any comments on this wonderful recent article? it's on realmoney.com and street.com
While we've been focused on the elections, a major investment theme is lurking just around the corner in the winter gloaming.
It's not the holiday gift-giving season, the ski season or the NBA season. All of these are too boring, and too obvious.
It's the flu season. The sniffling, achy-jointed, coughing-your-head-off season. And not just any flu season, but the first in a long while in which many Americans did not get their annual vaccine, due to contamination at the British factory of drugmaker Chiron (CHIR:Nasdaq - commentary - research).
Americans have kept a stiff upper lip about the Chiron calamity, as officials urged able-bodied citizens to give up their place in the flu-shot line to the aged and infirm. But the truth is that there will be many more sick people later this year once the flu season kicks into high gear. And that means there may be a special opportunity ahead for companies with products that can soothe the symptoms.
One of the least well-known of the anti-flu brigade is small-cap Matrixx Initiatives (MTXX:Nasdaq - commentary - research), which closed at $13.42 on Wednesday. The company develops and manufactures a range of over-the-counter drugs under the Zicam brand name that leverage innovative delivery systems aimed at fighting common cold and flu symptoms. One product, Zicam Cold Remedy nasal gel, is designed to reduce the duration and the severity of the common cold. Another product is an anticough mist that parents can spritz into their kids' mouths, which sounds a lot easier than spooning syrup down sore throats.
Since Oct. 4, Matrixx shares have risen 27%, which is close to the percentage drop of Chiron shares in the same period (29%). But they are still well off their high set early in the first week of the year, which was $20.89. Shares took a turn for the worse in mid-January after a woman went on TV with the complaint that Zicam products had caused her to lose her sense of smell.
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Jon D. Markman is publisher of StockTactics Advisor, an independent weekly investment research service, as well as senior strategist and portfolio manager at Pinnacle Investment Advisors. He also writes a weekly column for CNBC on MSN Money. At the time of publication, Markman had no positions in any of the stocks mentioned in this column, although positions may change at any time. While Markman cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he welcomes column critiques and comments at jon.markman@thestreet.com.
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