Credit: Shutterstock photoLet me start off today's issue with a warning...
I'm not trying to sound alarmist. It does absolutely zero good if you walk away from today's essay with a "the sky is falling" mentality. I certainly don't think that, and neither should you.
That being said, I've been spending a lot of time around the office thinking about a topic that has dominated headlines recently -- one that StreetAuthority's Andy Obermueller has been spot-on with his analysis since Day 1.
I'm talking about pandemics.
Now, again, I want to be perfectly clear that we're not saying some sort of global pandemic is imminent. But if you've paid any attention to the news regarding the Ebola outbreaks in Africa -- and its move to the United States -- you know that the next potential outbreak of some kind is always around the corner.
Since first being discovered in 1976, the most recent outbreak of Ebola has been the most deadly. At last count the World Health Organization concluded it has infected 24,797 people in West Africa and killed an astonishing 8,764. This deadly strain of Ebola has a 60 percent fatality rate. To put that in perspective, the 1918 flu pandemic had a fatality rate between 10-20 percent... and it still killed over 50 million people.
As I said, Andy Obermueller has been spending a lot of time researching and writing about pandemics in his premium newsletter, Game-Changing Stocks . It started back when Andy met a woman named Anna Mummert in Huntington, West Virginia. Anna and her husband Carl are professors in the mathematics department at Marshall University.
Anna spends her time, as Andy puts it, using "highly sophisticated algorithms to model and project the spread of various infectious diseases. It's supercomputer stuff, but it's easy for a non-math person to grasp conceptually."
Last year, Andy dedicated an entire issue of Game-Changing Stocks to the topic of pandemics, including an interview with Dr. Mummert. It was one of the most insightful, interesting pieces of research Andy's ever written -- the kind of thing you won't find anywhere else.
But here's what you need to know... As Dr. Mummert said in her interview with Andy:
Bottom line : viruses like Ebola -- in their current state -- are simply too deadly to cause a full-blown pandemic. The Ebola threat is a very serious concern, but it's transmitted through direct contact with blood or bodily fluids. So the potential for the rapid widespread infection of the Ebola virus is unlikely.
That's not to say a less-deadly virus couldn't cause a pandemic at some point in the future, however. In fact, in a follow-up issue of Game-Changing Stocks , Andy talked more specifically about the Ebola Virus (well before it gained widespread news coverage) and warned about the "perfect storm" that could kick off the next global pandemic.
So while Ebola may not be the source of the next global pandemic, Andy believes the next potential threat is always around the corner. And while that may sound "alarmist," keep in mind that the good folks at the Centers for Disease Control -- and America's pharmaceutical companies -- know this as well.
In that same follow-up issue, Andy described his favorite companies that are preparing to combat Ebola and other deadly viruses like it. These companies stand to make early investors a lot of money in the process. Take a look at this short list of some of his top picks and how they've performed since he's written about them:
While these stocks have already posted nice returns since Andy recommended them in early 2014, there's plenty of room for them to run. After all, as populations grow and the world gets smaller, developing treatments against potential pandemic-causing viruses will be more important than ever.
But these aren't the only companies poised to benefit from increased demand for vaccines and treatments...
In his latest report, The 10 Most Shockingly Profitable Predictions for 2016 , Andy gives the name and ticker symbol of his absolute favorite pick -- a company that's could potentially create groundbreaking new vaccines and drugs to fight the spread of a future outbreak.
It's a $2 billion company that has seen its top line grow to the $31 million range from just $330,000 in 2009. Its treatment for the H5N1 flu strain is in Phase II trials. It is also in the early testing stage for a dozen other compounds for seasonal and pandemic influenza.
This little-known company has enormous upside in the unfortunate event that its products become immediately necessary. Early investors would do well to get out ahead of the curve on this one.
You can learn more about the company -- along with the rest of Andy's "shocking" predictions -- by clicking here .
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
