3 Stocks Pushing The Health Care Sector Lower

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%. On the negative front, top decliners within the sector include Aetna (AET), down 1.7%, Shire (SHPG), down 0.7%, Agilent Technologies (A), down 0.7% and AstraZeneca (AZN), down 0.5%. Top gainers within the sector include HCA Holdings (HCA), up 2.0%, Cigna (CI), up 1.2%, Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO), up 1.2%, Express Scripts (ESRX), up 1.0% and Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), up 0.9%.

TheStreet Ratings group would like to highlight 3 stocks pushing the sector lower today:

3. Edwards Life (EW) is one of the companies pushing the Health Care sector lower today. As of noon trading, Edwards Life is down $1.81 (-2.0%) to $88.49 on heavy volume Thus far, 857,578 shares of Edwards Life exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 934,500 shares. The stock has ranged in price between $87.19-$89.46 after having opened the day at $89.46 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $90.30.

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation provides products and technologies to treat advanced cardiovascular diseases or critically ill patients worldwide. Edwards Life has a market cap of $10.1 billion and is part of the health services industry. The company has a P/E ratio of 35.9, above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 0.1% year to date as of the close of trading on Friday. Currently there are 9 analysts that rate Edwards Life a buy, 2 analysts rate it a sell, and 7 rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Edwards Life 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, notable return on equity, expanding profit margins and impressive record of earnings per share growth. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow. Get the full Edwards Life Ratings Report now.

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