Pfizer Inc (PFE)

If you look back 4-5 years at any of the major pharmaceuticals, their revenues have not grown a nickel. This is because they spend an incredible amount of money on R&D. Then, because of legislation in the US, they go off patent and they lose a big piece of their revenue stream. This one is a cash cow because it produced a lot of cash that it paid out in dividends. In a low interest-rate environment, people were looking for dividends and yield. Long-term, this is misguided from a business growth and development standpoint.

He loves the drug stocks. His model price is $32.37, an upside of 13%-14%. This is neither a big gainer nor a big loser in this current correction. Pays a 3.65% dividend yield. (See Top Picks.)

He is not in love with them. He likes the research pipeline. He may liquidate it down the road.

Went through their patent cliffs and will now not show much top line growth. They have a history of making large acquisitions in order to grow. They buy the pipeline, cut costs and find synergies. There is a risk that they overpay in acquisitions. She would not buy it.

The CEO obviously confused everybody by going after AstraZeneca. Because of this, there is no more of a premium towards an upside to his model price. Closed at $28.73 and his model price is $35.03, a 22% upside. 3.6% dividend yield. Overall, healthcare stocks have been doing quite well, especially drug stocks. Take advantage of this pullback.

Made a ‘W’ base in 2009/10 and then started an uptrend. Now it has been doing a bit of top building. Make sure if you own it, don’t let it go below $28 (stop loss).

Pulled back because they wanted to do a big acquisition, which was confusing to the market as they seemed willing to pay any price for the company. The market gave a thumbs down to that acquisition. His model price would have been crushed. This pullback is a buying opportunity. Model price is $37, a 22% upside.

A huge company with several drugs in the pipeline, but none of them appear to be blockbusters that are going to make a material difference. Stock valuation is pretty decent, and has a very nice dividend, but he just doesn’t see a whole lot of growth. They are preparing to split the company into 3 separate entities, but that is going to take a couple of years. (See Top Picks.)

Have been in discussions for a takeover of AstraZeneca, and he does not think this deal will go through. For them to buy, they would probably be a laggard for the next 5 years. He sees no upside for them. If this deal dies, he can see the stock ride up to $33.41.

Thinks their acquisition of AstraZeneca will happen and will be good for this company. Came out with some really lousy earnings. Company has not decreased guidance. If you look at this quarter, it is always seasonally weak. This acquisition, for long-term investors, could be a pretty good buy at this time.

The pullback is attractive. This is a Dow component. Pays a good dividend. The whole pharmaceutical space is having a really good run. For a little bit more higher risk and a better longer-term outlook, something like a Gilead Sciences (GILD-Q) (?) or Celgene (CELG-Q) are interesting on a pullback they’ve just gone through. Wouldn’t do this for a while, but would continue to hold this company. This is a little expensive right now because it has done so well and people are running to the safety of these names.

In the ‘80s and ‘90s they came out with so many block buster drugs. Now they don’t have those drugs in their pipelines. The acquisition they are working on now will prevent the valuation increasing much for a while.

There is a shuffling of the deck in pharma right now. We don’t have the health care leverage in Canada right now. This is a good one.

Over the last year or so, it has run up a fair bit and is now trading in the range of 15 or 16 times earnings and dividends have come down. A problem he has with pure pharmaceutical companies is that they are very dependent on their pipelines. Pipelines in this business are still pretty good, but unfortunately they are not big blockbuster drugs any more. He prefers something like Johnson & Johnson (JNJ-N) which has pharmaceuticals, medical devices and consumer products.

Likes to find sectors that have been out of favour for some time. This sector had the patent cliff. A lot of companies restructured and some became distribution businesses. PFE made acquisitions. Little growth now and predictability. Pays out less than 50% of earnings. Health care is the biggest industry in the US as the population ages. He owns MRK. Look at the biotech sector because that is the companies being acquired.