Zacks.com introduces its $100K Challenge 2007 top player interviews, which feature insights from the leaders of the Zacks Simulator game. This year the Simulator’s $100K Challenge allows investors to prove their stock picking abilities by competing directly against other players for a possible $100,000 contract with Zacks.

J.J. McGrath (aka MackTheKnife) is a diversified investor and trader who primarily deals in options and stock, with a burgeoning interest in certain exchange-traded funds. Highly quotable, informed and energetic, he mentioned the following in his latest interview with us: "Because I believe demographics are destiny, I most finely focus on companies in the energy and health-care sectors."

MackTheKnife's current portfolio includes names like Dendreon Corp. (Nasdaq: DNDN), Anika Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ANIK) and Alvarion Ltd. (Nasdaq: ALVR). Click here for the full story exclusively on Zacks.com: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2518

Highlights from the October 17 interview include:

Who or what influenced your style of investing?

Everything I have heard, seen, smelled, tasted and touched in my many years on this planet informs my investing and trading. I find a highly developed sense of smell most useful in assessing the assertions of many market participants, both on the long and the short sides.

What one stock from your portfolio that is performing really well and is responsible for at least a portion of your Simulator success?

Obviously, my positions in the Dendreon Corp. were responsible not only for my winning the Zacks 1st Quarter Options Challenge for 2007 but also for my initial appearance among the leaders in the Zacks $100,000 Challenge. At the time both competitions began in January, my research of the company led me to believe the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was very likely to OK in the first half of this year Dendreon's biologics license application (BLA) for Provenge (sipuleucel-T), a first-in-class immunotherapy for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.

I mean, one does not have to be a brain surgeon to understand the awesome implications of the Provenge D9901 Phase 3 clinical trial, which is the first randomized (two-to-one), double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of a cancer immunotherapy to show a benefit in overall survival. Equally important, this trial and others show Provenge is well-tolerated: fatigue, chills and back pain have been described as its most common side-effects, with less than one-quarter of trial subjects experiencing them.

Check out the complete interview and learn more about the Simulator at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2518

The $100K Challenge is On! Do You Have What it Takes?

Sign up now for the Zacks $100K Challenge. It's free. It's fun. It's the place to show your investing prowess. The best stock picker will be rewarded with a $100,000 contract with Zacks. Learn more at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2520

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