Best Biotech Stocks To Buy For 2014

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The broader market was essentially unchanged on a slow Monday of trading. 

Regarding the market entering "bubble territory," Tim Seymour, managing partner of Triogem Asset Management, said on CNBC's "Fast Money," that the market isn't necessarily in a "bubble" yet, but that it is starting to become a bit worrisome. 

He added that the amount of IPOs flooding the market could be a cause for concern. 

Josh Brown, a financial adviser at Ritholtz Wealth Management, reminded investors that the retail "mom and pop" players haven't been in the market for a while, so the rush to get in isn't that surprising. 

Guy Adami, managing director of stockmonster.com, said there are still a few solid secular trends playing out and he liked Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA). He warned investors to be careful with biotech stocks.  Seymour said the valuation for consumer staples is getting stretched, especially compared to their growth rates. He likes companies with exposure to emerging markets, like Pepsico (PEP) and Mondelez (MDLZ), and would be a seller of Doctor Pepper Snapple (DPS) and General Mills (GIS).  Brown called consumer staples the "ultimate irony" because it is considered the "safe-haven" of equities, but will likely feel a lot of pain when interest rates rise and money starts to flow out the stocks.  Liz Dunn, associate director of Macquarie Capital, was a guest on the show who said J.C. Penney (JCP) has enough liquidity to make it though most of 2014 and needs to maintain positive comp-sales. She added that she's cautious on Kohl's (KSS) and preferred more luxurious brands like Polo Ralph Lauren (RL), Coach (COH), and Nordstrom (JWN). 

Top Bank Companies To Watch For 2015: Johnson & Johnson(JNJ)

Johnson & Johnson engages in the research and development, manufacture, and sale of various products in the health care field worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Consumer, Pharmaceutical, and Medical Devices and Diagnostics. The Consumer segment provides products used in baby care, skin care, oral care, wound care, and women?s health care fields, as well as nutritional, over-the-counter pharmaceutical products, and wellness and prevention platforms under the brands of JOHNSON?S, AVEENO, CLEAN & CLEAR, JOHNSON?S Adult, NEUTROGENA, RoC, LUBRIDERM, DABAO, LISTERINE, REACH, BAND-AID, CAREFREE, STAYFREE, SPLENDA, TYLENOL, SUDAFED, ZYRTEC, MOTRIN IB, and PEPCID AC. The Pharmaceutical segment offers products in various therapeutic areas, such as anti-infective, antipsychotic, contraceptive, dermatology, gastrointestinal, hematology, immunology, neurology, oncology, pain management, and virology. Its principal products include REMICADE for the treatment of immune me diated inflammatory diseases; STELARA for the treatment of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis; SIMPONI, a treatment for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis; VELCADE for the treatment of multiple myeloma; PREZISTA and INTELENCE for treating HIV/AIDS patients; NUCYNTA for moderate to severe acute pain; INVEGA SUSTENNAtm for the acute and maintenance treatment of schizophrenia in adults; RISPERDAL CONSTA for the management of bipolar I disorder and schizophrenia; and PROCRIT to stimulate red blood cell production. The Medical Devices and Diagnostics segment primarily offers circulatory disease management products; orthopaedic joint reconstruction, spinal care, and sports medicine products; surgical care, aesthetics, and women?s health products; blood glucose monitoring and insulin delivery products; professional diagnostic products; and disposable contact lenses. The company was founded in 1886 and is based in Ne w Brunswick, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Big Earnings Movers: Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is down 1.5% at $48.87 after weak earnings. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is up 0.1% at $89.92 as growth slows. The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) is down 0.7% at $37.66 on following an uninspiring third quarter report.

• [By Alyssa Oursler]

  Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) isn’t dependable just because it provides everything from Band-Aids to Tylenol to baby shampoo. It also provides shareholders with steady-eddy dividend. Yes, Johnson & Johnson has been paying a dividend since 1944 — a long enough track record to make it a Dependable Dividend stock.

• [By Chris Hill]

  In this installment, our analysts discuss four stock market movers.�Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ  ) climbs on earnings news. J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP  ) taps a credit line and shares rise. And Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS  ) and Target (NYSE: TGT  ) slip despite both reporting better-than-expected earnings.

Best Biotech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Nektar Therapeutics(NKTR)

Nektar Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in developing a pipeline of drug candidates that utilize its PEGylation and polymer conjugate technology platforms. The company?s product pipeline consists of drug candidates across various therapeutic areas, including oncology, pain, anti-infectives, anti-viral, and immunology. Its research and development activities involve small molecule drugs, peptides, and other potential biologic drug candidates. The company?s proprietary drug candidates in clinical development comprise NKTR-118, a peripheral opioid antagonist, which has completed Phase II clinical trail for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation; BAY41-6551 that has completed Phase II clinical trail to treat gram-negative pneumonias; NKTR-102, a topoisomerase I inhibitor-polymer conjugate, which is in Phase II clinical trail for multiple cancer indications, including breast, ovarian, and colorectal; and NKTR-105 that is in Phase I clinica l trail to treat solid tumors. Its preclinical products consists of NKTR-119 (Opioid/NKTR-118 combinations) for the treatment of pain; NKTR-181 (abuse deterrent, tamper-resistant opioid) to treat pain; NKTR-194 (non-scheduled opioid) for the treatment of mild to moderate pain; NKTR-171 (tricyclic antidepressant) to treat neuropathic pain; and NKTR-140 (protease inhibitor candidate) to treat HIV. The company has collaboration with Bayer Healthcare LLC to develop BAY41-6551 (NKTR-061, Amikacin Inhale), which is an inhaled solution of amikacin, an aminoglycoside antibiotic; and a license agreement with AstraZeneca AB for the development and commercialization of Oral NKTR-118 and NKTR-119. In addition, Nektar Therapeutics has various license, manufacturing, and supply agreements for its technology with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, such as Affymax, Amgen, Baxter, Roche, Merck, Pfizer, and UCB Pharma. The company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in San Franc isco, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lu Wang]

  Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) tumbled 24 percent, its biggest slide in five years, to $10.54. The company said a study of the slow-release painkiller NKTR-181 showed it failed to meet the primary endpoint of a Phase 2 study, citing an ��nusual lack��of a gain in pain scores for patients taking a placebo.

• [By Keith Speights]

  How sweet it is
  Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NKTR  ) shareholders saw sweet gains this week. The stock climbed 18% on positive clinical study results.

• [By Sean Williams]

  Levadex's approval or rejection could also mean a good or bad day for Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NKTR  ) , which looks to gain from royalty rights based on its contributions to Levadex's development. While impossible to predict, I'm going to go out on a limb and project an approval for Allergan.

Best Biotech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Stemline Therapeutics Inc (STML)

Stemline Therapeutics, Inc. (Stemline), incorporated on August 8, 2003, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, acquiring, developing and commercializing therapeutics that target both cancer stem cells (CSCs) and tumor bulk. The Company is developing two clinical-stage product candidates, SL-401 and SL-701, for which it holds global marketing rights. The indication for SL-401, a biologic-drug conjugate, is acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The indications for SL-701, a synthetic peptide vaccine, are pediatric and adult brain cancer. It has a platform, StemScreen, for the discovery of CSC-targeted compounds, from which it has discovered or validated several of its clinical and preclinical product candidates. Stemline�� StemScreen consists of StemScreen-1 and StemScreen-2 for the identification of CSC-directed compounds.

SL-301 is a small molecule gamma-secretase inhibitor that inhibits Notch, a pathway expressed by CSCs and tumor bulk of multiple cancer types. SL-101 is a monoclonal antibody-based (mAb -based) compound that targets CD123 and has shown in vitro activity against certain hematologic cancers. SL-201 is a small molecule active against certain hematologic and solid tumor types. SL-601 is a mAb-based compound that targets a cell surface marker on bladder CSCs, which is also expressed on a variety of other solid tumor types. It has also in-licensed certain intellectual property directed to mAb-based therapeutics to validated oncology targets, including Glypican-3, Tie-1, CD133, Frizzled, Smoothened and Patched.

SL-401 - An IL-3R-Directed Compound Targeting Cancer Stem Cells and Tumor Bulk

SL-401 is a clinically active biologic-drug conjugate consisting of human interleukin-3 (IL-3) genetically linked to a truncated version of diphtheria toxin. SL-401 targets the IL-3 receptor (IL-3R), which is overexpressed on both the CSCs and tumor bulk of multiple hematologic cancers, including AML. SL-401 has demonstrated preclinical in vit! ro and in vivo activity against both leukemia blasts (which includes tumor bulk) and CSCs of a range of human leukemia cell lines and primary leukemia cells from patients.

SL-701

SL-701 is a clinically active synthetic peptide vaccine that targets several epitopes on CSCs and tumor bulk of brain cancer. In two completed Phase 1/2 clinical trials, SL-701 demonstrated single agent anti-tumor activity in pediatric patients with newly diagnosed brainstem glioma (BSG) and other high-grade gliomas (HGGs) and in adult patients with refractory or recurrent GBM, and other HGGs.

StemScreen-1

StemScreen-1 is a drug discovery platform designed to identify CSC-targeted compounds based on the isolation of CSCs and evaluation of CSC gene expression profiles. CSCs are isolated from primary tumor tissue or cell lines, and then subjected to gene expression analysis using a variety of technologies, including microarray. A control tissue, such as normal bone marrow is analyzed as a comparator against the gene expression profile of the isolated CSCs. These data are then interfaced with an information base of compounds and their mechanisms of action (that is which gene products and pathways they impact). It has utilized StemScreen-1 to discover a number of its preclinical drug candidates. These include SL-201, SL-301, and SL-601. In addition, SL-401 demonstrated activity against CSCs as determined by both an in vitro colony formation and in vivo animal implantation assay, thereby validating certain StemScreen-1 anti-CSC assays.

StemScreen-2

StemScreen-2 is a high throughput drug discovery platform it is developing to discover anti-CSC compounds. StemScreen-2 utilizes a cell-based assay that can track and follow CSCs in their natural state during high throughput screening. In particular, StemScreen-2 utilizes a CSC-specific promoter linked to a reporter as a method for identifying and following CSCs in their native environment of surrounding tumor b! ulk. In t! his way, StemScreen-2 enables the identification of compound hits, in a high throughput manner, with anti-CSC activity.

The Company competes with Boston Biomedical, Inc., Eclipse Therapeutics, Inc., OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Verastem, Inc., Astellas Pharma US, Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. Ltd., Geron Corp., GlaxoSmithKline plc, ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd, Macrogenics Inc., Amgen, Inc., Pfizer Inc., Roche Holding AG, Sanofi U.S. LLC., Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc., Clavis Pharma ASA, Ambit Biosciences Corporation, Celgene Corporation, Eisai Co. Ltd., Celator Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Merck & Co., Inc., Eisai Co., Inc., Roche Holding AG, Novartis AG and Celldex Therapeutics, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jay Silverman]

  Some of the biggest leaders in that field, and there have been dozens in fields, if not more this year, such as Bluebird (BLUE) and Stemline Therapeutics (STML) and have all pulled back to significantly lower levels; even below, in Bluebird's case, the price that had actually opened up as an IPO, even though it's above its IPO price.

Best Biotech Stocks To Buy For 2014: InterMune Inc.(ITMN)

InterMune, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the research, development, and commercialization of therapies in pulmonology and fibrotic diseases. In pulmonology, the company focuses on therapies for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a progressive and fatal lung disease. It markets pirfenidone, an orally active drug that inhibits the synthesis of TGF-beta under the Esbriet name in the European Union, as well as in a Phase III clinical trial in the United States. Pirfenidone is also approved for the treatment of IPF in Japan, where it is marketed by Shionogi & Co. Ltd. under the Pirespa trade name. The company?s research programs focus on the discovery of small-molecule therapeutics and biomarkers to treat and monitor serious pulmonary and fibrotic diseases. InterMune, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Brisbane, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Shares of InterMune (NASDAQ: ITMN) got a boost, shooting up 13.90 percent to $39.07 after the company presented Phase 3 ASCEND study of Pirfenidone in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Leerink upgraded the stock from Market Perform to Outperform.

• [By John Udovich]

  The biotech sector may have lost some favor on Wall Street, but there is still plenty of interesting or overlooked news about the sector and/or biotech stocks like InterMune Inc (NASDAQ: ITMN), Biogen Idec Inc (NASDAQ: BIIB), Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ: ALXN), United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ: UTHR) and TNI BioTech, Inc (OTCMKTS: TNIB):

• [By Rich Smith]

  On Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged a former vice president of finance, accounting officer, and controller of InterMune (NASDAQ: ITMN  ) with insider trading.

• [By Luke Jacobi]

  Shares of InterMune (NASDAQ: ITMN) got a boost, shooting up 12.82 percent to $38.71 after the company presented Phase 3 ASCEND study of Pirfenidone in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Leerink upgraded the stock from Market Perform to Outperform.

Best Biotech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Puma Biotechnology Inc (PBYI)

Puma Biotechnology, Inc., incorporated in April 2007, is a development-stage biopharmaceutical company that acquires and develops products for the treatment of various forms of cancer. The Company focuses on in-licensing drug candidates that are undergoing or have already completed initial clinical testing for the treatment of cancer and then seeks to further develop those drug candidates for commercial use. As of December 31, 2011, the Company licensed three drug candidates: PB272 (neratinib (oral)), which the Company is developing for the treatment of advanced breasts cancer patients and gastric cancer patients; PB272 (neratinib (intravenous)), which the Company is developing for the treatment of advanced cancer patients, and PB357.

PB272 (neratinib (oral))-Breast Cancer

Neratinib is a potent irreversible tyrosine kinase inhibitor, or TKI, that blocks signal transduction through the epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFRs), HER1, HER2 and HER4. The Company's initial focus is on the development of neratinib as an oral treatment of patients with HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer.

PB272 (neratinib (intravenous))

The Company develops neratinib as an intravenously administered agent. In pre-clinical studies the intravenous version of neratinib resulted in higher exposure levels of neratinib in pre-clinical models.

PB357

PB357 is an orally administered agent that is an irreversible TKI that blocks signal transduction through the epidermal growth factor receptors, HER1, HER2, and HER4. PB357 is structurally similar to PB272. Pfizer completed single dose Phase I trials of PB357. The Company is evaluating PB357.

The Company competes with Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, Roche, Boehringer Ingelheim, Takeda, Array Biopharma and Ambit Biosciences.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Anna Prior]

  Puma Biotechnology Inc.(PBYI) reported positive top-line data from the Phase II clinical trial of the biopharmaceutical company’s investigational drug PB272 for the neoadjuvant treatment of breast cancer.

• [By George Budwell]

  With that being said, developmental biotechs that fall hard on news could be worth taking a look at because they may have fallen for all the wrong reasons. Puma Biotechnology (NYSE: PBYI  ) , for example, plummeted by 25% about a month ago after reporting mid-stage clinical trial data for the company's flagship cancer drug PB272 (neratinib).

Best Biotech Stocks To Buy For 2014: OncoSec Medical Inc (ONCS)

OncoSec Medical Incorporated, incorporated on February 8, 2008, is an emerging drug-medical device company. The Company focused on designing, developing and commercializing medical approaches for the treatment of solid cancers. In March 2011, the Company acquired from Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Inovio) certain assets related to the use of drug-medical device combination products for the treatment of different cancers.

The Company�� acquired assets relate to certain non-deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) vaccine technology and property relating to selective tumor ablation technologies, which it refers to as the OncoSec Medical System (OMS), a therapy which uses an electroporation device to facilitate delivery of chemotherapy agents, or nucleic acids encoding cytokines, into tumors and/or surrounding tissue for the treatment and diagnosis of various cancers. As of January 24, 2012, the Company had not generated any revenue from operations.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Small cap biotech stocks AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ: AVEO), OncoSec Medical Inc (OTCMKTS: ONCS) and MetaStat Inc (OTCBB: MTST) are focused on or are developing treatments or diagnostic technologies for metastatic cancers. In case you aren�� familiar with the term metastasis or metastatic, it�� the�spread of cancer from its primary site to other places in the body as cancer cells break away from a primary tumor, penetrate into lymphatic and blood vessels, circulate through the bloodstream and then grow in a new focus (metastasize) in normal tissues elsewhere in the body. In other words, it�� a dangerous form of cancer, but there are some small cap biotech stocks targeting it for diagnostics or treatment:

• [By James E. Brumley]

  If you're looking for the next big biotech breakout stock, then OncoSec Medical Inc. (OTCMKTS:ONCS) deserves a place on your watchlist. This volatile cancer play has been down more than up 2011, but if you look closely at a long-term chart of ONCS, you may find it's already wiggled its way into a new uptrend. And, it may be only a matter of time before the bullish fireworks start to go off.

• [By James E. Brumley]

  How does the old saying go? Beggars can't be choosers? Two weeks ago, yours truly penned some bullish comments regarding OncoSec Medical Inc. (OTCMKTS:ONCS). The long and short of it was, if ONCS could clear a technical ceiling around $0.36, then life would get much easier for the bulls.