3 Health Care Stocks Dragging The Sector Down

TheStreet highlights 3 stocks pushing the health care sector lower today.
By TheStreet Wire ,

All three major indices are trading down today with the

Dow Jones Industrial Average

(

^DJI

) trading down 163 points (-0.9%) at 17,539 as of Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015, 11:55 AM ET. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 691 issues advancing vs. 2,260 declining with 136 unchanged.

The Health Care sector currently sits down 0.8% versus the S&P 500, which is down 0.7%. On the negative front, top decliners within the sector include

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International

(

VRX

), down 3.7%,

Sanofi

(

SNY

), down 3.0%,

Shire

(

SHPG

), down 2.4%,

AstraZeneca

(

AZN

), down 2.4% and

Biomarin Pharmaceutical

(

BMRN

), down 2.0%. Top gainers within the sector include

Intercept Pharmaceuticals

(

ICPT

), up 5.2%,

AbbVie

(

ABBV

), up 0.7%,

Anthem

(

ANTM

), up 0.6% and

Biogen

(

BIIB

), up 0.5%.

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

3.

HCA Holdings

(

HCA

) is one of the companies pushing the Health Care sector lower today. As of noon trading, HCA Holdings is down $1.03 (-1.5%) to $66.63 on average volume. Thus far, 2.0 million shares of HCA Holdings exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 4.3 million shares. The stock has ranged in price between $66.31-$67.79 after having opened the day at $67.37 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $67.66.

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HCA Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides health care services in the United States. HCA Holdings has a market cap of $28.6 billion and is part of the health services industry. Shares are down 7.8% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Wednesday. Currently there are 17 analysts that rate HCA Holdings a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 3 rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates

HCA Holdings

as a

hold

. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth and increase in stock price during the past year. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including unimpressive growth in net income, weak operating cash flow and poor profit margins. Get the full

HCA Holdings Ratings Report

now.

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2. As of noon trading,

Express Scripts

(

ESRX

) is down $0.56 (-0.7%) to $84.34 on average volume. Thus far, 1.7 million shares of Express Scripts exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 4.4 million shares. The stock has ranged in price between $82.86-$84.77 after having opened the day at $84.58 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $84.90.

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Express Scripts Holding Company operates as a pharmacy benefit management (PBM) company in the United States and Canada. The company operates through two segments, PBM and Other Business Operations. Express Scripts has a market cap of $59.9 billion and is part of the health services industry. Shares are up 0.3% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Wednesday. Currently there are 10 analysts that rate Express Scripts a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 9 rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates

Express Scripts

as a

buy

. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its impressive record of earnings per share growth, increase in net income, good cash flow from operations, solid stock price performance and notable return on equity. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated. Get the full

Express Scripts Ratings Report

now.

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1. As of noon trading,

Medtronic

(

MDT

) is down $0.77 (-1.0%) to $75.29 on light volume. Thus far, 1.7 million shares of Medtronic exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 6.8 million shares. The stock has ranged in price between $74.96-$75.62 after having opened the day at $75.62 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $76.06.

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Medtronic plc manufactures and sells device-based medical therapies worldwide. Medtronic has a market cap of $108.0 billion and is part of the health services industry. Shares are up 5.3% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Wednesday. Currently there are 13 analysts that rate Medtronic a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 5 rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates

Medtronic

as a

buy

. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, reasonable valuation levels, good cash flow from operations, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and solid stock price performance. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity. Get the full

Medtronic Ratings Report

now.

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If you are interested in one of these 3 stocks, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the health care sector could consider

Health Care Select Sector SPDR

(

XLV

) while those bearish on the health care sector could consider

ProShares Ultra Short Health Care

(

RXD

).

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