It's quite an exciting time to be involved with casino operator MGM Mirage
But even with CityCenter ready to try and substantiate its slogan -- "Capital of the New World" -- is MGM's stock worth the gamble? Nearly 1,200 members of the Motley Fool CAPS community have weighed in on this question, and with a resulting two-star rating, the answer would seem to be "no."
Despite this lousy CAPS rating, though, quite a few community members have scored big by betting on this Las Vegas giant. portefeuille2, who is ranked in the top 1% of all CAPS members, is one of those prescient enough to jump on the stock when it was trading at a darn-near-death price. This savvy stock picker bagged a massive 437 points of market outperformance by making an outperform call on MGM on March 6.
portefeuille2 is one of CAPS' All-Stars -- players with a rating of 80 or greater -- and has managed an impressive stock-picking accuracy of 67% while racking up more than 12,000 points. MGM isn't this player's only great call. Here's a look at a few of the other prescient picks:
|
Company |
Date Picked |
Date Ended |
Call |
Points^ |
CAPS Rating
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Dendreon |
3/26/09 |
9/15/09 |
Outperform |
501 |
** |
|
Las Vegas Sands |
3/6/09 |
5/4/09 |
Outperform |
305 |
** |
|
Bank of America |
3/6/09 |
5/6/09 |
Outperform |
223 |
*** |
Data from CAPS.
^Number of percentage points by which the call has outperformed the S&P 500.
So what has this investor been looking at more recently? Here are a few of the most recent calls on CAPS:
|
Company |
Date Picked |
Call |
CAPS Rating
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Vertex Pharmaceuticals |
11/12/09 |
Outperform |
*** |
|
MetroPCS Communications |
11/5/09 |
Outperform |
*** |
|
STEC |
11/4/09 |
Outperform |
*** |
Data from CAPS.
While not all of these picks may pan out, they could be a good place to start further research. I decided to take a closer look at Motley Fool Rule Breakers favorite Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Hepatitis, cystic fibrosis, and IMID -- oh my!
If you want a lesson in patience and trust, you may want to consider investing in a development-stage biotech company. Without any marketed drugs, these companies typically rack up massive losses, hoping to strike gold when one of their drugs finally clears regulatory hurdles.
Though the company isn't marketing any drugs, Vertex Pharmaceuticals isn't without a track record. It partnered with GlaxoSmithKline
Today, both the company and its investors have their sights set on telaprevir, a hepatitis C virus (HCV) drug in phase 3 clinical trials. The company is also working on drugs to treat cystic fibrosis and immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID) such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Don't bother looking at Vertex's income statement unless you like the color red. The company's bottom line has been underwater for a long time, and will likely continue to be until one of its drugs makes a big splash. But with more than 3 million Americans infected with the life-threatening HCV, there's good reason for investors to have high hopes for telaprevir.
On CAPS, though the stock has managed only a mediocre three-star rating, more than 550 members have rated it an outperformer. All-Star CaptainFiveBaggr gave a thumbs-up over the summer and highlighted both the risk and potential reward for investors:
This company is feast or famine. They spend too much cash on a regular basis. But the management has had a clear view of their goals and are sticking to them. Would be great if they could spend less $$$/per quarter. But hopefully late phase drugs reach public distribution sometime in the next 3-5 years. If not they are in REAL trouble. See ya later Hep C
But here's the important question: What's your take? Will Vertex deliver on the drug front? Get in the action by clicking over to the company's CAPS page. It's absolutely free and CAPS already has more than145,000 stock pickers chipping in to find the best stocks out there.
Curious how to avoid losing big by selling out? Joe Magyer tells you why you should buy right, buy early, then hold on.
