Headline: Distinguished Panel to Give Current Biotech Stock Selections at Dec.
13 Investors Forum in Seattle
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SEATTLE--(BW HealthWire)--Dec. 11, 1997--Biotechnology gurus
Michael Murphy and Jim McCamant will be joined by regional expert
Michael Adams in a luncheon panel discussing "What Biotech Stocks to
Buy Now" at the 1997 Informed Investors Seattle Biotechnology Forum
Saturday Dec. 13.
The Forum at the Sheraton Seattle runs from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
followed by the luncheon program from 12:30 to 2 p.m. The full
program including the luncheon is $40 prepaid (deadline is 3 p.m.
PST Dec. 12), $60 at the door. The luncheon program only is $30
prepaid, $50 at the door. Audio tapes of the Forum are available
for $45 plus $3.95 shipping/handling. Call 800/992-4683 to order,
email info@informedinvestors.com or visit
informedinvestors.com for information.
Murphy and McCamant are regulars in Worth magazine's "What
They're Recommending" section of investment experts and also
frequent guests in the national media. Former partners, Murphy and
McCamant believe biotechnology is beginning a major era of growth
and profitability."
Adams is vice president/investment officer with regional
brokerage/investment bank Dain Bosworth. Adams' long-time interest
in biotechnology is both personal and professional.
"My wife was diagnosed with cancer in 1986," explained Adams.
"It was then I became familiar with biotech. One company that
impressed me the most back then -- and impressed everybody else the
least -- was a small company called Amgen."
Today Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) boasts the largest capitalization of
any biotechnology company in the world, but when Adams began
investing his clients' money in Amgen in 1986-1987, the company was
small and unproven, just as many developmental-stage biotech
companies are today.
"I figured Amgen's technology was either going to work or it
wasn't," said Adams. "Fortunately it worked." And his wife fully
recovered as well.
However, it wasn't a case of instant success for Adams or his
clients. In fact, they lost more than half their original
investment -- and Adams lost half his clients -- before Amgen's
stock price recovered and went on to become a major stock market
success story. Adams' original clients who still hold Amgen have
seen their stake rise by more than 25 times in 10 years.
"One of my clients tells her friends about her $3,000 Mercedes,"
Adams said. "That's because in the early '90s she sold some of her
Amgen stock with a cost basis of $3,000 to buy a $100,000 Mercedes."
Nonetheless, Adams is quick to point out that investing in
biotechs is not for the faint of heart. He drills into his clients
the fact that they can lose their total investment in any individual
biotech company.
"When I talk risk, I'm not just talking volatility," he said.
"I'm saying you can lose it all if a biotech company fails. On the
other hand, for that degree of risk, I expect a far higher return --
not 20%, 40% or even 100%. I expect much more than that."
Adams' approach differs with some biotech experts who advise
clients to invest in a broad basket of biotech companies to spread
the risk. "I advise the opposite," he said. "I think people should
have larger investments in a few good ones and expect far larger
rewards for the bigger risk."
Current biotech stocks in Adams' portfolios include two
companies presenting at the Forum, Seattle-based ICOS (NASDAQ:ICOS)
and Alcide (NASDAQ:ALCD). Three other biotech companies Adams
mentions as undervalued are Genzyme (NASDAQ:GENZ), Advanced Tissue
Sciences (NASDAQ:ATIS) and Liposome (NASDAQ:LIPO).
"I'm really a value investor," Adams added, "because I look for
biotech companies that are undervalued compared to risk/reward
parameters. For example, I think Liposome is the most undervalued
company I've seen in the last two or three years."
Aside from ICOS and Alcide, other companies presenting in
Seattle are: Genentech (NYSE:GNE); Ligand Pharmaceuticals
(NASDAQ:LGND); Cell Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CTIC); Sonus
Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SNUS); Corixa Corp. (NASDAQ:CRXA); and QLT
Phototherapeutics (NASDAQ:QLTIF) of Vancouver, B.C.
Since 1993, Sacramento-based Informed Investors has been linking
investors with management of public companies. Informed Investors
represents individual investors who collectively hold an estimated
$1.4 billion in investable assets.
CONTACT: Informed Investors
Bob Taylor or Tim Quast or Steve Chanecka, 916/448-8222
800/992-4683
KEYWORD: WASHINGTON CALIFORNIA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: MEDICINE PHARMACEUTICAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
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