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RealMoney.com: Jim Cramer Blog
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The Amazing Shrinking Health Care Supply

By Jim Cramer
RealMoney Columnist

11/27/2009 12:34 PM EST
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Supply is shrinking. But it is shrinking only in one sector.

Just like a disputed play in football, a booth review of my comments yesterday about the lack of supply shrinkage ignored the concept of one of the most powerful of the rolling bull markets out there -- the health care sector.

With deals a big as Genentech (DNA - commentary - Trade Now), Wyeth, Schering-Plough (SGP - commentary - Trade Now) and ImClone (IMCL - commentary - Trade Now), with health care maintenance organizations taking in tens of billions of dollars, including $10 billion in the last year, you could argue that this sector is one of the few that had enough money and enough guts to exploit the twin weaknesses of market declines and Washington-related weaknesses.

One of the reasons I have been so doggedly bullish about Wellpoint (WLP - commentary - Trade Now) is that it has used these moments to shrink and shrink and shrink. The company bought back 120 million shares last year, and I think it has been just as aggressive this year. Medco (MHS - commentary - Trade Now) bought back 50 million shares last year. Express Scripts (ESRX - commentary - Trade Now) keeps picking away. So has Aetna (AET - commentary - Trade Now). And Johnson & Johnson (JNJ - commentary - Trade Now).

These matter. As we get closer and closer to some resolution in health care, remember that this is where the supply is tight. And get comfortable with something in the group.

Random musings: We need to see this Baltic Freight Index break the five-day spiral, and the rail carloading gains will not offset this after a while. ... Not a great number from Frontline (FRO - commentary - Trade Now). ..Ready yourself for "weak black Friday sales" stories, as they've probably already been written. Yet I hear good things from Apple (AAPL - commentary - Trade Now) already! ... Goldman Sachs (GS - commentary - Trade Now) has truly become the worst stock in the group as endless rumors related to profits dog it. They should have taken every penny of that profit and bought a huge amount of stock back. ... Elsewhere on the site I have been a subject of character assassination by one of our own, Rev Shark, who is claiming that I am a proponent of this trader tax, which I do not want. As someone who members of Congress have acknowledged was a champion and helpful advocate of the cut in the capital gains tax and dividend tax -- very important to people here -- I resent this attempt to paint me as the supporter of this trader tax. I am shocked that one of our own would attack me for it. Shocked and extremely disappointed. I deserve better.

At the time of publication, Cramer was long Goldman Sachs.


Special note from Jim: You can learn my time-tested ways to trade smart, even in this market. All my latest thinking is in my brand new book, Getting Back to Even, which I'll send to you as part of a special promotion when you sign up for my Action Alerts PLUS service for a limited time. So if you sign up now, you'll get to see how I'm playing these stocks in my portfolio today, plus, I'll teach you how you can play these stocks to help your portfolio get back to even.

Cramer's Upcoming Book Signings

Tuesday, Dec. 8, 7-9 p.m. Barnes & Noble, White Plains (230 Main Street)





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Jim Cramer is co-founder and chairman of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, including Cramer, may, from time to time, write about stocks in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. To see his personal portfolio and find out what trades Cramer will make before he makes them, sign up for Action Alerts PLUS. Watch Cramer on "Mad Money" weeknights on CNBC. To order Cramer's newest book -- "Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)," click here. Click here to order "Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich," click here to order "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click here to get "You Got Screwed!" and click here for Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he appreciates your feedback and invites you to send comments by clicking here.

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