3 Stocks Pushing The Health Services Industry 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

One out of the three major indices are trading lower today with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) trading down 15 points (-0.1%) at 14,074 as of Monday, March 4, 2013, 12:05 PM ET. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 1,220 issues advancing vs. 1,591 declining with 184 unchanged.

The Health Services industry currently is unchanged today versus the S&P 500, which is unchanged. Top gainers within the industry include Smith & Nephew (SNN), up 0.8%, and HCA Holdings (HCA), up 0.6%. On the negative front, top decliners within the industry include Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), down 3.0%, Humana (HUM), down 1.4%, Zimmer Holdings (ZMH), down 0.7%, Medtronic (MDT), down 0.7% and Aetna (AET), down 0.5%.

TheStreet Ratings group would like to highlight 3 stocks pushing the industry higher today:

3. Brookdale Senior Living (BKD) is one of the companies pushing the Health Services industry higher today. As of noon trading, Brookdale Senior Living is up $0.53 (1.9%) to $28.87 on light volume Thus far, 342,645 shares of Brookdale Senior Living exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 1.2 million shares. The stock has ranged in price between $28.25-$28.91 after having opened the day at $28.25 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $28.34.

Brookdale Senior Living Inc. owns and operates senior living communities in the United States. It operates in six segments: Retirement Centers, Assisted Living, Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) Rental, CCRCs-Entry Fee, Innovative Senior Care, and Management Services. Brookdale Senior Living has a market cap of $3.4 billion and is part of the health care sector. Shares are up 9.3% year to date as of the close of trading on Friday. Currently there are 7 analysts that rate Brookdale Senior Living a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 2 rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Brookdale Senior Living as a hold. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, revenue growth and good cash flow from operations. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including unimpressive growth in net income, generally higher debt management risk and poor profit margins. Get the full Brookdale Senior Living Ratings Report now.

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