Jump to content

Flat is As Flat Does


Recommended Posts

NEW YORK) CNNMoney.com -- Drugmaker Abbott Laboratories released positive results of a study on its new drug-coated stent Xience, bringing it one step closer to FDA approval, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

 

The trial proved that Xience was more effective than Boston Scientific's Taxus, the current top-selling stent on the $3 billion U.S. market. Xience is currently available in Europe and parts of Asia.

 

Stents are used to open clogged arteries in heart disease patients. Xience is a more advanced, drug and polymer-coated version of Abbott's earlier model of a stent called Vision, the market leader for bare metal stents.

 

As a by product of my heart operation a few weeks ago I got a fast and interesting education regarding stent manufacturing due to a fellow ( waiting for pace maker)who works at Medtronic in Santa Rosa, Ca . It seems that each stent sells for 6K to 10K each.

It takes 1200 QC sign-offs for each stent . Clean room filters cost 7K to run each hour and every hour of downtime (clean room) cost $ 1 million.

Very interesting technology and given the rate at which American's and others around the world enjoy over eating would seem to have a bright future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 169
  • Created
  • Last Reply
NEW YORK) CNNMoney.com -- Drugmaker Abbott Laboratories released positive results of a study on its new drug-coated stent Xience, bringing it one step closer to FDA approval, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

 

The trial proved that Xience was more effective than Boston Scientific's Taxus, the current top-selling stent on the $3 billion U.S. market. Xience is currently available in Europe and parts of Asia.

 

Stents are used to open clogged arteries in heart disease patients. Xience is a more advanced, drug and polymer-coated version of Abbott's earlier model of a stent called Vision, the market leader for bare metal stents.

 

As a by product of my heart operation a few weeks ago I got a fast and interesting education regarding  stent manufacturing due to a fellow ( waiting for pace maker)who works at Medtronic in Santa Rosa, Ca .  It seems that each stent sells for 6K to 10K each.

It takes 1200 QC sign-offs for each stent .  Clean room filters cost 7K to run each hour and every hour of downtime (clean room) cost $ 1 million. 

Very interesting technology and given the rate at which American's and others around the world enjoy over eating would seem to have a bright future.

570648[/snapback]

 

Thanks for the background information on the manufacturing process. I find that stuff fascinating and it's amazing that we as consumers can afford (through insurance or other means) some fantastic technology.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I read Doc's post this morning and just wanted to add a few comments.

 

1) In our area (Southern NH), I'd guess that real estate is down about 15% but there are buyers coming out to look at the larger than normal inventory. Our house is probably down less than 5% though our place is inexpensive and conveniently located. The job situation is very good right now though I don't think that's putting upward pressure on the housing market. Maybe it's just allowing prices not to sink that much. Property taxes are a huge problem. The formula that you put out is reasonable here. Median income is in the high-70s and median house prices are probably in the mid to high 200s. Of course your formula would have been way too generous on property taxes. We had a tax revolt last year so there is pain out there.

 

2) Austin, TX appears to be in a real estate boom. I have a friend house-hunting down there and he says that things are hopping right now. If you go to Monster.com and look up real estate jobs, you'll see plenty for Austin.

 

Summer is only three months away. It doesn't feel like a crash is coming. When we bought in the 1980s, it did feel like a crash was coming because the economy wasn't very good heading into the housing problems. At least from my lowly view of the economy back then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting, mmoy. Your #1 sounds like the situation in NH is just like that of Minneapolis, except that I don't think the job situation is as good as in NH.

570652[/snapback]

 

I think that the job situation in NH is good due to cheap real estate - the commercial kind along with the pool of educated workers coming out of the schools in Boston. Those that don't mind staying in New England.

 

We have a lot of old mill buildings along the Merrimack River in Manchester that are being turned into offices for high-tech companies. I visited a mill building that was next to one of the canals in Nashua. It was quite tricky to get to and there were lots of mill buildings along with the inexpensive housing where the workers lived many, many decades ago. It had the old wooden floors, very high ceilings and the kinds of walls that would be expected. I turned on my laptop and was amazed at the number of wireless networks running in the building.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no comment about this.

I needed to read it twice to be sure I understood his question.

 

http://www.latimes.com/classified/realesta...realestate-news

 

Question: After being in my house for a year, the market value is considerably less than the appraised value. I feel I was deceived by the builder and the appraiser. Who do I talk to about this?

 

My mortgage was for the full appraised value. I want to stay in my house, but I don't want to pay for a mortgage with a balance that is more than the house is worth. Is there any way I can get the lender to reduce my note to the real value of the house? I thought about selling, but the new appraisal is for considerably less than the mortgage balance

Link to comment
Share on other sites

this guy http://www.bubbleinfo.com/ is not a bear-kook nor RE bull.

he just reports data for San Diego:

 

That is the year-to-date snapshot, how about weekly?

 

Total listings

------- 2004 2005 2006 2007

 

3/4 - 3/10 604 640 897 936

 

3/11-3/17 615 644 893 841

 

3/18-3/24 561 594 860 746

 

Closings

------------- 2004 2005 2006 2007 chg from '06

 

3/4 - 3/10 453 428 334 258 -23%

 

3/11-3/17 479 449 415 291 -30%

 

3/18-3/24 499 471 419 201 -52%

Link to comment
Share on other sites

this one is a long article and for most of us there is nothing new to find.

http://origin.insidebayarea.com/business/ci_5518220

 

what I found interesting is first paragraph:

"LAST YEAR, James and Barbara Morgan refinanced their mortgage into a subprime loan in hopes of lowering their house payments. Now the couple worry that the high-risk loan could force them to sell the East Oakland home they have lived in for more than 30 years."

 

More than 30 years in the house and still did not own it straight up.

it does not say they "owned" it for more than 30 years but still.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

COMMENTARY: Subprime Covered Puts

 

Dead-cat bounces in some of the sub-prime mortgage lenders like Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co. (NASDAQ-LEND) and NovaStar Financial, Inc. (NYSE-NFI) offer the possibility of high percentage returns from shorting the stocks now and selling covered put options.

 

With the stock currently at $5.81 per share, a May 5 put option on NFI can be sold for 1.30, or $130 per contract on 100 shares. This would provide an option income for approximately two months of 44.8% assuming the stock is unchanged through expiration Friday May 18th, and assuming your broker requires a 50% margin deposit of $290.50 to sell the stock short. 130 / 290.50 = .448 or 44.8%.

 

If the stock falls below 5, the put holder would exercise their option to put the stock to you, that is, to sell it to you, at $5 per share, which would actually generate an additional profit for you since you sold it short at $5.81 and would automatically buy it back at $5.00. In that case your total return would be 72.6%.

post-2457-1174856739_thumb.jpg

post-2457-1174858318_thumb.png

post-2457-1174860823_thumb.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no comment about this.

I needed to read it twice to be sure I understood his question.

 

http://www.latimes.com/classified/realesta...realestate-news

 

Question: After being in my house for a year, the market value is considerably less than the appraised value. I feel I was deceived by the builder and the appraiser. Who do I talk to about this?

 

My mortgage was for the full appraised value. I want to stay in my house, but I don't want to pay for a mortgage with a balance that is more than the house is worth. Is there any way I can get the lender to reduce my note to the real value of the house? I thought about selling, but the new appraisal is for considerably less than the mortgage balance

570656[/snapback]

 

Here's a revised version of the same question:

 

After owning 1,000 shares of a stock for a year, the market value is considerably less than what I paid for it. I feel I was deceived by my broker and by Barron's, where I first learned about this stock. I thought about selling, but I don't want to receive less than I paid for the shares. Who do I talk to about this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Tell a friend

    Love Stool Pigeons Wire Message Board? Tell a friend!
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • ×
    • Create New...