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Non-Tech : Bill Wexler's Dog Pound -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BinkY2K who wrote (8025)	6/24/2001 1:15:05 PM
From: Hank	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10293

Biotech,in general, should be left to those who thoroughly understand what a company's business is and who their customers are. I stay away from small biotechs that are doing drug discovery. The risk is too huge that they will fail. A better way to approach them is to find out if they have a large drug company or companies as partners. If they do ( and they usually do if they are any good), and I like the projects they are workng on, I invest in the larger companies that have invested in them. That way, if they fail, my investment is relatively secure. Of course, if they don't fail, I don't get the huge run up in stock price that you typically see when a company gets it's first drug approved but I do get a return based on the investment in the big drug company partner via their profit sharing agreement. That doesn't mean I don't invest in smaller biotechs at all. I like the lower risk companies that work on products that are more likely to succeed. For example, I have been an investor in Digene (DIGE) since it went IPO. I bought the stock at $11 and saw it go as low as $5. I've also seen it rise as high as the $50's in the last year or so but I have not sold it yet. They make diagnostic kits. The products are good. They are widely used and they are much easier to get FDA approval for than a new drug. Another company that I recently bought into is Genencor (GCOR). They are a relatively new company that makes biocatalytic enzymes that are used in pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing processes. These enzymes are genetically engineered to produce products that were previously manufactured using standard chemical synthesis techniques that are expensive and produce many hazardous by products. The biocatalytic enzymes do the job cheaper and safer. They are the wave of the future in drug and chemical manufacturing and Genencor is one of the leaders. Even though Genencor only went public in the last couple of years, they are already making a profit. I bought the stock at $16, it went to $7, so I bought a lot more. Now, it is back in the mid teens again. I am convinced it will be trading over $30 within 3 years and I am in no rush to sell. Other than that, I haven't invested much over the past year or so except for a few select energy companies and tobacco stocks like RJR. I bought RJR at $16 a little over a year ago because of the dividend yield. The fact that it has traded as high as the $60's since then is just a bonus. However, it has kept me from showing a net loss on paper for the year when everybody else is getting decimated by tech stocks. I like bargains, not gambles.