Dow Today: Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Higher

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) is trading down 1.0 points at 12,964 as of Tuesday, Dec 4, 2012, 12:35 p.m. ET. During this time, 267.7 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 628 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 1,191 issues advancing vs. 1,708 declining with 152 unchanged.

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The Dow component leading the way higher looks to be Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), which is sporting a 32-cent gain (+0.5%) bringing the stock to $69.97. Volume for Johnson & Johnson currently sits at 7.9 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 11.1 million shares.

Johnson & Johnson has a market cap of $193.24 billion and is part of the health care sector and drugs industry. Shares are up 6.2% year to date as of Monday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 3.5%.

Johnson & Johnson, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the research and development, manufacture, and sale of various products in the health care field worldwide. The company has a P/E ratio of 22.9, above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates Johnson & Johnson 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, reasonable valuation levels, expanding profit margins and increase in stock price during the past year. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity.

• You can view the full Johnson & Johnson Ratings Report.

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For more information on Johnson & Johnson click any of the following:

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