Don’t tell me we’re not doing anything for readers of of free service, the TFN eNews, and visitors of our TFN home page.

On August 20, we posted a free TFN Special Report, The Top Swine Flu Vaccine Stocks under $20, in which we recommended three stocks.

One of them, Sinovac (AMEX:SVA), gave us 30% gains on Aug. 28.

Today, the arguably largest and slowest-moving of the pig flu trip stepped on the gas. On Aug. 20, I recommended you “buy Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Limited (NYSE:RDY) under $16.50 for possible gains of 10-15% throughout 2010.”

Today, our Indian generics wallah is trading at $20.43. In our TFN tracking portfolio, this clocks in as a 25.95% gain.

I say we take it!

Source: Take 26% Gains on Indian Pharma Giant Dr. Reddy’s (RDY)

Gold’s been going up, knocking at the $1,000-an-ounce gate. Why exactly I can’t tell you… its principal bullish factor, inflation, being vortually non-existent in today’s deflationary market.

That leaves the fear of reckless U.S. Congress wrecking the dollar with huge new debt loads… and of an Administration that seems dead-set on crippling U.S. economic competitiveness for decades to come.

Valid fears, indeed, fueled by every redistributionist soundbyte slopping out of Washington.

Silver, too, has been gaining steadily. Our Hot Stock Confidential silver mining play Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE: CDE) is up 23%, Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) is up 18%, and — after a horrendous 40%-drop ofer our May recommendation — Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) has clawed back to a gain over 2%.

(HSC Members who used the dip to buy, as we kept recommending in our weekly updates, have almost doubled their money since May.)

We think there’s plenty more short-term potential. But despite my bullish long-term view on silver, the high volatility in the precious metals markets makes me inclined to take profits in the double-digit range, rather than hang on for the heftier triple-digit gains I foresee in the long term.

Source: Midas touch: Rising Gold Prices Guide Coeur d’Alene Mines, Silver Wheaton, Hecla Mining to Strong Gains

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (AMEX:SVA) is up 30.00%…

Vical Incorporated (NASDAQ:VICL) is up 16.05%…

Even staid-and-steady Indian generics brahmin Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (NYSE:RDY) is up 3.64%…

No moonshoots, for sure, but 30% in six days beats getting getting your chest waxed. (Or so I’ve heard.)

(The pig flu picks I reserved for our HSC members were a bit smaller… and just a tad more risky. That risk’s been paying off for one stock that shot up over 20% today, for total gains of over 40% in less than a week. But I’m digging in and holding for more..)

Source: First Gains on Swine Flu Vaccine Stocks

When I asked Bin Lu, my Chinese fencing coach, earlier this summer if he’d be embarking on his annual pilgrimage to China this summer, he seemed dubious.

“Afraid they put me in quarantine,” he said. “Swine flu.”

Indeed, his hesitation seemed reasonable: A volleyball team from my son’s high school spent most of their trip to China locked up in a Beijing hotel. And the Kawasaki delegation of Japanese scouts that part of our Boy Scout troop had been preparing to host for the better part of a year canceled their visit for fear of the porcine virus.

So I knew I was facing a turning point last night when I heard that Coach Bin had left for Shanghai, sticking me with a bunch of kids signed up for fencing lessons on Thursday night.

The news today confirmed my suspicions:

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (AMEX:SVA) has developed a swine flu vaccine that is now safe. According to reports, it protects people after a single shot.

Inoculation has caused no severe adverse reactions in the 1,614 volunteers who received it, according to the company.

“The results are the first reported anywhere in the world on a vaccine to fight the new H1N1 strain that’s sparked the first influenza pandemic in 41 years,” said the company.

With U.S. vaccine manufacturers already behind schedule producing the amounts of vaccine ordered up by the U.S. government, that means Sinovac has the inside track on the world H1N1 vaccine market.

The stock rose over 10% today. Keep an eye on the stock… if U.S. manufacturers are not catching up, this one may be a medium-term winner.

Source: Sinuvac (SVA) Reports Swine Flu Success

The times, they are a-changin’! These days, you could become 51% owner of Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:PLA) for less than $50 million. I’m not sure what you’d do with half of Hef’s robe or half of his harem of nubile blondes. But it sure has a certain ring to it!

If you wanted to become half-owner of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL), however, you’d have to shell out $1.35 billion! Comic books are now worth 27 times as much as the well-written articles and witty cartoons that I hear are the sales engine of Playboy magazine.

The interesting part of this is that the demographic both businesses used to appeal to are nearly identical: Adolescent and post-adolescent male virgins.

Only that Playboy’s original audience apparently has outgrown the franchise. While Marvel’s demographics steadfastly refuses to grow up.

Of course, it’s never too late to have a happy childhood.

But there’s a lesson in it regarding what’s shaping up to be the most titillating IPO this year: After dragging their feet for over a year, “adult” social networking company FriendFinder Networks—which absorbed Playboy’s competitor Penthouse a while ago—filed it’s Form S1 with the SEC
on May 18.

The company remains heavily loss-making as free networking and porn sites are eroding what’s left of its market share. Whatever fizz there will be in the actual offering will be media-generated.

The proposed ticker for this stock is NYSE:FFN, which unfortunately remains taken by an unrelated company, the initial amount of the offering (filed last December) was $460 million.

It looks like a prime candidate to shorting the day after the IPO is launched.

Source: Playboy’s (NYSE:PLA) Numbers Don’t Add Up to Much in Regard to the FriendFinder IPO

After dropping from $147 last July close to $30 this past winter, crude oil is now trading within a reasonably tight track around $40 and $57.

Now it’s on the move again, breaking through $60 right at the beginning of the summer driving and hurricane seasons.

But oil companies’ proud profit margins of yesteryear have disappeared… along with the easy credit that allowed investment banks and hedge funds leverage crude prices to record highs.

Suddenly, not even the most pink politician is talking punitive taxation against oil companies any more. The euphemisms “surcharge” and “windfall profits” have gone with the wind. Share prices of Exxon (NYSE:XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) are down 30-40%… just like the rest of the market.

Our team of analyst has compiled a concise list of the five oil companies you should have in your portfolio. They represent a strategic selection… ranging from U.S. refiners benefiting from lower crude prices and tight inventories to tiny, undervalued oil producers working in regions that will represent a hotbed for demand from China and Russia.

Oil Stock #1: The Refiner

There are companies that have been benefiting nicely from oil’s reversal of fortune. Especially refiners, whose cost basis has been cut by 70% over last year’s peak, assisted by lower crude prices and a stronger dollar.

Take Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P. (NASDAQ: CLMT). This U.S.-based refiner and maker of petro-based specialty products just reported Q1 net income of $75.6 million, compared to a net loss of $3.4 million in the first quarter of 2008.

Its adjusted EBITDA of $50.1 million for Q1′09 reflects an increase of $35.2 million over Q1′08.

Despite the substantial drop in gasoline demand (Calumet’s quarterly sales actually fell 30% from the year-ago period!), the increase in gross profits was primarily due to the drop in crude oil prices.

Adjusted EBITDA of $50.1 million for the first quarter of 2009.

The Indianapolis-based refiner and processor of specialty lubricants just declared a quarterly cash distribution of $0.45 per unit on all outstanding units.

But let’s reminisce: The steepest increase in crude prices last year occurred in the second quarter. While the biggest drop in gasoline consumption appears to be behind us—mostly in Q4′08 and the past, dreary first quarter of 2009. Even if oil prices keep increasing from current levels, the cheaper inventory purchased in the past 6 months, combined with increasing demand, should make for a gangbuster second quarter.

Gasoline inventories were reported to have dropped by a larger-than-expected 4.1 million barrels in the second week of May, bringing current inventories to the middle of the historical average.

The stock today is trading at just under $13. Buy up to US$14 in the coming days, with a 25% profit horizon by July… when gasoline demand will stretch inventories and send U.S. refiners soaring.

Oil Stock #2: The Acquisition Target

The best part of the oil and natural gas business is its predictability. The last several years should be all the proof you need.

Here’s how the story goes: A soaring economy increases demand, which causes prices to surge. Eventually, demand reaches its peak, the market is oversupplied and prices fall. It’s classic economics.

Right now, according to my models, we are just past the peak of the fall, which makes this a fantastic buying opportunity.

Over the past six months, the world’s natural gas and oil producers could not close their valves fast enough. Nearly every week, we heard rumors of OPEC quietly cutting more and more production. Remember, less supply equals higher prices.

Now that many economists believe the worst of the financial fiasco is over, demand will begin to rise. Current reserves, which are significantly above historic averages, will dwindle and producers will be forced to open their valves once again.

But there is only one thing that will persuade them to get the energy flowing once again… prices. Futures traders are going to have to push oil and natural gas prices even higher before financially cautious companies open the tap.

That way, when they do start pumping, they know their pipelines will be filled with profits.

Watching Apache (NYSE:APA) and its burgeoning balance sheet, we tried to find out what company might be the target of a possible acquisition bid.

There are multiple possibilities, ranging from speculative companies with a large access to oil sands to some of the nation’s largest natural gas producers.

With energy prices making it tough to boost the bottom line, Apache and its competitors are surely going to use their cash and stock reserves to go on an acquisition spree. While I have my opinions, telling you what company I believe Apache will target would be a speculative guess at best.

We can make the same sort of profits, without the unnecessary risk: Instead of targeting one company and risk missing the mark if another target suddenly appears, why not take a stake in a company that will benefit no matter who buys what?

That company is Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC). With a Street value of about $23 billion, this company is not going to get acquired by anybody but the industries biggest players. If it were to happen, they would have to pay one hefty premium for a portfolio of global reserves.

It is an unlikely scenario.

What is likely is an up-tick in industry M&A activity that boosts the value of the entire sector, including Anadarko and its steady revenue stream.

By now, you have certainly heard of value-destroying flaws with mark-to-market accounting. As the value of a company’s assets drop, they must change their value on the balance sheet, whether the company intends to liquidate them or not. Anadarko just took a $240 million hit. It hurts now, but as energy prices slowly increase with a once-again expanding economy, the so-called flaws in mark-to-market accounting will look like a blessing.

At current prices, Anadarko is undervalued. If M&A activity kicks into high gear, it will look even more undervalued. And if energy prices continue their bullish surge, oh boy, shareholders will do quite well.

My recommendation is buy shares of Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC) at or below $47. This is a mid-term play that could put 25% gains into your pocket within the next 6 months.

The energy industry just hit its earnings bottom, making this a great time to be a buyer, no matter if you are a shareholder or a major producer looking to acquire some extra growth.

Oil Stock #3: The Power Broker

Total S.A. (NYSE:TOT) acts as the big brother to the entire European energy-producing industry. This is a $130-billion, French-based conglomerate that has all the capital and power it needs to become a global dominator as Europe’s energy supply chain suddenly breaks.

TOT as was a $90 stock in June of 2008. It’s a $57 stock today. And it could be a $150 stock if crude prices continue to move and the EU is afraid of becoming too dependent on Russian energy imports.

Think of it Total as a football team’s back-up quarterback. With Russia in control of Europe’s natural gas supply, it is forced to sit on the sideline and watch the game unfold.

But as soon as Russia is checked, Total will run in and take the crowd by storm. It has everything it needs to be a continental dominator: The company has operations all across the globe, but is strategically positioning itself to take advantage of growth in Western Europe. It has operations in all of the key countries mentioned above.

But even better, it has a huge downstream business that will soar in value as Russia battles with the west. Just like it did this past winter!

Total has enormous amounts of refining capacity: Over 2.5 million barrels per day. In fact, it is the largest refiner in Western Europe. Even more important than Total’s industry-leading refining capacity is its ability to produce unfathomable amounts of natural gas. During the third quarter of this year, the company pumped the equivalent of more than four billion cubic feet of oil each day.

Total has staggering amounts of production capacity. At current levels of demand, the company has more than enough supply. But when Moscow gets aggressive and closes its pipelines, European demand will go through the roof. That means Total’s natural gas will sell for a premium. Its shareholders will get rich.

Sarkozy is hell-bent on making France the predominant player in the European Union.

France is all about advancing the interest of French industry. It’s one of the cornerstones of its policies. And it has always been the main directive of its government.

This means that Sarkozy will leverage the current crisis to the exclusive benefits of French companies. And the main beneficiary is Total.

Action Alert: Buy shares of Total (NYSE:TOT) at or below $58!

Oil Stock #4: Oil’s Great Game

BMB Munai Inc (AMEX:KAZ): The former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan rarely creates headlines in the American media. It is far more popular with Russia and China.

Both countries consider the Kazkhstan an important strategic point in Asia. And both love its oil and natural gas reserves.

The company you need to know about, BMB Munai, a tiny oil producer based in Kazakhstan. The company is young, financially well positioned and, more importantly, working in an ultra-rich, under-utilized part of the planet, the Caspian Sea.

This company has strong ties to the American and Russian government. Its current CEO used to be a big shot at Haliburton. He has “Inside-the-Beltway” written all over him…

How about the company’s chairman? Boris Cherdabayev has been a top employee at Exxon and Chevron. He has even worked for Lukoil, Russia’s largest oil producer. And BMB Munai’s president, Askar Tashtitov? This guy used to be a government consultant.

When it comes to being politically connected, it doesn’t get any better than this. BMB Munai’s wholly-owned oil-pumping subsidiary, Emir-Oil, was even created by the Kazakhstan government. With a market cap of just $66 million, the company’s $1.40 share price could double, even triple with just one turn of a pipeline valve.

(In fact, we just saw an incredible 65% spike in a single day… caused merely by expectations that talks between the Kazakh Chamber of Commerce and a Chinese trade delegation from Sichuan Province would generate good news for Kazah oil.)

By investing in this stock, you are investing in the company the American and Russian governments expect to be (or should I say will make) the region’s next big oil producer.

Action Alert: Buy shares of BMB Munai (AMEX:KAZ) at or below $2.00.

Oil Stock #5: Striking Black Gold

The next company you need to know about is Toreador Resources (NASDAQ:TRGL).

Toreador has stakes in the energy-rich Black Sea, a region expected to have more than enough natural gas and oil reserves to power Turkey and its neighbors for a long, long time to come.

Toreador Resources will be a prime investment target when Russia resumes its hostile activities. It was part of a team that first discovered natural gas in the Black Sea. It has the tools and products to find oil where no other companies were successful. Because of its technological prowess, it is sitting on a huge stockpile of black gold.

When Russia invaded Georgia last summer, Toreador showed its potential to smart investors. Share price soared by as much as 30% in just a few days.

Imagine what could happen to this $70 million company if the stakes are even higher. If Turkey becomes the next big target like so many experts believe, shares of this $3.40 stock could easily be selling for as much as $20, or more.

Invest in Toreador Resources now and profit as the next global crisis unfolds. When these predictions come true, you will look like an investing prophet.

Action Alert: Buy shares of Toreador Resources (NASDAQ:TRGL) below $4.00.

Source:The Top 5 Oil Stocks for 2009

If you’ve been watching currency exchange rates and yields, you can’t help but notice that world currencies seem locked in a a race to the bottom.

Central banks are slashing interest rates as if they were kudzu. The yen has yielded almost nothing since the 1990s. Then the Feds determined to punish savers for their foresight, thrift and prudence by making dollars yield absolutely nothing. The Brits have followed suit, and even the stodgy folks at the European Central Bank are slashing and burning their interest rates.

Looks like their concerns about inflation have been wrong all along.

Today, the Swiss central bank cut its interest rate close to zero and started buying up foreign currencies to keep the Franken from appreciating too much as deflation looms.

They bought euros and dollars. The Swiss currency dropped as much as 3.2% after the decision. That may sound like nothing to stock investors inured to 5%, 6%, 10% drops by now. But in view of currencies, such rapid devaluation is HUGE.

What does this mean?

The players of the global economy compete mainly on two levels: Cheap labor and cheap currencies. Just as a $8-a-week worker tightening bolts on an assembly line in China is more attractive to manufacturers than a $14-an-hour laborer doing the same job in Jersey, export goods priced in a currency of relatively lesser value are more attractive to international buyers than those that include an exchange-rate premium.

The major players in the global economy understand that… China, Europe, Japan. In times of crisis, they’re letting their currencies become cheaper, slash taxes on exports, and ease labor restrictions.

Unfortunately, the U.S. government still thinks the mechanics of the global economy don’t apply to the new order. Timothy Geithnert opined in January that “a strong dollar is in the interest of the United States” when he won the Senate Finance Committee’s backing to head the U.S. Treasury.

With the competitors out of the gate, we sure hope that the Obama Administration will finish re-arranging the patio furniture before the lights go out…

Source: Currencies: Race to the bottom

Shares went up close to 30%… meaning that the former banking behemoth is no longer a penny stock. TFN Hot Stock Confidential members rode the coat tails of Citi Group’s rise to watch their position in Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) clock in at 21% gains.

Among the top-performing sectors today were energy and utilities. Especially alternative energy stocks.

Coincidence? Check out the stimulus bill, and you’ll find plenty of mention of renewable energy sources. Billions and billions of dollars are allocated to new battery technologies, solar energy, wind power… you name it.

Seems like only nuclear energy is too self-sufficient or promising to qualify for new subsidies. Not so geothermal energy. There’s a whopping $400 million… that’s $400,000,000… allocated for geothermal technologies.

Now, unless you live in Iceland, geothermal energy has not played a big role in your own backyard. The United States may generate more geothermal electricity than any other country. But the electricity produced represents less than one-half of a percent of the total U.S. output. And since the most active geothermal resources are usually found only along major tectonic plate boundaries, only four states have geothermal power plants so far:

California has 33 geothermal power plants that produce almost 90 percent of the nation’s geothermal electricity. Nevada has 14, and Hawaii and Utah each have one geothermal plant. So, there’s four states with geothermal capacities. That’s $100 million stimulus per state. There are a total of 49 geothermal power plants in the United States. That’s almost $8.2 million per plant.

Will $400 million in “government investments” double the U.S. output of geothermal energy? It just may. Come 2012 or 2016, geothermal energy may account for a whopping 1% of U.S. energy output. Money well spent, indeed.

Meanwhile, I expect government money to lift especially the smaller geothermal outfits. Companies like U.S. Geothermal Inc. (AMEX:HTM), which ended the fourth quarter in the hole $800,000. The company has a well-developed pipeline into government grants already.

Read the full article here: Geothermal Energy: This company is a stimulus magnet!

Here he tells us that his recommended stocks have “upward potential” and that “The Eastern European energy crisis is far from over… and I believe we will be served well holding on to these stocks for the long term!”
This from Amberger:

Back in November 2008, I went on record predicting an energy stand-off between Russia and Ukraine that would pitch Europe into a deep freeze. (Here’s what I said.) It came to pass on New Year’s Eve, when Russia shut down gas deliveries to Ukraine.

On the surface, this conflict was about natural gas. Russia, through its capitalist arm Gazprom, wants to become the energy monopoly of the EU. Ukraine is in the way: While George Bush was president, the country sought to join NATO and the EU—breaking for good with Soviet-era Russian hegemony. And while the Nordstrom pipeline beneath the Baltic Sea is still in the planning stages, most of the gas destined for delivery in Europe has to pass through Ukrainian pipelines.

And Ukraine may just refuse to play ball.

Because Russia has shifted into a placeholder war pattern within Ukraine—attempting an escalation of the political war between Western-minded President Viktor Yushchenko and the ambitious pro-Russian populist Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

One of our recommended stocks, BMB Munai Inc. (AMEX:KAZ) went up over 31% today. Toreador Resources Corporation (NASDAQ:TRGL) was up 24%. And Total (NYSE:TOT), the main long-term beneficiary, ended the day up a respectable 8%.

Of course, timing is everything, and our initial positions had taken a beating in the collapse of energy prices and foreign equity markets.

But today’s moves validate our initial assessment of these stocks upward potential.

Read the full article here: Gas wars re-ignite in Ukraine!

This is from Today’s Financial News:

Carmax (NYSE:KMX) has been soaring of late. Good that our HSC members had a running start on this American demographics play!

On Dec. 22, 2008, I issued an HSC Alert to our Hot Stock Confidential members that I called: “This stock is going to rebound in spring due to this U.S. demographic mega-trend”.

Since they safely got in at $7.46 a share (or better), I can make my learned opinion available to a wider circle… considering the stock closed at $9.14 today, after trading as high as $9.30.

Here’s what I wrote back then:

In 1989, the number of live births in the United States surpassed four million for the first time since 1964, one of the last years of the Baby Boom generation. Since then, for almost twenty years straight, four million Americans have been born every year.

They are called the Echo Boom generation and by now represent over 70 million consumers in the United States. This year, the four-million strong segment born in 1990 finished high school and scattered across the nation’s campuses. And every year hereafter, another four million will be hitting the road… literally… in cars provided to them by the most indulgent parental generation in history.

My own son, High School Class of 2011, is already dropping hints that it’s high time for him to take driving lessons.

I suspect he’ll start ogling cars in about six months.

If it weren’t for the effect of parental buying behavior on the businesses catering to this demographic, I’d be inclined to ignore his automotive ambition. But age-appropriate spending on these kids can be tracked by following the stock price highs of Disney, Toys ‘R’ Us, McDonald’s, Apple throughout the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century.

And after Aladdin and Toy Story, Happy Meals, iPods and Abercrombie and Fitch pre-torn pants, a car seems to be as inevitable to this generation as the Amen at church.

Of course, there’s a recession going on. And few parents may go and buy little Pugsley a brand-spanking new Mustang as a graduation present. My bet is that, notwithstanding a glut of new hybrids and SUVs, a wholesome percentage of this generation will get their first car at a used car lot.

At a place like CarMax Inc. for example. Sure, KMX-NYSE has taken it on the chin, reporting a $21.9 million loss during the third quarter as sales sank 23 percent for the quarter.

The company has imposed a hiring freeze at its headquarters, will temporarily stop store growth, and reduce staffing by natural attrition.

Since CarMax’s financing arm was hurt by a $23.8 billion write-down in the value of the company’s bonds and $16 million for loan adjustments on bad loans, I doubt the company will be extending liberal credit.

But since bicycles are a pain, especially for cross-country drives, and part of the parental generation’ dream is to cut down on your second job as unpaid taxidrivers, I believe a combination of winter attrition, 16th and 18th birthdays, high school graduations, and college-bound freshmen will kick-start the used-car business in the second quarter of 2009.

Time to start looking at buying cheap now. KMX is currently selling at around $7.40 a share. I’d say buy under $8 and use price dips to and below $7 as additional buy-in opportunities in the coming weeks. I do believe 20-30% gains by May are a distinct possibility.

Well, today I advised our members to set a stop-loss at $9, to lock in better than 20% gains should the stock fall as unexpectedly as it rose today. I still think there’s some upside left.

After all, my son is now willing to barter: A driver’s license in exchange for the remaining merit badges required for Eagle Scout.

Can a used car be far away?

Source: Carmax is up over 20% on our HSC American demographics play!