If a picture can tell a thousand words, a share price chart of Novo Nordisk (NOVOB-B:CPH) versus Eli Lilly (LLY:NYSE) strongly suggests the US firm is well ahead in the race to dominate the market for weight loss drugs, which analysts predict could be worth $150 billion per year by 2030. Over the last five years an investor in Lilly would have made 360% excluding dividends, while an investor...

As tariff fears ease elsewhere, the pharmaceutical sector now finds itself in the crosshairs thanks to an executive order trailed by president Donald Trump on 11 May. The administration apparently mandated a reduction in prescription drug prices of between a third and 80% to give the US 'most favoured nation' pricing. This put global pharma stocks on the back foot, although the vagueness of...

When it comes to fund selection, savvy investors will rightly focus on the investment philosophy and process, the vehicle's charges, as well as past performance. In terms of the qualities of the portfolio manager, many investors will look for long-term experience in the financial world or extensive qualifications, but there is one oft-overlooked trait which can provide a significant advantage:...

This article looks at investment trusts and gearing, specifically the ability of trust managers to borrow money to invest. With the help of industry body the Association of Investment Companies, we have crunched some data on gearing levels in the investment trust universe. Overall the average levels of gearing for trusts which invest in equities has remained pretty stable with gearing levels...

Funds play a really important role in most investors' portfolios. Many of us may not have the time or the inclination to research our own investment ideas and would rather entrust a professional to pick stocks (and other investments for us).The strength of broad market indices, particularly global and US ones, has made it difficult for actively managed funds to outperform over the last decade...

International Biotechnology Trust (IBT) 716pMarket cap: £263.2 millionWarren Buffett tells investors to be greedy when others are fearful and take advantage of depressed prices. That in a nutshell is the investment proposition for International Biotechnology Trust (IBT), which sits on an 11% discount to NAV (net asset value).The discount is not quite as extreme as it was when we highlighted...

It's said there are only two certainties in life ? death and taxes ? and as it stands the world is steadily getting older, with not enough births or young people coming through to offset the increasing ranks of the middle-aged and old-aged.Moreover, according to the United Nations' latest World Populations Prospects study which came out earlier this year, the global population is likely to...

At the centre of the current boom in generative AI (artificial intelligence) is chip maker Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ).It designs some of the fastest computer chips in the world which are needed to run data hungry LLMs (large language models) capable of understanding natural language.Readers may be familiar with Nvidia's historical link to the gaming industry, but less familiar with the US giant's...

The biotechnology sector should be a major beneficiary of an ageing world population and strained government health budgets as companies develop new drugs to treat chronic diseases.After underperforming the major indices since the end of the pandemic, the NBI (Nasdaq Biotechnology Index) offers great relative value and the prospect of superior earnings growth.The sector trades at a 18% PE...

International Biotechnology Trust (IBT) 650pGain to date: 4.8%We said to buy shares in International Biotechnology Trust (IBT) on 1 June 2022 at 620.1p as there was an opportunity to buy cheaply into a sector that had been heavily sold off.Biotech can be a high-risk place to invest and so using an investment trust or fund is often a better way to get exposure as the risks are spread across a...