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Article: Big pharma: too cheap to pass up: everyone, it seems, hates the drug industry. That makes this sector a contrarian's dream.(INVESTING)(Pfizer Inc., Merck and Company Inc., and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.)
- Article from:
- Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine
- Article date:
- July 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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BIG PHARMA IS IN NEED OF a miracle cure. The major pharmaceutical makers are so beaten down that, in some cases, it's the dividends, rather than future blockbuster products, that are propping up the stocks.
Take PFIZER. As of mid May, the stock was down 28% over the past year and 60% from its all-time high, reached in 1999. The faint silver lining is that even as the stock has stumbled all these years, Pfizer has continued to boost dividends. The shares now yield 6.5%.
What ails Pfizer and the likes of Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb is a set of ills for which no wonder drug exists. But with drug stocks selling at depressed levels, dividends sweet and an ...