Best Healthcare Stock Picks For 2012

Top Healthcare Shares To Buy For 2012 by Dividend Yield - Stock, Capital, Investment. Here is a current sheet of large capitalized stocks from the healthcare sector with an interesting market valuation, a great past growth performance as well as good earnings situation. Such stocks have a forward price to earnings ratio of less than 15, a sales growth over the past five years of more than 10 percent as well as an operating margin above 10 percent. Exactly 7 stocks with a market capitalization of more than USD 10 billion fulfilled these criteria. Two of them have a yield of more than 4 percent.

Here are the 3 top dividend stocks by yield:

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Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) has a market capitalization of $115.52 billion. The company employs 90,000 people, generates revenues of $45,987.00 million and has a net income of $982.00 million. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $9,250.00 million. Because of these figures, the EBITDA margin is 20.11 percent (operating margin 3.59 percent and the net profit margin finally 2.14 percent).


The total debt representing 16.90 percent of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 32.89 percent. Due to the financial situation, the return on equity amounts to 1.51 percent. Finally, earnings per share amounts to $1.46 of which $1.52 were paid in form of dividends to shareholders last fiscal.


Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 25.89, Price/Sales 2.46 and Price/Book ratio 2.10. Dividend Yield: 4.53 percent. The beta ratio is 0.67.

Long-Term Stock Chart Of Merck & Co., Inc. (Click to enlarge)

Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) has a market capitalization of $136.46 billion. The company employs 119,418 people, generates revenues of $51,561.00 million and has a net income of $9,969.00 million. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $14,941.00 million. Because of these figures, the EBITDA margin is 28.98 percent (operating margin 22.35 percent and the net profit margin finally 19.33 percent).


The total debt representing 18.64 percent of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 36.37 percent. Due to the financial situation, the return on equity amounts to 16.24 percent. Finally, earnings per share amounts to $4.26 of which $2.20 were paid in form of dividends to shareholders last fiscal.


Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 13.37, Price/Sales 2.99 and Price/Book ratio 2.04. Dividend Yield: 4.20 percent. The beta ratio is 0.53.

Long-Term Stock Chart Of Novartis AG (ADR) (Click to enlarge)

St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) has a market capitalization of $11.12 billion. The company employs 15,000 people, generates revenues of $5,164.77 million and has a net income of $907.44 million. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $1,516.04 million. Because of these figures, the EBITDA margin is 29.35 percent (operating margin 24.63 percent and the net profit margin finally 17.57 percent).


The total debt representing 29.32 percent of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 57.45 percent. Due to the financial situation, the return on equity amounts to 23.58 percent. Finally, earnings per share amounts to $2.74 of which $0.00 were paid in form of dividends to shareholders last fiscal.


Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 12.70, Price/Sales 2.01 and Price/Book ratio 2.45. Dividend Yield: 2.58 percent. The beta ratio is 0.75.

Long-Term Stock Chart Of St. Jude Medical, Inc. (Click to enlarge)

Here is the full table with some fundamentals (TTM):

Best Healthcare Stock Picks For 2012 (Click to enlarge)

Take a closer look at the full table. The average price to earnings ratio (P/E ratio) amounts to 17.35 while the forward price to earnings ratio is 10.13. The dividend yield has a value of 3.28 percent. Price to book ratio is 2.81 and price to sales ratio 2.93. The operating margin amounts to 22.48 percent.

Related stock ticker symbols:

MRK, NVS, STJ, TEVA, TMO, CELG, GILD

Selected Articles:

· 12 Healthcare Dividend Stocks With Best Future EPS Growth

· 5 Cheap Healthcare Dividend Stocks By PEG Ratio

· 14 Healthcare Dividend Stocks With Biggest Institutional Buys

· 11 Cheapest Healthcare Stocks To Consider

· 18 Low Beta Healthcare Stocks With Best Dividend Yields