Maria Bartiromo's Investor Agenda
- HP's Challenge to Cisco
- A Day On The USS Harry S. Truman
- Starbucks Brews Up Growth
- Are You Making These Costly Investing Mistakes?
- Prechter's Predictions
- The Silencing of Paul Volcker?
- CIT's Retail Impact?
- M&A: Signs of Strength?
- My Interview With White House Economic Adviser Paul Volcker
- The 'S' Word: Sustainable
MOST SHARED
- A Public Hearing That Isn't Public
- Warren Buffett and Bill Gates Share Their 'Optimism' With Eager Columbia Business Students
- Meet The Leaders of the New Retail Revolution
- Cities With the Most Home Price Reductions
- Disney Profit, Sales Top Street Forecasts; Shares Jump
- Despite Rhetoric, Obama Has Limited Options To Boost Jobs
- Housing Recovery 'Still In Uncharted Territory': HUD Secretary
- Disney CFO and Parks Chief to Swap Roles
- Warren Buffett's $100,000 Offer and $500,000 Advice for Columbia Business School Students
- Gold Is a Bad Inflation Hedge—Like Oil: Stock Picker
- Intel's Andy Bryant Offers An Explanation
- US 'Actively Working' on Weaker Dollar: Fund Manager
- Options Boil on Biotech Buyout Rumors
- Warren Buffett's $100,000 Offer and $500,000 Advice for Columbia Business School Students
- Activision Blizzard's "Modern Warfare 2" Sales Break Records
- 5-Star Manager's 5 Stocks for Changing Markets
- What's The Forecast from Retailers? Proceed With Caution
- Disney's CFO-Theme Park Chairman Executive Swap
- AIG, Symbol of Crisis, Watches Its Stock Zoom Back
- Disney Profit, Sales Top Street Forecasts; Shares Jump
- Cities With the Most Home Price Reductions
- Is Euphoric Market Ignoring Warning Signs?
- Video Game Sales Plunge, but Have They Hit Bottom?
- Despite Rhetoric, Obama Has Few Options to Boost Jobs
- US Debating What to Do With Billions of TARP Money Left
- Alleged Florida Ponzi Scheme Could Top $1 Billion
- Forecast From Retailers: Proceed With Caution
MARIA BARTIROMO VIDEO
MARIA BARTIROMO'S NEW FREE NEWSLETTER
BUSINESSWEEK
RSS FEED
Senior Field Producer
![]() |
Photo by: Pete Souza President Barack Obama |
Drug companies have agreed to cough up $80 billion over the next ten years to reduce drug costs for seniors and to help pay for the President’s reform plan. Without reform, the President Obama says 20% of the U.S. economy will be "tied up in the health care system" in ten years.
We may see some volatility in a sector that’s traditionally very stable. Analysts say it’s time to reexamine your pharma stocks and position yourself for the changes President Obama will make.
Deutsche Bank analyst Barbara Ryan tells Closing Bell “investors need to look at healthcare stocks that are financially driven over the next couple years…based on earnings, cash flow and dividend yields.” Ryan’s picks are Merck [MRK
Loading...
()
] and Pfizer [PFE
Loading...
()
]. Ryan says the companies can “withstand any of the near-term challenges because they have all the synergies to cushion the blow.”
Meanwhile, Miller Tabak healthcare strategist Les Funtleyder is placing bets on UnitedHealth [UNH
Loading...
()
] and Humana [HUM
Loading...
()
]. Funtleyder says managed care and pharmaceutical names may be the most ‘worried about and beaten up,’ but as a whole stand to benefit from reform.
The timing of the reform still remains unclear. President Obama said he is aiming to sign a healthcare reform bill into law by October, but his efforts hit a series of stumbling blocks in Congress last week, after the Congressional Budget Office estimated the cost of one version of a bill in the Senate at about $1.6 trillion over 10 years.
To put that into perspective, that’s more than double the government’s $700 billion TARP plan for troubled banks, insurers, even automakers. Holy smoke!
Check out our discussion on Closing Bell with at 3.15P ET today.
Disclosure: Barbara Ryan has no conflicts with Merck, Pfizer. Deutsche Bank owns 1% or more of Pfizer. Pfizer is a banking client of Deutsche Bank. Deutsche Bank owns 1% or more of Merck. Merck is a banking client of Deutsche Bank.
Les Funtleyder has no conflicts with UnitedHealth, Humana.
_____________________________
_____________________________
Questions? Comments? Write to










