Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)

Excellent company. Thinks that most of the staples across the planet are very expensive, with the US being more expensive because of their currency. This is a great company with great products and a dividend that has gradually increased. If you don’t already own a staple, he would suggest you look to Europe where they are more attractive. Also, look for the better growth stories where the dividends are a little lower, but are growing a little faster. He would have no problem buying this one here, but wait for a better entry price.

It is a great company, not expensive. As things come off in one business another picks up. There are devices, pharmaceutical and consumer products. Thinks they will continue to make small acquisitions. You can hold this for the long, long term. He would buy more on a pullback.

This is the perfect storm. Aging population. Consumer products, medical devices and their HEP-C drug. Fantastic pipeline. 14.9 times earnings which is well below peers. 2.73% yield. Support levels at 200 day moving average of $102.46. Put a stop loss there.

Made up of 3 major components, the consumer division, the medical device division and pharmaceutical. Trading at about 18X earnings right now, and 2 of the divisions, consumer side and diagnostics, are not doing that well. The pharmaceutical side is the only one that is really doing well. A little too expensive for him. You have to be very pointed in how you buy these companies. Although health companies are good companies, they have outgrown their earnings in terms of valuations. A lot of that was in search of yield.

Switch into J.P. Morgan (JPM-N)? This is a very odd comparison as J&J is a blue-chip AAA rated company with a very defensive business model. It has done very well and is just taking a kind of breather right now. She would not be selling it for J.P. Morgan, which is a much more volatile stock and is sensitive to capital markets. Also, their earnings profile is a lot more uneven.

A well diversified company because it has the consumer side, the pharmaceutical side and the medical device side. The thing he doesn’t like about it now is that it has had a very good run, but the price has eclipsed the rate of growth of the earnings. Valuation has risen into the high teens, and their growth rate just doesn’t support that type of evaluation. This is one that you can wait on and buy from time to time, but he wouldn’t buy it now.

Has just fallen a little bit below the 200 day moving average, so it looks intriguing to own. However, he likes some of the biotechs a bit more. His only concern is that this is trading at 2.3X PEG ratio, which is not cheap.

Likes health care generally. He is overweight that sector. Buys it for new clients. Pipelines are good with new launches and he would feel good buy it.

(A Top Pick Aug 8/8/13. Up 15.38%.) Stock has acted well and he would have no problem holding it. However, he prefers Merck (MRK-N) at this time.

(A Top Pick Sept 10/13. Up 20.55%.) Very high quality consumer products/pharma company. She would probably wait for it to pull back a couple of dollars. She has a target price of $112-$115. Yield of just over 2%. They are seeing a lot of positive revenue growth, which is coming from their pharma division, which has the highest margins. Thinks the problems they’ve had on the consumer side are largely behind them.

Looks at this as a good long-term hold. Thinks the pharmaceutical industry still has a lot of growth ahead of it. This is one of the better growers because of the diversity of products, pharmaceuticals, consumer products and medical equipment devices. Trading at 17X earnings. 2.7% dividend yield.

The 1 year chart indicates the upper trend line has been broken. However, going back a little bit further, there was a pretty nice solid consolidation breakout at around $95. It could test that but still be reasonably healthy for longer-term players. Look for a successful test of $95.

One of his favourite sectors is the healthcare space. He prefers the equipment side, but this is a very well run company with a superb history. A lot of their products are geared towards the consumer, which is a little more stable.

Good quality company, and has been a great story. Stock is getting a little bit rich. If you own, you might want to consider trimming a little.

This sector is running right up against stiff technical resistance at this time. His FMV is about $110, so even if they could get through the resistance, the real question is “where is it going to go?”. Compounding the problem is that the whole US healthcare index is in the same condition.