Hot Features
Premium
Level up your trading with our powerful tools and real-time insights all in one place.
We advocate a “buy and hold” strategy. It’s really what investing is all about. You can take all of the stock market axioms, e.g., “By low, sell high,” and file them under “Advice that no one ever listens to, because they get too emotionally involved.” One of the reasons for that penchant for ignoring that advice is that the individual doesn’t know whether he bought too high too late or will sell too low too soon. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Novartis (NYSE:NVS) are two stocks that provide a comfort level that most others cannot.
Having said that, both of these stocks are currently on the rise as investor confidence in them continues to improve. Given what is expected for these companies to accomplish over the next several years, it is worth giving thought to investing in them sooner rather than later. Today is the bright future they spoke about last year and the year before. Next year and the following years are the bright future they are talking about today.
Tesla
I am a fan of Tesla. That should be obvious by now. The truth is that I am an even bigger fan of Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO and co-founder of PayPal and SpaceX. When all other similar entities are less than successful in their attempts to produce a viable and affordable electric car, Tesla’s success, past, present and future, is defying all the odds. It’s more than manufacturing a car. Tesla is about building the infrastructure whereby downstream the cars are able to be driven long distances and upstream to have a viable and continuing supply of components – batteries in particular.
Time and time again, Tesla exemplifies a proven commitment to the philosophy that problems are really opportunities.
Novartis
Novartis is ranked number one among pharmaceutical companies by sales. It was formed in 1999 by the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz Laboratories. Unlike Tesla, the issue for Novartis is retaining its leading position. Much of the company’s success can be attributed to patented products like Diovan, Ritalin, Lamisil and a slew of others. The perennial problem for pharmaceuticals is having something significant in the pipeline. When they don’t have anything in the pipeline, they acquire some company that does.
Novartis does not have that problem. In fact, it has a product that has so much market potential that its share price is rising lately simply on the prospect that the new drug, currently named LCZ696, brings.
Tesla and Novartis Share Price Activity
Two years ago, 05 September 2012, Tesla share price was 27.94. On the same date in 2013, it had grown to 169.93. At 3:35 EST today it is at 283.75, up 5.21% from Friday’s close of 269.70. This is the highest the stock has traded since its IPO is 2010. It’s previous record high was established on Friday, August 29th. The NYSE was not open yesterday.
James Albertine of Stifel upgraded Tesla yesterday, projecting that the share price will reach $400.00 based upon the aforementioned implementation of the company strategies, including increased production to 1,000 cars per month by the end of the year, a joint venture with Panasonic for battery design and production, and the construction of a “giga-factory,” most likely near Reno, Nevada. The $400 estimate makes purchasing Tesla shares, even at current record levels, attractive.
David Epstein of Novartis declared that LCZ696 “will be possible the most exciting launch the company has ever had.” Novartis’ share price also reached a record high at 93.55, up 4.13% from Friday’s close of 89.84. The company expects to launch LCZ696 in 2015, with some observers predicting sales in excess of $5 billion per year for a drug that appears to have the ability to provide significant results for patients with heart disease, reducing both the risk of hospitalization and death from cardiovascular disease by 20%.
The Tesla and Novartis trains are leaving the station. It’s reasonable to think that now, not next year, is the time to get on board.
