Two questions to ponder before you buy TCM stocks

One of the effects of Chinese herbal scientist Tu Youyou winning a Nobel Prize for medicine has been the rise in prices of traditional Chinese medicine-related stocks on mainland bourses after the weeklong National Day holiday.

Tu, the first Chinese national to gain the glory in science, seems to have sparked unprecedented investor enthusiasm for TCM-related stocks. Shares of drug producers, led by companies such as Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical and KPC Pharmaceuticals, rallied by the daily limit of 10 percent on Thursday, coasting on Nobel-sparked hopes that the TCM industry will boom in the wake of international recognition for Tu's achievements.

If you happen to hold some of these stocks and have made some profits, good for you. But if you are planning to buy such stocks thinking the TCM industry is in for a boom, think again.