Brian Washkowiak, CFA, is a Portfolio Manager at Fairpointe Capital, LLC. Mr. Washkowiak is part of the Mid-Cap Investment Team, serving as Co-Portfolio Manager for the midcap strategy, including the AMG Managers Fairpointe Mid Cap Fund, Parvest Equity USA Mid Cap Fund, and institutional and private client accounts. His responsibilities include investment research and portfolio management.
Prior to joining Fairpointe Capital LLC in 2015, Mr. Washkowiak managed a fund at BW Opportunity Partners, LP, focusing on small-cap and midcap investments. He also spent 13 years as a research analyst and portfolio manager at Talon Asset Management, Inc., and was a member of the investment committee. At Talon, Mr. Washkowiak worked with Ms. Zerhusen as an analyst and assistant portfolio manager on the midcap strategy. He started his career at Duff & Phelps, LLC as an analyst in its consulting group. He received a B.A. in finance from Illinois State University.
In this exclusive 2,437 word interview with the Wall Street Transcript, Mr. Washkowiak details his top picks from his current portfolio.
“Here at Fairpointe, we are 100% employee-owned and majority female-owned. And we think there are some differentiators on our team. Thyra Zerhusen is the original architect of the strategy. She created the midcap strategy in 1999, and then, myself, Mary Pierson, Marie Lorden, all are part of that investment team, and we have 28 years of industry experience.”
One example from the recent buy list from Mr. Washkowiak is LKQ.
“We have a position in a company called LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ). LKQ stands for like, kind, quality. In this market environment, a lot of the auto parts companies, which LKQ is one, have really sold off on concerns about OEM auto demand. What LKQ does is a little bit different. It’s really more of an aftermarket provider. What they provide are alternative parts to the repair and replacement model or market.”
Get more detail on the LKQ investment and others by reading the entire 2,437 word interview in the Wall Street Transcript.
Jason Benowitz, CFA, is Senior Portfolio Manager at Roosevelt Investments. He first went to work at the firm in 2009 as a securities analyst, was promoted to Portfolio Manager in 2011 and to Senior Portfolio Manager in 2013. Prior to Roosevelt, Mr. Benowitz was a principal at Druker Capital, a long/short hedge fund manager, and a Vice President in the U.S. Equity Research Group at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.
He was also an investment banking analyst at Merrill Lynch. Mr. Benowitz received an undergraduate degree in computer science from Harvard College, and an MBA in finance and accounting from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Palmer Scholar.
In this 4,514 word interview in the Wall Street Transcript, Mr. Benowitz displays his incredible stock picking skills within the constraints of the investment philosophy adopted by his firm:
“At Roosevelt, our investment philosophy puts capital preservation first. Our clients come to us with substantial wealth, and our job is to keep it that way. If we can outperform in bear markets and keep pace with rising markets, then we will outperform over a full market cycle with less volatility.”
Their investing philosophy is governed by several themes:
“…One theme we have invested behind for a number of years is health care revival. The innovative science aspect of health care is advancing at a rapid pace. Drug and device companies are exiting ancillary businesses and devoting more resources to development of new therapies. The Food and Drug Administration is more balanced in weighing the costs and benefits of approvals and has streamlined its procedures to more quickly assist patients in need.”
This leads to the detailed rationales behind his top picks:
“…One stock we like now is Allergan (NYSE:AGN). It has a $64 billion market capitalization. Allergan is number one in medical aesthetics, where its flagship brand is Botox. ”
Read the entire 4,514 word interview in the Wall Street Transcript.
Donald Easley, CFA, is a Portfolio Manager in the U.S. Equity Division of T. Rowe Price for the U.S. Tax-Efficient and U.S. Structured Active Mid-Cap Growth Equity Strategies. He works closely with Don Peters, a portfolio manager in the U.S. Equity Division, actively assisting with all aspects of portfolio management. Mr. Easley is an Executive Vice President and Co-Chairman of the Investment Advisory Committee of the U.S. Structured Active Mid-Cap Growth Equity Strategy.
He is a Vice President of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. Mr. Easley has 18 years of investment experience, 17 of which have been with T. Rowe Price. Prior to joining the firm in 2000, he was a credit analyst with The Bank of New York. Mr. Easley earned a B.A. in economics from Swarthmore College and an MBA in finance and accounting from the University of Chicago.
In this 3,381 word interview with the Wall Street Transcript, Mr. Easley details his investing philosophy and explains his top picks.
It’s called the Diversified Mid-Cap Growth Fund. The ticker is PRDMX, and it’s about a $1 billion fund that invests in midcap growth companies. And I have been involved with the product for about 15 years now, running it with another gentleman named Don Peters. So the strategy itself dates back about two decades, and the fund incepted in the late part of 2003.
“Because they compete in the cellphone space, they’re subject to the pluses and minuses of the cellphone market, so right now, there is a lot of concern around cellphone demand in general. And the stock has been pretty weak, and it’s now trading in the mid-$80, and that is a valuation that’s about 11 times next year’s earnings. They also have a lot of cash on their balance sheet, so if you take that out, the enterprise value to earnings is less than 10 times. So the valuation looks very attractive.”
To get many more detailed recommendations from this experienced and successful portfolio manager, read the entire 3,381 word interview at the Wall Street Transcript.
James Morton is Chief Investment Officer and a Portfolio Manager at Santa Lucia Asset Management Ltd. He has extensive expertise in recovering and small-cap companies, as well as emerging markets. Mr. Morton’s career in the investment industry began in 1985, and he has been a consultant to Mackenzie Cundill since 1996. He is an accomplished author, editor and investment columnist. Mr. Morton holds a degree in law from Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, an M.A. in third-world economics as well as an MBA from Stanford University. In this exclusive 3,925 word interview with the Wall Street Transcript, Mr. Morton details his investing methodology and top recommendations for investors.
“Asia is normally a growth market, and there aren‘t many managers who focus on value or even on income, although at least in income the number is rising, but very few were doing it when we started in 2001. And even today, value is a very, very small subsector within the overall investment universe here — less than 5% of managers are pursuing this sort of strategy.”
It may be a good time to be a value investor in China, although counter-intuitively:
“My good friends at CLSA, a leading broker in Asia, have a conference every September. They’ve been doing this for 25 years now, and they take a poll of institutional investor sentiment. So this year, the sentiment was the lowest it’s ever been…Now, this you could argue is a massive contrarian buy signal…you’ve got a lot of stocks that are off over 40% since their January high.”
This leads to some specific recommendations.
Sure. I mean, the collapse in share prices has opened up a lot of rich bargains for value investors. One I’d like to mention is China Yongda (HKG:3669), which is one of the largest automotive dealers in China. It’s particularly a big BMW (ETR:BMW) dealer. Now, Chinese domestic car production is weak, but import of better-end and luxury models continues to show strong double-digit growth, even in September.
To get the full detail on this and many other recommendations from James Morton, read the entire 3,925 word interview in the Wall Street Transcript.
Geoff MacKay is President and Chief Executive Officer of AVROBIO, Inc. Mr. MacKay is an experienced CEO with proven success leading innovative businesses. While CEO of Organogenesis Inc., the company treated 1 million patients with living cell therapies, received the first FDA CBER allogeneic cell-therapy approval and achieved an unparalleled position within regenerative medicine.
Mr. MacKay was founding CEO of eGenesis, applying CRISPR Cas-9 gene editing to xenotransplantation. Mr. MacKay spent 11 years at Novartis in senior leadership positions within the Global Transplantation & Immunology franchise. Past activities include Chairman of the board of MassBio, Chairman of the board of the Alliance of Regenerative Medicine and Advisory Council to the Health Policy Commission for Massachusetts.
In this exclusive 3,272 word interview with the Wall Street Transcript, Geoff MacKay describes the exciting breakthrough treatments his company is developing.
“The target product profile for all four of our gene therapy programs is to cure these rare diseases in a single dose. This is achievable because the lentiviral gene therapy approach is one that results in the permanent integration of the therapeutic transgene into the chromosomes of the patient’s blood stem cells.
These cells engraft long term in the bone marrow, where they produce nucleated daughter cells, such as white blood cells, which in turn make supra-normal levels of the therapeutic protein. To date, this approach has been used in clinical trials across a growing number of diseases where long-term results have been reported. We do believe that the ex vivo lentiviral gene therapy approach, if successful, has the potential to be a lifelong cure.”
These disease therapies represent billion of dollars of potential annual revenue to AVROBIO:
“…We are currently targeting lysosomal storage disorders, specifically four unique lysosomal storage disorders: Fabry disease, Gaucher disease, Pompe disease and cystinosis. We are applying one technology platform across these four lysosomal storage disorders, as well as building toward developing gene therapies for other diseases in the future.”
Get the complete detail and the most recent status of these treatments by reading the entire 3,272 word interview in the Wall Street Transcript.
Gil Beyen is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of ERYTECH Pharma. For ERYTECH, Gil Beyen has served as the Chief Executive Officer since May 2013 and Chairman of the board since 2012. Prior to his appointment as Chief Executive Officer, he assisted the company in a consulting role as of 2012 and also served as Chairman of the company’s supervisory board from August 2012 until May 2013.
Between 2000 and 2012, Mr. Beyen was Chief Executive Officer and Director of TiGenix, a company he co-founded. He previously served as the head of the life sciences practice of Arthur D. Little, an international management consulting firm, in Brussels. Mr. Beyen received an M.S. in bioengineering from the University of Leuven in Belgium and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
In this exclusive 2,136 word interview with the Wall Street Transcript, Gil Beyen details the unique way his company will create cancer treatments:
“Another unique property of red cells is that they will end their lives in the spleen, the liver and the bone marrow, within the reticulo-endothelial system. This makes it so that our technology can also be used to transform the red cell into a carrier of certain therapeutic agents to these organs. For example, we are using this in a preclinical program where we use the red cell for immunotherapy.
Here, we load antigens or adjuvants into the red cells, who will carry them — sort of like in a Trojan horse approach — to, for example, the dendritic cells in the spleen, where they activate cytotoxic T cells with demonstrated anti-tumor effect.”
The development of their therapy is well advanced:
“…With our lead product candidate, eryaspase, that has been administered to over 320 patients in different clinical trials, we have observed an improved safety profile compared to native, nonencapsulated asparaginase. ”
Get the complete detail by reading the complete 2,136 word interview with Gil Beyen, CEO and Chairman of ERYTECH Pharma.
Keith J. Kendall is Chief Executive Officer of Aquestive Therapeutics. Keith Kendall assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer at Aquestive in 2014 after serving as Co-President and Chief Operating Officer for the company since 2011. Mr. Kendall also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Aquestive since July 2006.
From February 1999 to June 2006, he was the Vice President and Managing Director of the Americas for Hewlett Packard Financial Services. Mr. Kendall held a number of positions with AT&T Capital Corporation, including President of AT&T Credit Corporation and NCR Credit Corporation from 1985 to 1998.
In this exclusive 2,929 word interview in the Wall Street Transcript, CEO Keith Kendall details the multi-product roll out strategy for his company:
“The centerpieces of that part of our story are three central nervous system — CNS — products. One, Sympazan, already has a tentative approval from the FDA. Two others are Libervant for breakthrough seizures and the molecule riluzole for treatment of ALS.
We hope to submit NDAs in 2018 for both Libervant and shortly thereafter for riluzole. Pending FDA review and approval, we expect to launch these treatments in 2019, right behind Sympazan. That is the focus of our investor story right now.”
One of the treatments replaces an invasive application method:
“The reference product for Libervant is Diastat, which is delivered as a rectal gel with an applicator that would just barely fit inside an eight-inch space.
Aquestive will deliver that medication as a buccally applied filmstrip, which is placed on the inside of a cheek. We think that delivery option creates a great deal of benefit for patients who have to interact with that medication in acute situations to deter breakthrough seizures.”
Read the complete 2,929 word interview in the Wall Street Transcript with Keith Kendall to get the other product developments that will drive the stock price for investors at Aquestive Therapeutics.
Anil R. Diwan, Ph.D., has been President and Chairman of the board of NanoViricides, Inc., since its founding in 2005. Dr. Diwan spearheaded the efforts for the company’s 2013 uplisting from the OTC Markets to NYSE American. Dr. Diwan has led several of the company’s financing efforts since 2010. Dr. Diwan invented novel polymeric micelle-based nanomedicine technologies as early as 1991. Dr. Diwan is a prolific inventor and a serial entrepreneur.
Dr. Diwan holds a Ph.D. from Rice University, Texas, a B.Tech. from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai — IIT-B — India, and has consistently held high scholastic ranks and honors. Dr. Anil R. Diwan was recognized as Researcher of the Year by Business New Haven, a Connecticut-area business journal, in 2014.
Irach B. Taraporewala is Chief Executive Officer of NanoViricides, Inc. Dr. Irach B. Taraporewala is a seasoned pharmaceutical executive with over 25 years’ experience in drug development and regulatory strategy. He is a hands-on CEO with strong scientific background combined with significant management, leadership, business development and financing experience.
Dr. Taraporewala is the Founder and Managing Member of Sitara Pharmaceutical Consulting, LLC, providing consulting services to biotechnology companies on business strategy, regulatory strategic planning for small molecule and biological pharmaceuticals, nanotechnology drugs and drug-device combination products.
Dr. Taraporewala holds a Ph.D. degree in medicinal chemistry from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia — 1984. He holds a Master of Science degree in organic chemistry and a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and microbiology, both from the University of Bombay, India.
In this exclusive 4,057 word interview with the Wall Street Transcript, these two award winning scientists discuss the upside for investors in their company.
“We reached a $300 million market cap at one time because this is a platform technology. We moved away from influenza. People did not understand the HerpeCide herpes program and its multiple indications. The market sizes in the HerpeCide program are tremendous, and that was not understood by investors.
As we move toward clinical trials, we believe that the stock price will reflect that as we achieve milestones, including the IND-enabling tox package completion and Phase I safety and Phase II proof of efficacy. There is a tremendous upward curve.”
Read the entire 4,057 word interview in the Wall Street Transcript to get the full details on the upside for investors.
Lawrence J. Pavelec, CFA, is Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Nicholas Company, Inc. He has 34 years of industry experience and has been at Nicholas Company for 15 years, where he is a portfolio manager for the Nicholas High Income Fund, Inc.
He collaborates with the other senior members of the management committee on strategic initiatives for the company. He also serves as an analyst and client portfolio manager for the separately managed account equity portfolios. Mr. Pavelec’s career as a credit analyst and portfolio manager began in 1984 with M&I Investment Management Corp.
Before joining Nicholas, he was with Brandes Investment Partners as the Co-Manager for Brandes Fixed Income Partners, serving as Portfolio Manager and Head of Marketing for the firm.
Michael L. Shelton, CFA, CPA, is Senior Research Analyst and Portfolio Manager at Nicholas Company, Inc. He has 22 years of industry experience. He has been at Nicholas Company for 12 years. He is Lead Portfolio Manager at the Nicholas Equity Income Fund, Inc., and Co-Portfolio Manager at the Nicholas Fund, Inc.
Mr. Shelton has a depth of knowledge following years of covering the health care, technology and industrial sectors. Prior to joining Nicholas Company, Mr. Shelton worked for the Department of Defense Financing and Accounting Service as a financial analyst. He spent three years with Robert W. Baird as a research analyst and at McDonald Investments for one year focusing on health care companies. Before starting his investment career, he worked with Ernst & Young as an auditor and tax consultant.
In this exclusive 4,138 word interview, Mr. Shelton and Mr. Pavelac detail their award winning portfolio build process and discuss their current top stock picks.
“The second key characteristic that we look for is: Does the company have an identifiable moat or competitive advantage? Snap-on’s competitive advantage is derived from its strong brand and its continued innovation.
The company has the highest reputation for quality and a strong service-oriented dealer network. Its main competitors — Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE:SWK) and Fortive (NYSE:FTV) — manufacture less than 50% of tools they sell, limiting quality control compared with Snap-on, which produces 70% of the tools sold by its franchise dealers.”
Read the full 4,138 word interview in the Wall Street Transcript.
Marc Voigt is Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Immutep Limited. Mr. Voigt has served as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer since 2012 and was appointed as CEO and Executive Director in July 2014. He has extensive experience in the corporate and biotechnology sectors. He has previously worked as a personal assistant to a member of the executive board of Allianz Insurance.
Mr. Voigt has also worked for the German investment bank, net.IPO.AG, in the area of business development and German securities offerings. In the early 2000s, he was investment manager in a midsize health care venture capital fund.
In the biotech sector, he has held different executive positions, foremost in private German biotech companies. He has a master’s degree in business administration from the Freie Universitat of Berlin and is a member of the judging panel of Germany’s largest business plan competition.
In this exclusive 2,747 word interview with the Wall Street Transcript, Marc Voigt details his company’s sustainable competitive advantage in the biotech sector.
“If you look at our product candidates, indeed three of them are unique. One is a so-called depleting antibody in autoimmune diseases, which we licensed to GlaxoSmithKline. Then we have the world’s first agonist antibody to LAG-3. This is also positioned in autoimmune diseases, and we are developing it ourselves. It is at the preclinical stage.
Then, we have a fusion protein, which is our lead product candidate and called eftilagimod alpha, or IMP321, which we have in different clinical trials; the most advanced is a Phase IIb study in metastatic breast cancer. ”
The take up from large cap pharma companies is a plus for Immutep:
“We have a second product candidate in immuno-oncology, which we licensed to Novartis.”
Get the full details from Marc Voigt, CEO of Immutep, in the 2,747 word interview for the Wall Street Transcript.
