4 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

All three major indices are trading down today with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) trading down 25 points (-0.2%) at 14,513 as of Friday, March 15, 2013, 12:49 PM ET. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 1,309 issues advancing vs. 1,578 declining with 140 unchanged.

The Health Care sector currently sits down 0.1% versus the S&P 500, which is down 0.1%. Top gainers within the sector include Express Scripts (ESRX), up 2.0%, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMY), up 1.2%. On the negative front, top decliners within the sector include Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), down 4.8%, Edwards Life (EW), down 2.8%, Stryker Corporation (SYK), down 1.0%, Baxter International (BAX), down 1.1% and Amgen (AMGN), down 0.8%.

TheStreet Ratings group would like to highlight 4 stocks pushing the sector higher today:

4. Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO) is one of the companies pushing the Health Care sector higher today. As of noon trading, Novo Nordisk A/S is up $2.76 (1.6%) to $175.76 on heavy volume Thus far, 515,587 shares of Novo Nordisk A/S exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 319,400 shares. The stock has ranged in price between $173.54-$175.87 after having opened the day at $174.97 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $173.00.

Novo Nordisk A/S engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and marketing of pharmaceutical products primarily in Denmark. It operates in two segments, Diabetes Care and Biopharmaceuticals. Novo Nordisk A/S has a market cap of $97.8 billion and is part of the drugs industry. The company has a P/E ratio of 4.0, below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 6.0% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday. Currently there are 2 analysts that rate Novo Nordisk A/S a buy, 1 analyst rates it a sell, and 2 rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Novo Nordisk A/S as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust 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 is trading at a premium valuation based on our review of its current price compared to such things as earnings and book value. Get the full Novo Nordisk A/S Ratings Report now.

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