BIPH....37/.38...gets nod as nano play in this article:
Do Good Things Come in Small Packages? Nanotechnology Industry Thinks So
A wise philosopher once said that we don’t define the times, the times define us.
So it goes on Wall Street, where computer stocks dominated the 1980’s, Internet stocks the 1990’s and now, some experts say, nanotechnology stocks are taking center stage in the 2000’s.
Nanotechnology – the business of manufacturing products from components which measure 100 nanometers or less (a single nanometer is one-billionth of a meter) – is quite possibly the “Next Big Thing” in global commerce. The idea, scientists say, is that smaller size technology-based components can be more easily harnessed to build smaller, stronger, tougher, lighter and more resilient products than ever before. Nanotechnology is already being used to:
• Build military garb for the US army that can sense incoming fire and “stiffen up” to repel bullets and shrapnel
• To carry drugs faster and further into our bodies to combat disease to help doctors, among other things, deliver smaller, sharper doses of toxic medications to patients
• To build computers the size of a human fingernail
• To create stain resistant pants and shirts that never need dry cleaning
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How big is the market for nanotechnology tools? According to the National Science Foundation estimates, the value of nanotechnology products will soar to $1 trillion by 2015. Says NSF Chairman Mike Roco "Within 10 years, the entire semiconductor industry and 1/2 of the pharmaceutical industry will rely on nanotechnology."
Nanotechnology is already leaving big footprints in the U.S. stocks market. The Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Report’s nanotech stock portfolio has, according to the organization, outperformed the Standard & Poors 500 Index by 84% since its inception two years ago. The U.S. government has already poured $2 billion into the nanotechnology market since 2000 (and the European Union has invested $1 billion into the market). According to the stock-picking research firm Zacks.com, nanotechnology has "quietly become the most significant government-funded research project since the space program."
While larger companies like Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), IBM (NYSE: IBM), General Electric (NYSE: GE), DuPont (NYSE: DD), Exxon (NYSE: XOM) and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) all have major plans for nanotechnology development, it’s smaller companies that are garnering investors’ attention these days. Through December 2003, many nanotechnology stocks have hit 52-week highs, including San Diego-based Nanogen (Nasdaq: NGEN) and Harris & Harris Group Inc. (Nasdaq: TINY), a venture capital firm that invests heavily in “tiny technologies”.
Other nanotech stocks worth keeping an eye on during 2004 include Biophan Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: BIPH). The company has developed a technology to improve surgical and diagnostic implant devices that could put the standard Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine out of business. JMAR Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: JMAR) is an up-and-comer as well. The firm has built a next-generation lithography (NGL) alternative designed to deliver affordable, sub-100 nanometer chip-making capability in a compact format to the semiconductor industry. Then there is Lumera Corporation, a majority owned subsidiary of Microvision, Inc. (Nasdaq: MVIS) that designs proprietary molecular structures and polymer compounds for a broad range of electro-optic, RF and specialty coating applications. In December, 2003 Lumera was awarded a second contract extension for an additional $950,000 ($3.5 million in all) from the U.S. government to further develop high-performance electro-optic polymer materials and devices for wide band optical modulators.
While some industry consolidation should be expected in 2004, the path to profits for nanotechnology investors is clear, wide and well paved. If computers drove the financial markets in the 80’s, and the Internet fueled them in the 90’s, then it might be no surprise to see nanotechnology bolster a market boom in the next five years or so.
In this case, it seems, size doesn’t matter.
By Brian O’Connell for StreetInsider.com |
