Sunday, March 16, 2014

All That Jazz

For some time now, I've had my eye on this Ireland-based mid-cap biotech that specializes in compounds designed to address unmet medical needs—which biotech insiders tend to refer to as "orphan diseases," explains Michael Robinson in Money Morning.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC (JAZZ) has a strong expertise in treating narcolepsy, chronic pain, blood disease, cancer, and some psychiatric disorders.

The company has been busy on the acquisitions circuit. It's buying promising drug compounds from peer companies. And it's buying rivals outright.

It's turned out to be an excellent strategy for Jazz. In December, Jazz agreed to pay about $1 billion to acquire Gentium S.p.A., an Italian biotech firm that develops treatments for rare diseases, which is Jazz's main focus.

In mid-January, Jazz agreed to acquire a late-stage drug candidate for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness from privately held Aerial Biopharma.

While Jazz shares trade at around $160 a share, I believe it can easily double from here. Let me show you how by running it through the five "filters" that make up my tech-investing strategy.

Great companies have great operations: We look for excellent leaders who know how to build a top-notch franchise. Jazz co-founder and CEO Bruce Cozadd certainly understands how to do just that.

Separate the signal from the noise: To create real wealth, you have to ignore Wall Street's hype machine and focus on firms with excellent fundamentals. And Jazz certainly has a great foundation. The company has operating margins of 41% and a return on stockholders' equity (ROE) of 31%.

Ride the unstoppable trends: You'll find that the best opportunities to achieve life-changing gains come from sectors that will remain red hot over the long-term. Biotech promises decades of steadily expanding sales and profits.

Focus on growth: Companies that have the strongest growth rates almost always offer the highest stock returns. Over the past three years, Jazz has grown its sales by a stunning 84%.

Target stocks that can double your money: I'm projecting that earnings per share will grow at roughly 30% a year over the next five years, which means it should take about 2.4 years for profits—and the value of our investment—to double.

Because I'm always conservative in my estimates, we'll add in a bit of a cushion due to the earnings miss. I still think this stock can double in three years or less, which makes it one heck of a promising profit play. Add it all up and, with Jazz, you have a stock that's the literal definition of "strategic growth."

The company's management team has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to create, or find and buy, growth. Jazz buys new drugs and other firms that fit its own long-term focus on high growth and fat profits. And it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

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