Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NASDAQ: TEVA), the world's largest generic drug maker, yesterday announced a change in top management. George S. Barrett, Chief Executive Officer, Teva North America, Corporate Executive VP, Global Pharmaceutical Markets has resigned from the Company. William S. Marth, currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Teva USA, will replace Mr. Barrett and assume the additional role of Chief Executive Officer of Teva North America effective immediately.

Marth is no newcomer to the Israeli TEVA. He has been a key player in the launch of new drugs in recent years. He knows the organization well, and I expect business to continue as is. With a really strong pipeline for '08 and '09, yesterday's 5% drop on the news, presents an attractive entry point for investors who want to catch the generic wave and invest in the 'best of breed' company.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer's fund has a position and owns stock in TEVA and is long the stock. He has no positions in any other stock mentioned as of 1/11/08.

Management changes at TEVA: No big deal originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 11 Jan 2008 10:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"British investors have tended to ignore Israel, but its stock market will be thrust into the limelight this year when it is promoted from emerging to developed market status." This is referring to the fact that Israel is up for OECD membership, and if accepted -- and it looks like it will happen -- Israel will join the prestigious organization and be considered a "developed country."

Some pundits have argued that admission into the OECD will actually hurt Israeli stocks as Israel is about 2% of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, and its share in the global investment pie would fall to 0.2% if Israel is admitted to the developed markets index. What they neglect to mention is that there is a heck of a lot more money under management in developed markets than in emerging markets. So Israel's weighting may drop, but the amount of money available to invest will be substantially more. In addition, don't forget "overweighting." If fund managers believe Israel is an attractive investment destination, then they can overweight their position to a much higher level than 0.2%.

Look out for Israeli stocks in '08.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. Disclosure: Writer has no position long or short in any stock mentioned as of 1/7/08.

Times Online: Israel stocks among top ways to profit in 2008 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Each year Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, surveys the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is part of his 24th annual Top Picks Report.

LanOptics Ltd. (NASDAQ: LNOP) is a top speculative selection for 2007 from George Gilder. The technology guru and editor of The Gilder Technology Report explains, "Yokneam, Israel-based LanOptics has been a beauty for investors in 2006, nearly tripling off of its $5 price at the beginning of the year.

"Through its subsidiary, E.Z. Chip Technologies, Ltd., LNOP sells network processors or NPUs -- programmable chips that process data, voice, and video packets at high speed -- which should gradually find their way into Ethernet switches and routers across the network, especially in metro regions as triple-play applications become ubiquitous.

"This company has been building momentum, and the window of opportunity to buy at start-up prices may be drawing to a close. The network industry is now as innovative as the PC industry was, constantly changing and creating new products. E.Z. Chip has survived because it boasts the most flexible and most highly integrated chips, becoming a general-purpose solution to the network market -- much as the microprocessor was to the PC.

"Volume markets for 10-gig NPUs are quickly developing -- welcome news for LNOP, which is a champion at reading packets, deciding how to distribute them, and converting them to the appropriate protocols at wire-speed. We expect upside surprises over the next two years."

Top Picks 2007: Gilder expects E.Z. surprises at LanOptics originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 26 Dec 2006 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.