In an effort to lose a few pounds, I recently cut out sugar from my diet.

It didn’t seem like much of a challenge until I thought about the multiple cups of coffee I have each day with sugar.

I tried out different zero-calorie sugar substitutes and finally found stevia to be the most tolerable.

Even though stevia is the best of the bunch — especially compared to Splenda or Sweet’N Low — it has a long way to go.

You see, with stevia, the molecules responsible for the sweetness are extracted from the stevia plant and filtered out to make the sweetener.

But these molecules are less than 1% of the plant, and extracting them is a costly process.

Not to mention, the filtering methods don’t work fully, leaving behind a bitter and unpleasant aftertaste. (I’ll leave the face I make after finishing my morning coffee to your imagination!)

It leaves me wondering if there’s something better.

And it looks like there is…

Synthetic Biology Has Limitless Applications

Ingredion, a food-and-beverage ingredients company, recently introduced a product called RealSweet.

RealSweet uses genetically modified yeast and feeds it sugar, which it converts into the same exact molecules found in stevia.

fermentation process stevia sugar

It results in a sweeter product with no aftertaste since it doesn’t have to be filtered like natural stevia.

Not to mention its cheaper to produce since you aren’t farming massive quantities of stevia only to use a small portion of it.

This process of genetically engineering a microbe to make it manufacture a desired molecule or substance is known as synthetic biology.

According to Barron’s, the total addressable market for synthetic biology is nearly $1 trillion.

That’s not a surprising figure considering that this technology can be applied to nearly all industries ranging from agriculture to alternative fuels.

synthetic biology startups food fuel healthcare

So far, synthetic biology is used to commercially create compounds for makeup, food flavors, fragrances, vaccines and polymers.

And this is just the beginning…

How to Invest in the Future of Food and Much More

While you could invest in companies like Ingredion to get in on synthetic biology, the real opportunity is in Amyris Inc. (Nasdaq: AMRS).

This is the company that developed the original product that Ingredion now markets as RealSweet.

Amyris’s portfolio of products include food ingredients and compounds for beauty and wellness products.

The amazing thing about Amyris is that it doesn’t wait around on other companies to get its products out there.

Take RealSweet for example. Amyris already had Purecane, its own in-house brand that was being sold in stores before Ingredion showed up.

And it does the same thing in the beauty and wellness space by developing its own brands like Biossance while partnering with cosmetics companies like Sephora.

This combined approach is the reason why Wall Street expects Amyris to grow its revenues from $392 million to $1.04 billion over the next five years.

That’s a compound annual growth rate of over 21%.

The stock has seen an incredible run-up of 350% in just the last year! And it’s not too late to get in.

However, if you’re looking for a more lucrative investment in synthetic biology, then check out Strategic Fortunes.

In his service, Ian King gives you the opportunity to get in on a company that’s earlier in its growth phase. And it has a presence in more industries than just food and cosmetics.

Regards,

Andrew Prince

Research Analyst, Strategic Fortunes

 

Morning Movers


From open till noon Eastern time.

 

China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd. (OTC: EVGRF) is the electric vehicle-making subsidiary of China Evergrande Group. It was an asset the company planned on selling to raise money to meet its debt obligations in the near term. It is up an astonishing 80% this morning on the news of debt-relief solutions for China Evergrande.

 

China Evergrande Group (OTC: EGRNY), the debt-burdened Chinese property developer, is up 22% today. The rise came after Marathon Asset Management, a distressed-debt specialist, bought up some of Evergrande’s debt today and announced that it would continue to do so at the current low prices.

 

Arqit Quantum Inc. (Nasdaq: ARQQ), a quantum encryption technology company, is on the list today with an 18% rise. This stock has been volatile since it went public last month, and it is up today on more of that volatility and no real news.

 

Dollar Tree Inc. (Nasdaq: DLTR), the discount retailer, is up 16% this morning after announcing that it would be testing merchandise priced higher than a dollar at certain locations. This move could help the company better deal with rising prices and higher shipping costs.

 

Eutelsat Communications SA (OTC: ETCMY) is a French satellite communications company that is up 13% this morning. The move came after telecoms tycoon Patrick Drahi was revealed to be in talks to buy the company for $1.96 billion.

 

United Natural Foods Inc. (NYSE: UNFI), the organic and natural food wholesaler, is up 8% this morning, continuing its rally from yesterday when it announced results for Q4 that included both an earnings and revenue beat.

 

Lucid Group Inc. (Nasdaq: LCID), the electric car company, is up 8% on the news that it has begun production of the Lucid Air in its Arizona facility, with customer deliveries expected to start in October.

 

TaskUs Inc. (Nasdaq: TASK) provides outsourcing services for companies worldwide and is up 7% today. There isn’t any fundamental reason for the move. It looks like investors just found an opportunity to buy the recent dip in the stock.

 

Braskem SA (NYSE: BAK) is a Brazilian company that produces and sells thermoplastic resins and chemicals. The stock is up 7% this morning after the Mexican subsidiary of the company reached an agreement with Petroleos Mexicanos to build a $400 million terminal that would provide the subsidiary with ethane, a raw material used to produce certain types of plastics.

 

Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SPR), the aircraft manufacturer, is up 7% this morning after analysts at Bernstein upgraded the stock to a strong buy and raised their price target on the expectation that global air travel will pick up in the near future.