When we spoke on Tuesday, I made a bold prediction: the Covid-19 outbreak, while serious, will not be as bad as the worst-case predictions would have it.
For one, much of the country is already on lock-down, cutting off the spread of the disease. That is buying us some valuable time as researchers race to find a cure or at least a good treatment option.
And I’m happy to report there have been some exciting developments in the search for treatments and vaccines against Covid-19
Last week, I noted that most vaccine research remains rooted in 1950s technology.
Despite mapping the entire human genome back in April 2004, drug firms and scientists still rely on slowly growing viruses inside chicken eggs to create a vaccine.
This takes a lot of time – and a lot of eggs.
But the Covid-19 pandemic has them racing to find a treatment using novel and fascinating science.
Millions of Americans found yesterday’s headlines about the coronavirus more than a little disturbing.
After all, the number of U.S. cases has climbed above 10,000. And while that sounds like a lot from the standpoint of raw numbers, I believe at a time like this, it’s important to keep this kind of news in context.
In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that the total number of infected Americans will be much less than what Big Media would have you believe.
I realize that many folks are scared and frustrated because the $1.2 trillion life sciences sector has not yet released a vaccine.
With that in mind, I am starting the first of a two-part series on that very subject.
Today, I will walk you through why we still use 1950s technology in the search for a vaccine.
As you are no doubt aware, the markets have come under extreme pressure of late.
It’s all about the fears we see regarding a new virus, Covid-19, better known as the coronavirus. Overall we are coming through the selloff in pretty good shape.
But there’s no doubt we have given up a lot of gains as have millions of others. In fact, I have been getting a number of questions from concerned investors.
When he passed away last September at the age of 91, T. Boone Pickens generated dozens of media biographies.
Of course, a billionaire with his reputation as a savvy business leader would no doubt get lots of obituaries written about him.
Here’s the thing; of the several accounts I read, most focused on his very successful career as an oil and gas baron.
It’s easy to see why. After all, in 2007 alone, he is reported to have earned more than $2.7 billion from his two energy-investing funds.
So, it may sound ironic for me to suggest that those obituaries were inaccurate.
I say that because at least two years before his death, Pickens went through a sea change and closed his energy funds. The reason: he became a massive backer of solar technology.
Please don’t think I’m pulling out an isolated case to show that solar has passed the tipping point.
Today, I’m going to show you why deep in the heart of America’s coal country, experts are putting their faith in sunlight.
When it comes to investing in e-commerce, most people think about Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and pretty much leave it at that.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m in no way backing off my bullish belief in Amazon.
After all, we recently had two conversations about the potential double ahead for the King of E-commerce.
The point of today’s chat is to show you how much money you can make by finding a great backend play on a booming sector.
Even better if the firm in mind is a high-growth outfit that flies under Wall Street’s radar. That way you can get in before the so-called “smart money” shows up, and pile up even more profits.
And that’s the exact setup we find with a company I refer to as “Amazon’s Hidden Supercharger.”
Since February 2, 2016, when it hit a post-IPO low up, until February 4 of this year, this stock has gone up 2,409%.
That’s the equivalent of turning $25,000 into $627,500.
My wife and I recently helped our daughter Jordan find a reliable used car.
And since Jordan only recently got her grad degree, I have to say she was pretty price sensitive.
She had roughly $9,000 to put down and wanted to limit her payments to about $100 a month, so there wasn’t a lot of wiggle room on cost. She bought, a 2009, one-owner, fully loaded Honda CRV with only 45,000 miles on it.
I’m bringing this up to you because I think our recent experience illustrates a very important point for tech investors.
When it comes to putting your money in stocks that can crush the market, don’t let high “sticker prices” warn you off of great opportunities to build lasting wealth.
Instead, you have to focus on the long-term upside. You know, it’s the old saw by Warren Buffett that price is what you pay but “value is what you get.”
And that really comes into play with a firm that is pioneering the field of robotic surgery.
At first glance, $600 a share seems steep. But this is a stock that could hit $1,800 a shares in as little as seven years.
If you are just not discovering the earning potential of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), than you have a lot of reason to be excited..
And I say that because I am still seeing a huge amount of upside ahead.
Let’s start with item number 1. When we spoke on January 24, I noted that much of Wall Street was cool to the stock for years.
But I have a more current example of a high profile stock “guru” who missed the boat completely. And not that long ago.
When AMZN crossed the $1,000 mark on May 31, 2017, Jim Cramer, went on TV to bash the stock. The host of CNBC’s Mad Money said “psychologically” $1,000 is a lot to pay for a stock he felt was getting ahead of itself.
The stock has more than doubled since then, reaching a closing high of $2,021.
If you want to become a high-tech millionaire – and I sure hope you do – it pays to have a little bit of foresight.
Let me explain. Back in 1994, a former hedge-fund manager decided to launch an online bookstore. Considering he was not the first to do so, our executive found little traction on Wall Street where his idea sounded boring.
He tried to convince the so-called “in-crowd” that books were just the start. This was a technology company looking to change all manner of online transactions.
But even in the midst of the dot com boom, few listened. That’s why the stock was trading for less than $2 in May 1997.
Back on May 26, 1997, this game changer was trading for only $1.50 a share. It hit a recent closing high of $2,021 last July 15.
That’s a 134,633% gain, enough to transform $10,000 into $13.5 million.
There’s no doubt about it. We are living in a time of astounding financial opportunities.
Last year, was a great one year for the average retail investor, continuing the epic bull market that began in March 2009. As we move into 2020, it looks like it has the potential to keep right on going.
The terrific economy that we’ve had has helped propel stocks to record highs. Unemployment remains at 50-year lows as real income adjusted for inflation is moving up for millions of Americans.
In a case like this, you’d think all you have to do from here on out is just coast on autopilot. After all, the bellwether S&P 500 was up roughly 28.9% for the year as of the close on December 31.
But, as impressive as that sounds, you could do much better in 2020.
That’s because the S&P 500’s numbers for the year are nothing compared to the gains members of my monthly tech investing newsletter, the Nova-X Report, scored in 2019.
Indeed, our three best performers for the year more than doubled the S&P.
I’ve been writing about 5G high-speed cellular networks for more than five years now, and I couldn’t be more excited for what’s ahead in 2020.
Sure, 2019 saw a fair amount of progress in rolling out this advanced new platform. The nextgen mobile network is available in a few markets.
But we have a big catalyst coming in fall 2020. That’s when Apple Inc. (AAPL) unveils a new iPhone that’s 5G native.
Don’t underestimate the importance of this move. Apple sets the standard for the rest of the sector.
5G will be important for the entire tech ecosystem in the year ahead, and it’s just one major catalyst that investors should track. There are key developments with chip stocks and beaten-down software and cloud players that all matter to your portfolio.
