Top Heal Care Stocks To Watch Right Now

Apparently, oil and gas in the ground is worth next to nothing. At least that's what short sellers of BreitBurn Energy Partners (NASDAQ: BBEP  ) would have you believe after saying the company's units are worth as little as two dollars apiece. Here's the thing: Simple math shows that this isn't the case at all.

Before we get to that, a little background is in order. This attack is really just a continuation by the same short-sale firm that's been trying to take down LINN Energy (NASDAQ: LINE  ) and LinnCo (NASDAQ: LNCO  ) . This company has gone on to say that BreitBurn is really just LINN Energy junior and that its distribution is "largely a mirage." The problem is that, other than the fact that it's just plain false, it's not giving BreitBurn much of any credit for the oil and gas it has in the ground. Those reserves are�what matters most if you were to value the firm. That's why for base value the company's third-party-verified reserves are used, which total an estimated 149.4 million barrels of oil equivalent and are spread around the nation, as shown in the following map:

Best High Tech Stocks To Buy Right Now: Waste Management Inc.(WM)

Waste Management, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides waste management services to residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers in North America. It offers collection, transfer, recycling, and disposal services. The company also owns, develops, and operates waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. Its collection services involves in picking up and transporting waste and recyclable materials from where it was generated to a transfer station, material recovery facility, or disposal site; and recycling operations include collection and materials processing, plastics materials recycling, and commodities recycling. In addition, it provides recycling brokerage, which includes managing the marketing of recyclable materials for third parties; and electronic recycling services, such as collection, sorting, and disassembling of discarded computers, communications equipment, and other electronic equipment. Further, the company e ngages in renting and servicing portable restroom facilities to municipalities and commercial customers under the Port-o-Let name; and involves in landfill gas-to-energy operations comprising recovering and processing the methane gas produced naturally by landfills into a renewable energy source, as well as provides street and parking lot sweeping services. Additionally, it offers portable self-storage, fluorescent lamp recycling, and medical waste services for healthcare facilities, pharmacies, and individuals, as well as provides services on behalf of third parties to construct waste facilities. The company was formerly known as USA Waste Services, Inc. and changed its name to Waste Management, Inc. in 1998. Waste Management, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Damian Illia]

  Furthermore, the company has a wide economic moat largely stemming from three factors: its efficient scale, its high switching costs and its intangible assets. Of the 20 commercial hazardous-waste landfills operational in the U.S., the majority are run by US Ecology and its main competitors Waste Management Inc. (WM), and Clean Harbors Inc. (CLH). With barriers to entry stemming from regulatory permits, and a limited market size, ECOL has managed to achieve an efficient scale in the market with five hazardous waste-sides. The company�� intangible assets consist of long-term regulatory permits, which enable US Ecology to posses a ��atekeeper privilege��regarding barriers to new entrants. In addition, customer switching costs are high, thus further adding to the firm�� ability to sustain growth in the long term.

• [By Thomas Scarlett]

  Disposing of garbage may not be the most glamorous industry, but it can be a source of steady profits for investors.  Waste Management Inc. (NYSE: WM) has been the U.S. leader in this field for many years, and it remains that today.

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Tuesday

  Earnings Expected From: Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE: WM), Johnson Controls, Inc. (NYSE: JCI), Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA), LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD), Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) Economic Releases Expected: �US consumer confidence, US PPI, Canadian PPI, British mortgage approvals and consumer credit, French consumer confidence

  Wednesday

• [By Maxx Chatsko]

  Consider that municipalities and industrial giants such as�Waste Management� (NYSE: WM  ) �are converting their fleets -- in this case garbage trucks -- to�run on natural gas fuels�(link opens a video). It's a little easier for Waste Management, since it uses biogas generated from its managed landfills to fuel its own vehicles. Clean Energy Fuels also sources biomethane from one of its landfills in Dallas. In fact, the facility can produce up to 36,000 gasoline-equivalent gallons�each day. It's like the old saying goes: One man's trash is another man's fuel.��

Top Heal Care Stocks To Watch Right Now: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated(VRTX)

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated engages in discovering, developing, manufacturing, and commercializing small molecule drugs for the treatment of serious diseases worldwide. Its products include telaprevir, a prescription medicine used for the treatment of patients with genotype 1 hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection; and Ivacaftor, a prescription medicine used for the treatment of cystic fibrosis. The company markets its products under the INCIVEK brand name in the United States and Canada; INCIVO brand in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden, Austria, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, and Norway; KALYDECO brand in the United States; and TELAVIC brand in Japan. Its drug candidates comprise VX-222, a Phase II clinical trial drug candidate, and ALS-2200 and ALS-2158, a Phase I clinical trial drug candidates that are designed to inhibit the replication of HCV; VX-809 and VX-661, a Phase II clinical trial drug candidates that improve the function of defective cystic fibro sis; VX-509, a Phase II clinical trial drug candidate for the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases; VX-765, a Phase II clinical trial drug for the treatment of epilepsy; and VX-787, an investigational drug candidate for the treatment of influenza A. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Brian Orelli]

  Both drugs have to be taken with pegylated interferon and ribavirin, the former of which has to be injected and causes flu-like side effects. That's a big deal, especially since the drugs have to be taken for 12 weeks, although it's an improvement on the nearly year-long treatments that were required before oral medications including Vertex Pharmaceuticals' (NASDAQ: VRTX  ) Incivek and Merck's (NYSE: MRK  ) Victrelis were introduced.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) are in free-fall today following yesterday’s earnings-related plunge.

  This time its a downgrade that’s driving Vertex’s stock lower as Bernstein analyst Geoffrey Porges and team cut its shares to Marketperform from Outperform. They explain why:

  Our downgrade is based on the stock’s strong performance over the last nine months (+65%), the high value now accorded to the future expansion in their cystic fibrosis treatment revenue, our caution about the risks associated with the company’s ongoing phase III trials of Vx809 and Kalydeco, and the decreasing probability of any meaningful revenue from their remaining HCV asset, Vx135. While critics will suggest that our downgrade is a timing and valuation one, it seems unreasonable for us to encourage investors to ride out the stock’s volatility, and uncertainty, for programs and results that we expect to only show their full potential in 2015 or 2016, rather than 2014. We believe the stock is fairly valued in the mid $70′s, given the current stage and uncertainty about Vx809. We expect the stock to offer more upside after the company formally transitions their attention from Vx809 to its successor Vx661, and to the three drug combinations containing an additional corrector compound for the large number of patients with the commonest form of the disease. The recently announced restructuring was largely inevitable and probably falls short of many investors’ hoped-for cuts in expenses.

  Vertex had surged 62% back on April 19, when it announced trial results for one of its drugs. Now it looks like it’ll try to “fill in the gap”–or trading in the range missed by a big jump (This article on gap trading is a bit dated, but notes that the bigger the gap, the less likely a stock will continue heading in that direction.)

  Vertex has dropped 6.1% to $66.97 today at 2:24 p.m. but it’s f

• [By Brian Orelli]

  Sales of Vertex Pharmaceuticals' (NASDAQ: VRTX  ) cystic fibrosis drug, Kalydeco, increased 25% year over year in the third quarter, but that's nothing compared with the sales potential for its cystic fibrosis drug franchise.

Top Heal Care Stocks To Watch Right Now: ESSA Bancorp Inc. (ESSA)

ESSA Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for ESSA Bank & Trust that provides a range of financial services to individuals, families, and businesses in Pennsylvania. The company provides deposit accounts comprising savings accounts, NOW accounts, checking accounts, money market accounts, club accounts, certificates of deposit, IRAs, and other qualified plan accounts, as well as commercial checking accounts for businesses. It also offers residential first mortgage loans, including one-to-four family residential loans and construction mortgage loans; commercial real estate loans; home equity loans and lines of credit; and commercial and consumer loans, as well as various unsecured or secured loans, loans secured by deposits, personal loans, and automobile loans. In addition, the company provides asset management and trust services, and investment services, as well as insurance benefit consulting services, including health insurance, life insurance, short term and lo ng term disability, dental, vision, and 401(K) retirement planning, as well as individual health products. As of September 30, 2013, it operated 26 full-service banking offices, including 13 offices in Monroe County, 6 offices in Lehigh County, and 7 offices in Northampton County in Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1916 and is based in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tim Melvin]

  I get somewhat amused every day by the thousands of traders who spend all day trying to figure out what the hot stocks like Twitter (TWTR) and Facebook (FB) are going to do every day. Owning stocks like these two banks — or ones I have mentioned before, like ESSA Bancorp (ESSA) and Charter Financial (CHFN) — will be a far more profitable and relaxing endeavor over the next few years.

• [By Tim Melvin]

  Right now I know that silver miners like Pan American Silver (PAAS) and Coeur Mining (CDE) are very cheap on an asset basis. I know that oil and gas producers like Swift Energy (SFY) and WPX Energy (WPX) are priced as if no one will ever use the stuff again. I know that small banks like Cape Bancorp (CBNJ) and Essa Bancorp (ESSA) are crazy-cheap — and if the world does not end, those stocks will be a lot higher in a few years.

Top Heal Care Stocks To Watch Right Now: Wendel SA (MF)

Wendel SA is a France-based investor for the long-term as the majority or leading shareholder in listed or unlisted companies, taking the lead in order to accelerate the growth and development. The Firm takes part in the definition and implementation of ambitious strategies and provides the funding necessary. The investment strategy and development of the Firm takes place via close interaction with the management teams of the companies in which the Firm is a shareholder. This partnership is at the heart of the value creation process. The Firm offers active and constant support, sharing the risks and providing expertise as well as financial and technical skills. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John McCamant]

  Incyte Pharmaceuticals (INCY) recently held their quarterly conference call. Importantly, sales for Jakafi��n advanced compound used for the treatment of patients with intermediate or high-risk myelofibrosis (MF)��et or exceeded Wall Street's expectations.