A Healthy Investment Idea
I've written columns recently focusing on consumer discretionaries, which haven't been as bad as other sectors amid market weakness. Another less-bad sector has been health care, with a year-to-date gain of 13.8%.
A top price gainer in the sector backed by good earnings performance is Gilead Sciences (GILD), up nearly 13% so far this month. The bulk of the gains came on Nov. 12, when the stock gapped up on news that a combination of three drugs had a 100% success rate in treating 25 patients with the hepatitis C virus. Earnings performance has been on the decline recently, though revenue has grown at double-digit rates in each of the past four quarters. Analysts expect 2012 to wrap up with earnings per share of $3.85, which would be down a penny from 2011. In 2013, earnings are expected to rise 14%, to $4.39 per share. A glance at a weekly chart immediately shows you that Gilead tends to have a wide-and-loose trading character, making it more challenging and potentially frustrating than many large caps....349 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
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