After discussing neglected diseases with NGOs and PDPs, I was curious to hear from the pharmaceutical sector.
The sole group of stocks that has a 30-year record of uninterrupted growth is the pharmaceutical sector.
The report said that the industries facing the most threat included information technology and the pharmaceutical sector.
Compared with the pharmaceutical sector, which has a similar growth rate and profit margin, software looks woefully under-geared.
But the sole stock group that has traced a 30-year record of uninterrupted growth is the pharmaceutical sector.
Historically, scale for good in the pharmaceutical sector would have been based on the development and sale of medicine.
"In the past few months, the pharmaceutical sector has shown more strength than the total market, so we have exposure, " he says.
The pharmaceutical sector is showing signs of slowing momentum, as the AMEX Pharmaceutical Index (DRG) has begun to lag the broad market.
At 12.4%, Merck's net cash position is almost double that of runner-up AstraZeneca and 12 times the average for companies in the pharmaceutical sector.
With that said, the pharmaceutical sector is still showing some strength lately, says Greg Ghodsi, head of the Wealth Management Group at Raymond James.
Earnings, layoffs and a massive takeover in the pharmaceutical sector made for a jumbled morning on Wall Street Monday, as the week started with an avalanche of news.
For instance, the pharmaceutical sector sports average dividend yields near four percent, yet has had earnings multiples cut by more than half over the past 10 years to roughly 11x.
We further document how less carefully executed interventions, in the pharmaceutical sector, can also have serious (although less dramatic) impacts, including program closures, pursuit of riskier payment mechanisms, and reduced order conversions.
As cash continues to grow on the balance sheets of these large cap companies, you could see the pharmaceutical sector become an adored sector once again and experience a rerating in multiples.
At 12.4%, Merck's net cash position is almost double that of runner-up AstraZeneca (nyse: AZN - news - people ) and 12 times the average for companies in the pharmaceutical sector.
Plans for partly government-funded health care in the U.S. have kept the European pharmaceutical sector subdued in the 12 months since Obama came into office, with its leading sector index up just 10.4% in that time period while Europe's top 500 stocks are up 35.8%, according to Pope.
However, compared with the ailing technology sector, even the pharmaceutical industry's laggards look healthy.
In North America, health technology, a sector which includes major pharmaceutical companies and other drug-makers like companies which make generics, eeked out a 0.43% gain over the past two weeks, according to FactSet Research Systems.
OneWorld Health is a non-profit pharmaceutical company that works with foundations, private sector companies and governments to develop drugs for diseases of poverty.
FORBES: Can Non-Profit Drug Companies Cure Diseases of Poverty?
Meanwhile, in the equally critical healthcare sector, 79 percent of patents for pharmaceutical drugs or drug compounds were invented or co-invented by someone foreign-born.
Aids activists say a deal to be signed on World Aids Day between the government and the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to provide the drug Fluconazole free to the public health sector might be little more than a "public relations ceremony for World Aids Day".
The move to buy Wyeth is the first in a new round of consolidation in the pharmaceutical industry, in what analysts expect will be a significant shrinking of the sector.
The acceleration of vaccine development through cloning has broken down the sector's traditionally high barriers to entry, which has attracted the attention of pharmaceutical companies.
Clark added the company's Clinical and Medical Products sector will be a key growth driver, and expects to benefit from new generic pharmaceutical launches and improvements in operational performance.
In addition, Malan points out, the large number of pharmaceutical companies that appear on the list (five) highlights the United States' ability to be competitive in that sector.
After looking at the pharmaceutical industry's second-quarter earnings, some investors might be tempted to see a miracle cure for a sector that has been plagued by competitive pressures and safety and marketing scandals.
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