by Louis Basenese, Advisory Panelist
Senior Analyst, The Oxford Club
When a subscriber recently asked us if we were hot on any nanotech stocks, my immediate reply was, “No.”
But it wasn’t because I’m not excited about the nanotech field…
- Over $50 billion in product sales last year included some form of nanotechnology.
- The National Science Foundation’s asserts the nanotechnology market will top $1 trillion by 2015. You don’t need me to tell you, but I will… Few industries, if any, can boast such strong prospects.
My problem was that time and again all I saw was gobs of money pouring into research without a penny in real profits.
Worse yet, whenever I did find a compelling technology - one capable of actually making money - it was typically buried as a tiny operation beneath a megacap. Even if the technology gained traction in the marketplace, its investment potential would be largely muted.
Nevertheless, the inquiry compelled me to do more digging. And I’m not afraid to admit that I spoke too soon. I found a pure-play nanotechnology stock with plenty of potential and a healthy stream of real profits.
Nanotechnology’s Profitable Niche - Spintronics
Nanotechnology - the control of matter on an atomic and molecular scale - has only one unmistakably profitable niche, spin electronics (or spintronics for short).
Don’t worry. If you haven’t had a physics class in years, I’ll keep the geek-speak to a minimum. Here’s what’s important to know…
Seventy years ago, physicists discovered that an electron has two main components: a negative charge and a spin. Since that time, however, electronics have only tapped the potential of the former - an electron’s negative charge - to power devices.
They’ve ignored the spin, until now. Enter spintronics.
The Simple Goal of Spintronics
The goal of Spintronics is simple - to acquire, store and transfer information using the spin state of electrons rather than their charge.
