With the future of Wall Street in doubt, many who aspire to join the financial industry are wondering if they'll find jobs. But what's bad news for finance may be good news for stronger industries that are arguably more productive.
As the financial industry does its best to survive, students from top business schools such as Wharton are now rethinking their options. And while some will inevitably stick with Wall Street through thick and thin, many of the world's brightest young minds may well avoid finance.
Where they'll go
If they start putting those big brains to use elsewhere, we could easily see long-run benefits to the United States and its trading partners. For instance, I looked at the technology and health-care industries to seek out small firms with great growth potential.
Screening for expected five-year earnings growth, I found some good prospects that analysts seem particularly optimistic about. Some are quite speculative, though, so you'll definitely want to get comfortable with firm fundamentals and your own due diligence before investing your own money in them.
In the health-care sector, you'll find many different interesting sub-sectors. For instance, in biotechnology, I see companies like Amylin (Nasdaq: AMLN ) leading the pack, with its diabetes drug with a beneficial weight-loss side effect -- even though activist investor Carl Icahn announced earlier this month that he wants Amylin's current board chair to resign. I'm also interested in a couple of higher-risk plays:
- AMAG Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: AMAG ) has no debt but only minimal gross revenue and big losses. If the FDA approves its iron deficiency-treating drug, ferumoxytol, though, then shares could pay off.
- CardioNet (Nasdaq: BEAT ) provides wireless solutions for monitoring outpatient health and preventing complications arising from cardiovascular disease. Having only recently become profitable and with its short operating history, though, CardioNet may cause increased blood pressure in risk-averse investors.
Meanwhile, in technology, you'll find interesting ideas around the globe. Chinese Internet media company Sohu.com (Nasdaq: SOHU ) is a debt-free cash flow machine with five-year expected earnings growth of 37%. As a supplier to the solar industry, GT Solar (Nasdaq: SOLR ) has healthy financials and could produce 50% growth over the next five years.
And in a crossover opportunity, Omnicell (Nasdaq: OMCL ) is a technology firm that caters to the health-care sector. Its medication management solutions may not sound like big business, but the company brought in $13 million in profits last year and looks to continue to grow.
With our best and brightest working on tangible projects and not intangible financial products, we can expect more innovation and broader economic growth from those sectors. That can only mean good news not just for those sectors but for the entire economy.
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