My Best Healthcare Stock Picks For 2013 | Last Year’s Picks Gained 31.55%

Last year at this time, I made a screen of some stocks from the healthcare sector with an interesting market valuation, a great past growth performance as well as good earnings situation. The stocks had a forward P/E of less than 15, a sales growth over the recent five years of more than 10 percent as well as an operating margin over 10 percent. Exactly seven stocks fulfilled these criteria at that time. Today I like to review these picks and try to discover a new list of potential stocks for next year, 2013. 

Over the recent year the Dow Jones Index is up 8.36 percent, the S&P 500 gained 13.82 percent and the NASDAQ is 14.58 percent higher. My seven healthcare picks from last year performed in average 31.55 percent while the healthcare sector summarized a total gain of 25.7 percent. Below is a current screen of the seven picks with performance figures.

Performance Review Of The Healthcare Picks 2012 (Click to enlarge)

The bad news for me is that I don't have invested in one of them. Now I try to make a similar screen with attractive price ratios. The only new restrictions are simple. I allow lower capitalized stocks (over USD 2 billion market capitalization) and introduce a new barrier in terms of earnings growth. I want mid-term (next five years) earnings per share growth of more than 5 percent. Thirteen companies remain.