companies including a potentially huge influx of new customers now able to afford prescription medication through insurance coverage," says Melvin Pasternak.

The editor of Double-Digit Trading explains, "My top stock pick in the pharma sector is Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), which I believe offers a very attractive valuation and a great chart."

Continue reading Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY): Technical and Fundamental Buy

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY): Technical and Fundamental Buy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"It's time for income investors to come back to what's historically been a mainstay of diversified portfolios: big pharmaceutical companies. We're adding one of the sector's most durable members to the Income Portfolio, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY)," says Roger Conrad.

In Personal Finance newsletter, he explains, "The stock has been a lackluster performer since the 1990s, when it was last a Portfolio recommendation. The company's underlying business, however, has become ever-more valuable.

Continue reading Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY): Time to Buy Pharma

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY): Time to Buy Pharma originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Bristol-Myers' first-quarter earnings fall

Bristol-Myers' first-quarter earnings fall originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Bristol-Myers (BMY) posts Q4 earnings above targets

Bristol-Myers (BMY) posts Q4 earnings above targets originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

From TheStreet.com Network

• Pfizer in Talks to Acquire Wyeth
• Pfizer to Slash Up to 2,400 Sales Jobs

Pfizer's (NYSE: PFE) (Cramer's Take) moves suddenly make sense. You lay off your scientists, you buy the better group at Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) (Cramer's Take) , you get Wyeth's franchise and you slash the sales budget, and voila, you have growth.

That's the greatness of the pharma industry. You need mergers, especially when Obama has made it clear that he's not going to be in the camp of stifling generic competition, of which Pfizer faces the brunt of.

It is why I recommended Forest Labs (NYSE: FRX) (Cramer's Take) last night -- believe me, that's the cheapest. I own Bristol-Myers (NYSE: BMY) (Cramer's Take) because BMY looks like Wyeth with a bigger dividend and a great cancer franchise.

Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG) (Cramer's Take) too -- Celgene was approached not that long ago when it was much higher. CELG's another way to replenish.

Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Pfizer's Wyeth bid is obvious in retrospect

Cramer on BloggingStocks: Pfizer's Wyeth bid is obvious in retrospect originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of a special annual report -- Top Stock Picks '09 -- in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked 75 leading newsletter advisors to select their favorite investment for the new year.

"My selection for 2009 is Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY)," says Chuck Carlson, the leading advisor in the area of dividend reinvestment plans.

In his The DRIP Investor, he explains, "This pharmaceutical company has a lot to offer investors, including a high yield, a rising profit stream, and a speculative kicker in the way of takeover appeal." Here's his review.

"Bristol-Myers Squibb has a number of popular brands, including Plavix, the company's leading cardiovascular product; HIV treatments Reyataz and Sustiva; and oncology product Erbitux. Its stable of products has helped drive decent sales growth.

"Bristol-Myers Squibb has done a nice job of ?rming up its balance sheet. The company's cash coffers were boosted by the sale of its ConvaTec medical-device and wound-care business for $4.1 billion.

"At the end of the third quarter, the ?rm had more than $7 billion in cash and securities, a 'signi?cant majority' of which was invested in Treasury Bills and Treasury-backed securities.

Continue reading Top Stock Picks '09: Bristol-Myers (BMY)

Top Stock Picks '09: Bristol-Myers (BMY) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) cancer drug rejected originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bristol-Myers (BMY) drops on new sales guidelines originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's a nice day for shareholders of Kosan Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: KOSN), which is a cancer therapeutics company. The stock price is up 230% to $5.44.

That is, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) has agreed to purchase Kosan for $190 million. The transaction will be structured as a cash tender offer.

Founded in 1995, Kosan has two key anticancer agents in clinical development -- heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) inhibitors and epothilones. Some of the treatments include multiple myeloma and metastatic breast cancer.

Basically, Kosan didn't have the wherewithal to take these drugs to market (after all, the capital markets have been fairly skittish lately). So, a partnership with Bristol-Myers does make a lot of sense. Keep in mind that the company has a large oncology business.

Interestingly enough, the parties also announced a separate licensing agreement to market Kosan's epothilone compounds. The deal involves an upfront $25 million payment as well as milestone payments.

Although, the agreement is only triggered if the merger falls through. In other words, Kosan has a nice backstop on the transaction.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) provides M&A therapy on Kosan Biosciences (KOSN) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 29 May 2008 14:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) plunges on Plavix threat in Europe

Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) plunges on Plavix threat in Europe originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 09 May 2008 13:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's been slow, but the private equity folks are starting to warm up to dealmaking. In fact, a key deal came last week as Nordic Capital Fund VII and Avista Capital Partners agreed to plunk down $4.1 billion for ConvaTec, a division of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE: BMY).

ConvaTec, which focuses on wound care, has been a star performer over the years. What's more, the deal will allow Bristol-Myers to devote its resources to its core pharma business, which certainly has some challenges - especially as drugs come off patent.

In addition, the deal has a global flavor as Nordic Capital is in Europe and Avista in the US.

It also looks like Bristol-Myers is not finished with its own dealmaking. For example, the company says it plans to launch a public offering of its Mead Johnson division.

What this really looks like, however, is that all these actions, for the most part, may just be a prelude for Bristol-Myers to sell itself to a mega pharma company.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Bristol-Myers Squibb's recent deals -- prelude to a much bigger deal? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 05 May 2008 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) gains on Q1 earnings results originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"The stock that I think may put up the best performance in 2008 is Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY)," says Chuck Carlson, the industry's leading authority on dividend reinvestment plans and editor of The DRIP Investor.

Here, the advisor looks at the stock's role in the defensive pharmaceutical sector, its increasing dividend yield, and its takeover potential.

"I know this may strike some of you as an odd choice, especially given the fairly mediocre performance these shares have turned in over the last several years. However, some of the uncertainty hanging over these shares has been lifted.

"The firm has won its patent suit with Apotex over its important Plavix medication. Also, Bristol-Myers has finalized a civil settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

"I like that the firm is cutting costs as well restructuring its operations. The company plans to reduce total headcount by approximately 10% by the end of 2010. Bristol-Myers recently announced the sale of its medical-imaging business.

"And Wall Street anticipates additional asset sales, possibly the company's woundcare supplies company, ConvaTec, and its Mead Johnson nutritional business. These moves would be consistent with the company's plan to become more of a player in the BioPharma sector.

"Two additional reasons Bristol- Myers may get some play in 2008 is that 1) health-care stocks traditionally perform well during rocky market periods; and 2) high dividend yielders usually provide a buffer during tough markets.

Continue reading Bristol-Myers (BMY): Healthy outlook for growth & income

Bristol-Myers (BMY): Healthy outlook for growth & income originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.