5 Best Medical Stocks To Buy Right Now

DELAFIELD, Wis. (Stockpickr) -- I love to scan the markets for stocks that have the potential to go up a massive amount in a very short timeframe. Who wouldn't, right? It's not any easy thing to do, but when you've looked at as many chart patterns for as long as I have, it starts to become second nature. You start to see chart patterns and setups that work over and over again--or at least have a high probability of working.

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One of my recent finds that has blown even my expectations away is China-based health care player Dehaier Medical Systems (DHRM), which I featured in Jan. 16's "5 Stocks Under $10 Set to Soar" at $4.75 share. That chart was screaming at me when I found it, because DHRM was already in a strong uptrend and was setting up to break out into new 52-week-high territory. That's exactly what DHRM did, and as I type this the stock has tagged an intraday high today of $12.39 a share. That's a ridiculous gain of over 100% in just one month.

Top 5 Semiconductor Companies To Watch In Right Now: StemCells Inc (STEM)

StemCells, Inc. (StemCells), incorporated in August 1988, is engaged in the research, development, and commercialization of stem cell therapeutics and related tools and technologies for academia and industry. The Company is focused on developing and commercializing stem and progenitor cells as the basis for therapeutics and therapies, and cells and related tools and technologies to enable stem cell-based research and drug discovery and development. The Company�� primary research and development efforts are focused on identifying and developing stem and progenitor cells as potential therapeutic agents. The Company has two therapeutic product development programs, including its CNS Program, which is developing applications for HuCNS-SC cells, its human neural stem cell product candidate, and its Liver Program, which is characterizing the Company�� human liver cells as a therapeutic product.

CNS Program

The Company in its CNS Program, is in clinical development with its HuCNS-SC cells for a range of disorders of the central nervous system. The CNS includes the brain, spinal cord and eye. In February 2012, the Company had completed a Phase I clinical trial in Pelizeaus-Merzbacher Disease (PMD), a fatal myelination disorder in the brain.

The Company�� CNS Program is focused on developing clinical applications, in which transplanting HuCNS-SC cells protect or restore organ function of the patient before such function is irreversibly damaged or lost due to disease progression. The Company�� initial target indications are PMD, and more generally, diseases in which deficient myelination plays a central role, such as cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis; spinal cord injury, disorders in which retinal degeneration plays a central role, such as age-related macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa. The Company�� product candidate, HuCNS-SC cells, is a purified and expanded composition of normal human neural stem cells. Its HuCNS-SC cells can be directly transp! lanted.

Liver Program

Liver stem or progenitor cells offer an alternative treatment for liver diseases. A liver cellular therapy or cell-based therapeutic provide or support liver function in patients with liver disease. The Company held a portfolio of issued and allowed patents in the liver field, which cover the isolation and use of both hLEC cells and the isolated subset, as well as the composition of the cells themselves.

The Company�� range of cell culture products, which are sold under the SC Proven brand, includes iSTEM, GS1-R, GS2-M, RHB-A, RHB-Basal, NDiff N2, and NDiff N2B27. Its iSTEM is a serum-free, feeder-free medium that maintains mouse embryonic stem cells in their pluripotent ground state by using selective small molecule inhibitors to block the pathways, which induce differentiation. RHB-A is a defined, serum-free culture medium for the selective culture of human and mouse neural stem cells and their maintenance and expansion as adherent cell populations. RHB-Basal is a defined, serum-free basal medium. When supplemented with specific growth factors, this media is formulated for the propagation and differentiation of adherent neural stem cells. RHB-Basal can also be tailored to specific-cell type requirements by the addition of customer preferred supplements.

The Company�� NDiff N2 is a defined serum-free scell culture supplement for the derivation, maintenance, expansion and/or differentiation of human and mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells and tissue-derived neural stem cells supplement. Its NDiff N2-AF is a serum-free and animal component-free version of NDiff N2. Its NDiff N2B27 is a defined, serum-free medium for the differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells to neural cell types. NDiff N27-AF is a serum-free and animal component-free version of NDiff N27. Its GS1-R is a serum-free media formulation shown to enable the derivation and long-term maintenance of true, germline competent rat embryonic stem cells without the add! ition of ! cytokines or growth factors. Its GS2-M is a defined, serum- and feeder-free medium for the derivation and long-term maintenance of true, germline competent mouse iPS cells.

The Company also markets a number of antibody reagents for use in cell detection, isolation and characterization. These reagents are also under the SC Proven brand and it includes STEM24, STEM101, STEM121 and STEM123. Its STEM24 is a human antibody that recognizes human CD24, also known as heat stable antigen (HSA), a glycoprotein expressed on the surface of many human cell types, including immature human hematopoietic cells, peripheral blood lymphocytes, erythrocytes and many human carcinomas. Its CD24 is also a marker of human neural differentiation. Its STEM101 is a human-specific mouse antibody that recognizes the Ku80 protein found in human nuclei. Its STEM121 is a human-specific mouse antibody that recognizes a cytoplasmic protein of human cells. Its STEM123 is a human-specific mouse antibody that recognizes human glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP).

The Company�� Other products marketed under SC Proven include total cell genomic DNA (gDNA), RNA and protein lysate reagents purified from homogenous stem cell populations for intra-comparative studies, such as Epigenetic fingerprinting, Southern, Western and Northern blots, PCR, RT-PCR and microarrays. This range of purified stem cell line lysates includes mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells propagated in SC Proven 2i inhibitor-based GS2-M media and mouse ES cell-derived and fetal tissue-derived neural stem (NS) cells propagated in SC Proven RHB-A media.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Garrett Cook]

  Healthcare shares gained 0.81 percent in the US market on Friday. Top gainers in the sector included Shire plc (NASDAQ: SHPG), StemCells (NASDAQ: STEM), and Flamel Technologies SA (NASDAQ: FLML).

• [By John Udovich]

  The results of a recent Pew Center Poll regarding attitudes towards abortion and various forms of stem cell research could be a good sign for the stem cell industry along with small cap stem cell stocks like StemCells Inc (NASDAQ: STEM), NeoStem Inc (NASDAQ: NBS), Neuralstem, Inc (NYSEMKT: CUR),�International Stem Cell Corp (OTCMKTS: ISCO) and BioRestorative Therapies (OTCBB: BRTX). Basically, Americans think that having an abortion is a moral issue with 49% of American adults believing abortion is morally wrong, 23%�view it not as a moral issue and and 15% view it as morally acceptable. However and when Americans were asked about issues surrounding�human embryos, such as stem cell research or in vitro fertilization, as a matter of morality, their views were different.

• [By Garrett Cook]

  Healthcare shares gained 0.81 percent in the US market on Friday. Top gainers in the sector included Shire plc (NASDAQ: SHPG), StemCells (NASDAQ: STEM), and Flamel Technologies SA (NASDAQ: FLML).

5 Best Medical Stocks To Buy Right Now: Alere Inc (ALR)

Alere Inc., incorporated on May 11, 2001, is a provider of point-of-care diagnostics and services. The Company's products and services help healthcare practitioners make treatment decisions and improve outcomes for individuals living with chronic disease. The Company's portfolio also includes a range of health information solutions that access to critical health data, provide clinical decision support, and facilitate performance reporting and analysis. The Company�� segment includes professional diagnostics, health information solutions and consumer diagnostics. The Company distributes its professional diagnostic products to hospitals, reference laboratories, physician offices and other point-of-care settings through an worldwide distribution networks. In February 2013, the Company acquired Epocal, Inc.

Professional Diagnostics

Professional diagnostics are generally designed to assist medical professionals in both preventative and interventional medicine, and include testing and monitoring performed in hospitals, laboratories and doctors' offices and, increasingly, patient self-testing, which the Company defines as testing or monitoring performed at home under the supervision of a medical professional. Professional diagnostic products provide for qualitative or quantitative analysis of patient samples for evidence of a specific medical condition, disease state or toxicological state or to measure response to therapy. The point-of-care market for rapid diagnostic products includes all areas where a patient is assessed or diagnosed, including hospitals, laboratories, physician offices, specialized mobile clinics, emergency rooms, rapid-response laboratories and patient health screening locations.

The Company's Alere Cholestech LDX System is a point-of-care monitor of blood cholesterol and related lipids which is used to test patients at risk of, or suffering from, heart disease and related conditions. The Alere Cholestech LDX System makes it possible to provide ! a complete lipid profile with tests for total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), triglycerides, and glucose. The Company's Alere INRatio System is an easy-to-use, hand-held blood coagulation monitoring system for use by patients and healthcare professionals in the management of warfarin, a commonly prescribed medication used to prevent blood clots. The Company also offers the epoc Blood Analysis System for bloods gas, electrolyte and metabolite testing, which is manufactured by its recently acquired Epocal division. The epoc (enterprise point-of-care) platform is a point-of-care analysis system which provides Wireless bedside blood gas, electrolyte and metabolite measurement testing solutions and complements the Company's Alere Triage products in cardiology and emergency room settings.

The Company develops and markets a range of point-of-care tests for influenza A/B, RSV, strep throat, pneumonia, C. difficile, infectious mononucleosis, HIV, herpes simplex virus (HSV-2), hepatitis C (HCV), hepatitis B (HBV), malaria, lyme disease, Chlamydia, H. pylori, rubella and other infectious diseases. The Company's tests for infectious disease are sold under brand names that include Alere, Alere Determine, Acceava, BinaxNOW, Clearview, DoubleCheckGold, Panbio, SD, TECHLAB and Alere TestPack. In addition to point-of-care products, the Company also offers a line of indirect fluorescent antibody, or IFA, assays for over 20 viral, bacterial and autoimmune diseases, a full line of serology diagnostic products covering a range of disease categories and over 50 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), tests for a range of infectious and autoimmune diseases, as well as a full line of automated instrumentation for processing ELISA tests.

The Company offers laboratory-based testing services throughout Europe under the name Alere Toxicology, formerly Concateno, and in the United States under the names Alere Toxicology Services, or! Alere To! xicology, and Redwood Toxicology Laboratory, or Redwood. The Company offers point-of-care diabetes products, including its Afinion Analyzer System and its NycoCard System. The Company's Alere Connect products include HealthPAL and HealthCOM.

Health Information Solutions

The Company's health information solutions are designed to provide physicians with actionable data that allows them to make more decisions in real time, deliver quality care, and put the individuals they treat on a pathway to better health. The Company offers a range of software-based analytics, clinical decision support tools, and accountable cares programs that enable healthcare providers to initiate earlier interventions, personalize treatment plans, lower costs by reducing hospital readmissions, and measure improvements in outcomes at both a patient and population level. With this range of scalable solutions, the Company is able to support healthcare practitioners in the transition to accountable care, as well as in meeting the new pay-for-performance guidelines set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

The Company's Women's and Children's Health division delivers a range of obstetrical care services that range from risk assessments focused on identifying women who may experience pregnancy complications to a neonatal program that supports early infant care management. The Company offers home-based obstetrical monitoring for pregnant women with medical or pregnancy-related problems that could puts their health or the health of their babies at risk. The Company also delivers telephonic and home-based nursing services that support improved clinical outcomes. The Company offers a suite of integrated wellness programs and resources that is designed to reduce participant health risks and healthcare-related costs. The Company's wellness programs include screening for risk factors associated with chronic disease, particularly tobacco use, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and chron! ic stress! .

The Company offers services designed to support anticoagulation management for patients who takes warfarin to control their risk for stroke and clotting disorders. Alere Home Monitoring, the Company's patient self-testing business, assists patients in acquiring home INR monitors and with insurance coverage determinations and provides physicians with a comprehensive model that allows them to incorporate patient self-testing into their practices.

Consumer Diagnostics

The Company's consumer diagnostic products consist of the Company's First Check brand of over-the-counter drug tests for at-home testing for up to seven illicit drugs and five prescription drugs, as well as First Check brand over-the-counter tests for cholesterol monitoring. The Company also sells Balance Activ Vaginal Gel directly to consumers and healthcare professionals for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis without antibiotics.

The Company competes with Abbott, Siemens, Beckman Coulter, Johnson & Johnson, Roche, Abaxis Medical Diagnostics, International Technidyne Corporation, INOVA Diagnostics, DiaSorin, Diamedx and Qiagen.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Alere (NYSE: ALR  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

5 Best Medical Stocks To Buy Right Now: Cerner Corp (CERN)

Cerner Corporation (Cerner) is a supplier of healthcare information technology (HCIT) solutions, services, devices and hardware. Cerner solutions optimize processes for healthcare organizations. These solutions are licensed by approximately 9,300 facilities globally, including more than 2,650 hospitals; 3,750 physician practices 40,000 physicians; 500 ambulatory facilities, such as laboratories, ambulatory centers, cardiac facilities, radiology clinics and surgery centers; 800 home health facilities; 40 employer sites and 1,600 retail pharmacies. The Company operates in two segments: domestic and global. The domestic segment includes revenue contributions and expenditures associated with business activity in the United States. The global segment includes revenue contributions and expenditures linked to business activity in Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China (Hong Kong), Egypt, England, France, Germany, Guam, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Morocco, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. On May 23, 2011, the Company acquired Resource Systems, Inc. On October 17, 2011, the Company acquired Clairvia, Inc. Effective March 18, 2013, it acquired Labotix Automation Inc.

The Company designs and develops software solutions on the unified Cerner Millennium architecture, a person-centric computing framework, which combines clinical, financial and management information systems. This architecture allows providers to access an individual�� electronic health record (EHR) at the point of care, and it organizes and proactively delivers information to meet the specific needs of physicians, nurses, laboratory technicians, pharmacists, front- and back-office professionals and consumers. It also offers a range of services, including implementation and training, remote hosting, operational management services, revenue cycle services, support and maintenance, healthcare data analysis, clinical proc! ess optimization, transaction processing, employer health centers, employee wellness programs and third party administrator (TPA) services for employer-based health plans.

The Company offers a longitudinal, person-centric EHR, which gives clinicians electronic access to the right information at the right time and place to achieve optimal health outcomes. Medical information and care regimens accessible from home enables consumers to manage their conditions and adhere to treatment plans, creating a medium between physicians and individuals. Its Cerner ITWorks is a suite of services, which creates an alignment between Cerner and its clients. Its Cerner RevWorks includes solutions and services to help healthcare organizations improve their revenue cycle functions. It offers clinic, pharmacy and wellness services directly to employers.

The Company's Healthe Intent Chart Search includes clinical meanings of words located within the electronic medical record (EMR), as well as the context in which those words occur to create algorithms that identify and rank information contextually. The Healthe Intent platform also provides the ability to apply algorithms against contextual clinical activity to recommend clinical action.

The Company competes with Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc., Computer Programs and Systems, Inc. (CPSI), Epic Systems Corporation, GE Healthcare Technologies, Healthcare Management Systems, Inc. (HMS), Healthland, Inc., Computer Sciences Corporation (iSoft), Keane, Inc., McKesson Corporation, Medical Information Technology, Inc. (Meditech), Siemens Medical Solutions Health Services Corporation, Quadramed Corporation, Accenture plc, Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), Cap Gemini S. A., Computer Task Group, Inc. (CTGHS), Dell, Inc., Deloitte Consulting LLP, Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM Corporation, maxIT Healthcare LLC, AmazingCharts.com, Inc., Athenahealth, Inc., eClinicalWorks LLC, e-MDs, Inc., Greenway Medical Technologies, MED3000, Inc., Quality Sy! stems, In! c., Conceptual MindWorks, Inc., Vitera Healthcare Solutions, API Healthcare, CapsuleTech, Inc., CareFusion Corporation, GE Healthcare Technologies, iSirona, LLC, McKesson Corporation, Omnicell, Inc., Accretive Health, Inc., Capario, Inc., Emdeon Corporation, McKesson Corporation, MedAssets, Inc., Optum, Inc., SSI Group, Inc. and 3M Company.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Which might help explain why Quality Systems has dropped 0.1% to $17.98 today, even as Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (MDRX) has gained 1.7% to $16.15 and Cerner (CERN) has risen 3.4% to $55.42.

5 Best Medical Stocks To Buy Right Now: Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc (PTLA)

Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Portola), incorporated on September 2, 2003, is a biopharmaceutical company developing product candidates that have the potential to represent advances in the fields of thrombosis and hematology. The Company is advancing its three wholly owned programs using biomarker and genetic approaches.

Betrixaban

Portola's compound, betrixaban, is an oral, once-daily Factor Xa inhibitor being evaluated in the only biomarker-based Phase-III study for hospital to home prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in acute medically ill patients. Betrixaban's properties particularly suited to potentially demonstrate efficacy without increasing bleeding in this patient population.

Andexanet Alfa

Portola's second development candidate, andexanet alfa (PRT4445), has the potential to be a reversal agent to directly reverse the effects of Factor Xa inhibitors in patients who suffer a bleeding episode or who require emergency surgery. Portola has entered into clinical collaboration agreements with all of the manufacturers of direct Factor Xa inhibitors, including Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer (Eliquis [apixaban]), Bayer HealthCare and Janssen Pharmaceuticals (XARELTO [rivaroxaban]), and Daiichi Sankyo (Savaysa [edoxaban]), while retaining all decision-making and commercial rights to the program.

Cerdulatinib (PRT2070) and PRT2607

Portola's third wholly owned product candidate, cerdulatinib (PRT2070), is an orally available kinase inhibitor that uniquely inhibits two validated tumor proliferation pathways - spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) and janus kinase (JAK). It is being studied in patients with leukemias or lymphomas with a focus on genetically-defined subtypes, as well as in patients who have failed therapy due to relapse or acquired mutations. Portola's fourth program is partnered with Biogen Idec and is focused on the development of PRT2607, a selective Syk inhibitor.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Todd Campbell]

  That leads me to Medivation (NASDAQ: MDVN  ) , Ophthotech (NASDAQ: OPHT  ) , and Portola (NASDAQ: PTLA  ) , three companies with important therapies that may very well be destined to become top sellers.