StemCells, Inc. (STEM) has been the poster child for the stem cell industry since late 2008.  It has made many people rich speculating on the ups and downs of this particular stock.  With its ticker symbol that seems to represent the entire industry, investors and traders have made this a very popular stock.

Their is an old saying that says “when the media sneezes, the whole world catches cold”.  That has certainly been a huge factor in the rise (and fall) of STEM and other stem cell stocks.  Stem cell hysteria has hit several times over the past few months with investor interest being peaked by media hype.

Here is a description of the company from Yahoo! Finance:  StemCells, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, focuses on the research, development, and commercialization of products derived from stem cell technologies. It focuses on developing cell-based therapeutics to treat diseases of the central nervous system and liver.

Most stem cell companies that I have seen are very far away from making their particular take on the propagation or use of stem cells profitable.  STEM is no different.  It does have some revenues, but expenses far outweigh revenues.  The good news for STEM is that management has used all of this hype and interest in stem cell stock pay dividends in the form of equity raises and fundraising.  STEM has an impressive cache of cash (over $28MM as of 9-30–09), but at a $7MM quarterly burn rate that cash will last them a year.  STEM will probably never seen penny stock land again and I could see it upgrading its listing in the future.

Chart analysis:

STEM has an interesting chart that bears watching.  See my annotations below.

The stock appears to be basing at this level and performance of this stock could depend solely on what news comes out regarding stem cells in the next few weeks.

For those traders who want to be ready for the next stem cell explosion, here are some tickers that you should hold on to:

ACTC  * ALXN * AOLS * ARIA * ASTM * BHRT * BMSN * BTIM * CBAI * CCEL * CELG * CRIS * CUR * DNDN * GERN * IART * INCR * ISCO * KOOL * MCET * MEDS * OCHT * OSTE * OSIR * PKI * PPMD * PSTI * SPPI * STEM * VODG

I have previously blogged ACTC, ARIA, CBAI, PSTI and now STEM.

There is a strong short sentiment about STEM with the latest Yahoo! stats showing a short percentage of 15.6% as of 2-12-10

In my opinion, STEM has a nice setup.  Any strength in the stock and the short squeeze will only accelerate the gains.  The stock should be avoided on any break below the current support of $1.16

Good luck and good trading,

Jeffrey Dean

Editor

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