Friday, September 07, 2007

Opportunity in First Israel Fund

The First Israel Fund (ISL) is off nearly 6% in above average volume. The sell-off eliminates the 4% premium that ISL had to its NAV and puts it slightly back into discount. However, the Israeli stock indexes were only off about ½% on Thursday and the markets are closed in Eretz Yisrael on Fridays and Saturday (Yom Shabbat). The largest holding in ISL is Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA). TEVA comprises about 10% of ISL holdings. TEVA received some good news today when it received a favorable court ruling allowing the company to produce a generic form of Wyeth’s (WYE) Protonix prescription heartburn medication. TEVA is off about 2/3% today and if the market was not weak I believe it would be trading higher. WYE is falling over 3%. Today is another great example of the cuffs not matching the collars and you have a nice opportunity to pick up ISL. Shabbat Shalom to all.

At the time of this Blog entry Scott Rothbort, his family and or clients of LakeView Asset Management, LLC were long shares of ISL --- although positions can change at any time.

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