5 Stocks Pushing The Health Care Sector 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 up 24 points (0.2%) at 14,421 as of Monday, March 11, 2013, 12:45 PM ET. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 1,375 issues advancing vs. 1,531 declining with 142 unchanged.

The Health Care sector currently sits up 0.4% versus the S&P 500, which is up 0.1%. Top gainers within the sector include HCA Holdings (HCA), up 2.0%, Cigna (CI), up 1.2%, Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO), up 1.0%, Express Scripts (ESRX), up 1.0% and Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), up 0.9%. On the negative front, top decliners within the sector include Aetna (AET), down 1.8%, Shire (SHPG), down 0.9%, Agilent Technologies (A), down 0.7% and AstraZeneca (AZN), down 0.5%.

TheStreet Ratings group would like to highlight 5 stocks pushing the sector higher today:

5. Stryker Corporation (SYK) is one of the companies pushing the Health Care sector higher today. As of noon trading, Stryker Corporation is up $0.43 (0.7%) to $66.15 on light volume Thus far, 428,430 shares of Stryker Corporation exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 1.8 million shares. The stock has ranged in price between $65.68-$66.26 after having opened the day at $65.83 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $65.72.

Stryker Corporation, a medical technology company, provides reconstructive, medical and surgical, and neurotechnology and spine products for doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities. Stryker Corporation has a market cap of $24.9 billion and is part of the health services industry. The company has a P/E ratio of 19.3, above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 19.9% year to date as of the close of trading on Friday. Currently there are 13 analysts that rate Stryker Corporation a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 13 rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Stryker Corporation as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and expanding profit margins. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income. Get the full Stryker Corporation Ratings Report now.

It's Official: Action Alerts PLUS beats the S&P 500 with Dividends Reinvested! Cramer and Link were up 16.72% in 2012. Were you? See what they are trading for 14-days FREE

1 2 3 4 5 Next › Last »

For more information on Allergan Inc. click any of the following:

• Allergan Inc. Stock Price

• Allergan Inc. Analyst Ratings

• Allergan Inc. Key Stats & Profile

• Allergan Inc. Earnings

• Allergan Inc. Ratio Comparison

• Allergan Inc. Growth Rates

• Allergan Inc. Balance Sheet

• Allergan Inc. Cash Flow

• Allergan Inc. Income Statement