Jim Cramer's Action Alerts Plus

Action Alerts PLUS

Action BMY ABT AA

07/09/09 - 01:09 PM EDT

Increasing a Health Care Stake

After you have received this Alert, I am going to buy 100 shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY:NYSE) at $19.42. Health care is down today as investors are taking profits in the group and bidding up the cyclical stocks after Alcoa (AA:NYSE) reported better-than-expected earnings.

I remain positive on Bristol-Myers because it is a solid double-digit earnings grower with an attractive dividend. It also offers a nice balance to the higher-beta stocks in the fund. Its second-quarter earnings will be strong, with double-digit growth led by low-single-digit revenue (led by strength in Abilify, Orencia, Plavix and Sprycel) and continued efforts in its cost-cutting program. I expect a positive update on its acquisition strategy (likely small to medium-sized deals) on its conference call and for management to remain focused on shareholder value creation. After my trade, I will own 3,200 shares or 2.56%.

I am restricted in Abbott Labs (ABT:NYSE) but would be a buyer on its weakness today because I expect its quarter to be strong as well. Its flagship drug, Humira, will likely post 15% to 20% growth, which should please investors after last quarter's disappointment. Management has indicated at recent conferences that the destocking of inventory has abated, and that patients' assistance levels for Humira have lowered. Xience continues to win market share relative to its competitors, mainly because of its superior survivability data, and I expect a positive update of its European launch on its conference call.

Increasing Humira and Xience sales should drive increasing margins in ABT's pharmaceuticals and vascular business, while diagnostics margins improve as ABT executes an ongoing restructuring program. Shares trade at 11 times earnings and now offer a 3.5% yield, which is very attractive.

Regards,

Jim Cramer

Click here to trade alongside Cramer!

DISCLOSURE: At the time of publication, Cramer was long ABT and BMY.

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James J. Cramer is a Markets Commentator for TheStreet.com and CNBC, as well as director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. TheStreet.com is a publisher and a registered investment adviser. The Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio (the "Portfolio") contains all of Mr. Cramer's personal investments in publicly-traded equity securities only, and does not include any mutual fund holdings or other institutionally managed assets, private equity investments, or his holdings in TheStreet.com, Inc. In March 2005, these investments were irrevocably conveyed to a Trust, the realized profits from which have been pledged to charity. Mr. Cramer retains full investment discretion with respect to all securities contained in the Trust. Results take into account dividends paid, interest earned on cash, and actual commissions paid. Trades in the Portfolio are generally executed upon receipt of confirmation that the Action Alert email containing the report of such trade has been sent to all Action Alerts PLUS subscribers. Results obtained by subscribers may differ from results obtained by Mr. Cramer for many reasons, including, without limitation: (i) the large size of the Portfolio and the high volume of shares traded by Mr. Cramer tend to reduce the effect of commissions on the overall return of the Portfolio relative to the generally smaller portfolios of subscribers, (ii) the prices of stocks in the Portfolio at the point in time subscribers begin subscribing to Action Alerts PLUS may be higher than such prices at the time of Mr. Cramer's purchases of them, and (iii) subscribers may not have the capital to trade as frequently as Mr. Cramer. Additionally, Mr. Cramer is subject to certain trading restrictions, and must hold all securities in the Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio for at least one month, and is not permitted to buy or sell any security he has spoken about on television or on his radio program, for five days following the broadcast.

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