Abbott Laboratories (ABT): Today's Featured Drugs Winner

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) pushed the Drugs industry higher today making it today's featured drugs winner. The industry as a whole closed the day up 1.4%. By the end of trading, Abbott Laboratories rose 52 cents (0.8%) to $62.87 on light volume. Throughout the day, 3.5 million shares of Abbott Laboratories exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 6.8 million shares. The stock ranged in a price between $62.46-$63.12 after having opened the day at $62.50 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $62.35. Other companies within the Drugs industry that increased today were: Aoxing Pharmaceutical Company (AXN), up 34.9%, Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA), up 28.7%, Orexigen Therapeutics (OREX), up 20.3%, and Arrowhead Research Corporation (ARWR), up 19%.

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Abbott Laboratories engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of health care products worldwide. Abbott Laboratories has a market cap of $97.74 billion and is part of the health care sector. The company has a P/E ratio of 19.2, equal to the average drugs industry P/E ratio and above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 10.9% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday. Currently there are 10 analysts that rate Abbott Laboratories a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 10 rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Abbott Laboratories as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, growth in earnings per share, increase in net income and good cash flow from operations. Although no company is perfect, currently we do not see any significant weaknesses which are likely to detract from the generally positive outlook.

• You can view the full Abbott Ratings Report.

On the negative front, Omeros Corporation (OMER), down 20%, Osiris Therapeutics (OSIR), down 17.4%, Telik (TELK), down 11.9%, and Novogen (NVGN), down 10.6%, were all losers within the drugs industry with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA) being today's drugs industry loser.

• Use our drugs section to find industry-relevant news.
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For investors not wanting singular stock exposure, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the drugs industry could consider SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals ETF (XPH) while those bearish on the drugs industry could consider ProShares UltraShort Nasdaq Biotech (BIS).

• Find other investment ideas from our top rated ETFs lists.

For more information on Abbott Laboratories click any of the following:

• Abbott Laboratories Stock Price

• Abbott Laboratories Analyst Ratings

• Abbott Laboratories Key Stats & Profile

• Abbott Laboratories Earnings

• Abbott Laboratories Ratio Comparison

• Abbott Laboratories Growth Rates

• Abbott Laboratories Balance Sheet

• Abbott Laboratories Cash Flow

• Abbott Laboratories Income Statement