Welcome and monthly contribution collections.
Connie sat in for Carlos and helped John reported on the status of Club Biomed's real portfolio. Shares are now worth $29.53. Money invested at the first meeting returned 16%. Regeneron continued to appreciate and then pulled back for a 110% gain. PFE gad moved into positive territory and is up 9% and has given us a 2% dividend yield. TEVA continues to appreciate (now up 42%) and pays a small dividend
John reported on our indexes. Mutual funds (now up 7% from a loss last month (-3.6%)). Virtual one (up 172%%!!!!). Random Walk (up 29%) which is the best of the lot.
Educational presentation/discussion: We continued the discussion of creating a sell discipline and each partner commented on the question: To what extent should we consider a fall in the market when deciding to sell? John discussed the strategy of market timing and presented some expert opinions and data on the strategy. We concluded with an open discussion of whether we should move stocks in and out of the market and the major opinion that emerged was that it was dependent on the individual position and that we should try to be fully invested as much as possible. There was a diversity of other opinions and this will be a topic for continuing discussion.
IDPH Presentation: John, Connie, Jordan, Beth, and Justin finished their IDPH presentation and proposed that we purchase 80 shares (about $3200). Their reasoning was that this was a proven company with real profits and money in the bank. The profits would grow organically on the basis of existing approved drugs, which would gain acceptance and find new uses. Zevalin should grow faster that anticipated and is going to be marketed by the company directly. The potential of Rituxan for autoimmune diseases (especially Rheumatoid Arthritis) is great (a billion per year). We anticipate a jump when the next set of trials are announced (we think it will be very effective). This should occur in the fall. We should re-evaluate at that time because we do not see convincing evidence for strong drugs in the pipeline. If one emerges, it would be a candidate for continued growth. If not, we may be wise to sell it for a short-term profit. Slides from the presentation will be added to the web site.
Should we sell REGN? After discussion we decided to sell the entire position but continue to watch the stock (John, who was the stock watcher and Neil will do this). Briefly, we bought it because it was a volatile stock and we anticipate good news. We ere lucky to buy it on a dip (see may minutes) and it has appreciate considerably. Much of the appreciation was due to news about VEGF-trap, but Axokine and other traps are still of great interest.
Should we sell PFE? Steve, who is the stock-watcher for PFE presented the current status of the company. He said it remains strong and that our concerns with the merger with Pharmacia were no longer a concern. The stock does follow the market, but it is a strong player in most markets (indeed it is often #1). It is currently benefiting form good news about Lipitor. Over the last week it appreciated about 5%. Steve also pointed out that it filled the niche of a big pharma company in our portfolio, so it was worth following from an education perspective. John noted that its dividend was better than the rate we got on money market funds and he wanted to maximize our exposure to stocks. There was little support for selling PFE at this time, but it could be sold if there was a need for money for more interesting stocks.
Steve's presentation on TLRK was postponed 'til the July meeting. He will work with Jeanne and Marc.
New Partners added to Club Biomed. Hsiou-Chi Liou, Marc Otten, and Jide Aniukwu asked to join the partnership and were accepted by acclimation.
Planned Agenda items for JULY meeting includes:
-- submitted by John Wagner