- Art Cashin: The S&P's 'Head and Shoulders' Number
- Go for Good Energy Companies: Bob Doll
- Five Stock Picks for This Market
- Weak Dollar Means Gold at $1,040: Strategist
- Art Cashin Sees 11% Unemployment, Market 'Stagnation'
- Najarian: Options Bet on July Akamai Pop
- London Mover: LSE Group
- Oil Outlook for the Second Half
- Stock Strategies for the '7th Inning'
- Options Suddenly Love Chip Equipment Maker
|
CNBC'S MOST SHARED
- A Goldman Trading Scandal?
- 'We're in the Middle of a Crash': Black Swan
- Alaska Governor Sarah Palin Will Resign
- Malaysia PM Speaks to CNBC
- Latvian Banker Taking Souls as Collateral
- The Threat of Ballooning Pensions
- SEC May Reinstate Rules for Short-Selling Stocks
- Lehman CEO: Firm Deserved Bailout or 'Wind Down'
- Market's Monday Blues
- Charting Gold & Crude Oil
- Busch: Summertime Blues Hits Investors
- Chadwick: Recession and Scandals Pave the Way for Romney 2012
- Art Cashin: The S&P's 'Head and Shoulders' Number
- Michael Jackson: Death And Taxes
- Is Andy’s Mojo Back? We Asked Him
- GM A Step Closer To Exiting Bankruptcy
- Schork Oil Outlook: The Fear Trade
- Market's Monday Blues
- Farrell: Don't Head For The Exits Yet
- US Service Sector Slows Down Contraction In June
- GM A Step Closer To Exiting Bankruptcy
- Ex-Goldman Programmer Must Post $750,000 Bail
- Farrell: Don't Head For The Exits Yet
- Obama's Visit To Russia Yields $1.5 Billion in Deals
- Swings in Price of Oil Hobble Forecasting
- Lehman CEO: Firm Deserved Bailout or 'Wind Down'
- Tribune, Cubs Deal Agreed In Principle
- Facebook Director Sees 'Billions' in Revenue in 5 Years
RSS FEED
Text Size 
Although the health care industry is not immune to a sluggish economy, the sector presents some attractive opportunities, said Carl McDonald, a senior analyst at Oppenheimer & Co.
“As bad as the market has been, the health insurers are down about 60 percent this year on average,” he said. “Beyond insurance, I think you have seen some companies that either have monopolies on drugs or some players with particular products.”
McDonald is bullish on Humana [HUM
Loading...
()
], Aetna [AET
Loading...
()
] and WellCare [WCG
Loading...
()
].
“The one that I like the most there is Humana; I think that’s going to be a great stock into 2009, mainly because the company has a tremendous amount of cash,” McDonald said.
Humana, a company with a $6 billion market cap, has $1.2 billion in cash today, he said. McDonald expects it to generate another billion dollars over the next six months and about some $2.5 billion in 2009 and 2010.
Aetna, which gives guidance over the next weeks, is also poised to do well in 2009, he said.
“They’re going to guide earnings up ten to twelve percent,” he said. “The company has been the best fundamental performer this year.”
The services side also presents opportunity, said Arthur Henderson, Jefferies & Company managing director and analyst.
“If you look at areas where there are non-elective procedures, things where there are no discretionary spend, you find really some very attractive valuations,” he said.
Henderson likes Amedisys [AMED
Loading...
()
], Gentiva Health Services [GTIV
Loading...
()
], Almost Family [AFAM
Loading...
()
] and LHC Group [LHCG
Loading...
()
].
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes