How the Market Works #5

TradeDesk


Neurocrine Bioscience
https://simplywall.st/stocks/us/pharmaceuticals-biotech/nasdaq-nbix/neurocrine-biosciences/news/does-neurocrine-biosciences-nasdaqnbix-have-a-healthy-balance-sheet/ ?
https://www.zacks.com/stock/quote/NBIX

How the Market Works #4

After investing most of my money in large blue chip companies, I decided to invest around $10,000 into two smaller, cheaper companies: Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) and InMode.

To begin with, I invested into XLK because it is a company that invests into tech companies in the S&P 500 Index, which means that majority of the companies that it invests in are blue chip stocks that are reliable like Microsoft, Intel, Visa, and Adobe, however it also contains a mixture of more volatile stocks. Additionally, according to Investopedia, XLK has outperformed the S&P 500 substantially over the past year with returns at 25.5% compared to the overall S&P's 14.6% returns, which I found promising. However, I didn't want to simply focus on XLK's past achievements but understand where the company was headed for in the future. So, I went to the website StockInvest, a trustworthy database that forecasts the successfulness of companies based on previous trends, and found positive results. According to the StockInvest, XLK has an upward trend and is not only a good stock for long term gains, but is great as a short term investment as well, which you can see in the graph below.

I was also prompted to buy XLK because according to ETF, it's MSCI ESG Fund Rating is an A, which signifies that it's resilient to long term risks and opportunities that arise from environmental, social, and governance factors, thus making it a reliable investment. Finally, I decided to invest in XLK because it is an undervalued company. According to Simply Wall Street, an estimate of the fair value of XLK is $138.58 compared to its current price of only $86.45. Therefore, I invested into XLK not only because of its past outstanding performance but also because of the positive predictions for the company in the future.

The next company that I invested in was InMode, the leading global provider of innovative and award winning medical technologies, focusing on developing, manufacturing, and marketing novel radio-frequency technologies for plastic and minimally invasive surgeries (InMode). I selected this company because Investor's Business Daily, an American newspaper and website that covers the stock market, international businesses, finance and economics, ranked InMode as one of the top stocks to buy and watch in November. This is because, as the newspaper explains, in the latest reported quarter, earnings rose to 77% from the same quarter last year. Moreover, sales growth accelerated for the third straight quarter, shooting up 57% to $40 million. Additionally, another reason for why I invested into this stock was because Zack's Ratings, a reliable short term stock recommendation website that uses analyst earning estimates to rank stocks, classified InMode as a "strong buy", explaining that it is predicted that InMode will have an above average return relative to the market in the next few months. Supporting this claim that InMode will have higher returns than the market, Simply Wall Street, a trustworthy company that sorts complicated stock information into useful infographics, explains that analysts predict that InMode's revenue at 17.9% per year is forecasted to grow faster than the U.S market's revenue of 7.3% per year. Additionally, you can tell in the below graph that InMode is predicted to have a steady, high growth rate over the course of the next few years.

One last reason for why I invested into this stock is that it is volatile so although this means that there is high risk involved, it also means that there are high rewards at stake. Since, my portfolio consists of mainly trustworthy, giant companies, I realized that it made sense for me to invest in a volatile stock considering the shortness of this simulation's length. What I didn't realize though was how volatile the stock was as the next day after I bought it, the price of the stock increased by 12% (for no notable reason that I could find)! I knew that this signified that the stock would crash in the following days, so I sold the stock directly after and sure enough, it crashed by 3% the next day. However, I will continue to monitor this stock and see if there's a dip in the market anytime soon that will allow me to repurchase it.

Cultural Convention

Description

This photograph was captured by ISB student Beam Lertbunnaphongs titled "This is Because of YOU". Within this photo, a person is gaping with his mouth wide open under a clinging sheet of plastic. Immediately, the red colouration of the image stands out at you, emitting a sense of danger, pain, and anger. The image also contains contrasting shapes as the round oval of the person's mouth contradicts the stretched out lines of plastic, adding more dimension to the image and exemplifying the tightness of the plastic. The crinkly texture of the plastic also creates visually interesting shapes and lines that draw your attention across the image. Overall, the theme of pain stands out with the choice of colour, expression, and use of plastic.   

Analysis

To me, the bright red element in the photo greatly sets the mood of it by immediately giving the viewer a sense of urgency, reminding them of ambulances and sirens. Additionally, the different shades of red within it help unify the image while simultaneously ensuring that the image remains engaging and varied. Playing around with the usage of shadows, particularly in the face to morph features like the eyes and nose into darkness, helps draw the viewer's eye directly to the screaming mouth. Furthermore, the dark background ensures that there is nothing distracting in the image and that the spotlight is completely and entirely on the subject of the image. By forming a sort of dance with the red shades and varying shadows, the photograph has an abstract feel to it like there is an underlying, implied darker theme beneath it. 

Interpretation

I believe that the message the artist portrayed had to do with suffocating under the pressure of your problems. To me, the plastic could represent a number of issues we face in our world whether that be betrayal from certain friends, academic pressure from parents, peer pressure, or simply the weight of society's problems slowly choking us. The pain of the person in this image is apparent and in a sense, I feel like I can affiliate with him and understand how daunting the future and stressful living in the present can be. I feel like the reasoning behind this photographer's choices to capture this image was to showcase to us the immensity the effects of pressure can have on us, to the point where we feel like we are suffocating. Perhaps, the purpose was to then incentivize and urge people to support others or to explain to some that they are not alone in feeling the pressure in this world. 

Judgement 

I think that this work has intrinsic value for several reasons. To begin with, the originality and uniqueness of the photograph helps draw the viewer in and overall, makes it an interesting piece of art. Additionally, because this photograph is expressionistic with an exaggerated expression of pain, the tone of the image is clear and dramatic. Because of these emotions, a message on how all consuming and suffocating the issues in society can be is portrayed, either helping call people to action or reminding others that they aren't alone. Thus, I find this piece valuable and insightful.