Abbott Laboratories (ABT): Today's Featured Drugs Laggard

Abbott Laboratories was a leading decliner within the drugs industry, falling $1.02 (-1.6%) to $63.50 on average volume.
By TheStreet Wire ,

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

.

Abbott Laboratories

(

ABT

) pushed the Drugs industry lower today making it today's featured Drugs laggard. The industry as a whole closed the day down 1.8%. By the end of trading, Abbott Laboratories fell $1.02 (-1.6%) to $63.50 on average volume. Throughout the day, 8.1 million shares of Abbott Laboratories exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 6.6 million shares. The stock ranged in price between $63.47-$64.88 after having opened the day at $64.56 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $64.52. Other companies within the Drugs industry that declined today were:

Catalyst Pharmaceutical Partners

(

CPRX

), down 65.5%,

Biocryst Pharmaceuticals

(

BCRX

), down 40.4%,

Progenics Pharmaceuticals

(

PGNX

), down 26.3%, and

Pluristem Therapeutic

(

PSTI

), down 22.8%.

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Abbott Laboratories engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of health care products worldwide. Abbott Laboratories has a market cap of $101.72 billion and is part of the health care sector. The company has a P/E ratio of 19.3, above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 14.7% year to date as of the close of trading on Wednesday. Currently there are six analysts that rate Abbott Laboratories a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 12 rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Abbott Laboratories as a

buy

. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income and expanding profit margins. Although no company is perfect, currently we do not see any significant weaknesses which are likely to detract from the generally positive outlook.

On the positive front,

DUSA Pharmaceuticals

(

DUSA

), up 37.5%,

Palatin Technologies

(

PTN

), up 21.4%,

InterMune

(

ITMN

), up 16.7%, and

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation

(

TKMR

), up 16.2%, were all gainers within the drugs industry with

Arena Pharmaceuticals

(

ARNA

) being today's featured drugs industry leader.

For investors not wanting singular stock exposure, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the drugs industry could consider

SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals ETF

(

XPH

) while those bearish on the drugs industry could consider

ProShares UltraShort Nasdaq Biotech

(

BIS

).

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