Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA)

The stock has gone down because of fears of its patent protection on one of its very big products Copaxon, and he thinks the stock is really undervalued at this time, simply because it trades in about 120 countries globally with generic product. No matter what happens with the American Affordable Care Act, generic pharmaceuticals are the wave of the future, and this company is likely to go back up and claim the highs of a couple of years ago.

Primarily a generic company, but a much more diversified generic company. They have things in respiratory, oncology, women’s health, etc. The stock has fallen off and is trading at about 6X earnings with a free cash flow yield of about 13%. A great dividend yield of almost 4%. This is a strong franchise in generics, and nobody can compete with them. They have some things in the pipeline that are very good, which will come to fruition and help them. Healthcare is the only sector that has underperformed this year because people are worried about overpricing. With their acquisition, there is also a change in management, so there is a little uncertainty. You should do very well with this over the next several years.

Has just got back into the stock after being away for several years. It is the largest generic company globally. He likes buying pharmaceutical stocks when they are out of favour. This has a drug called COPAXON for multiple sclerosis, which is just coming off patent. Acquired Allergan’s generic business, and the integration has had a few rocky times. Looking forward, the valuation is as cheap as it has been in a very long time. Dividend yield of 3.79%. (Analysts’ price target is $52.48.)

This is one where the valuation is very compelling. It’s at a 52-week low, and in this environment, you would think a generic company would do very, very well. At this level it is definitely worth dipping into it. They are expecting 15%-20% growth in emerging markets, and this company will be able to participate.

All the pharmaceuticals have had a pretty rough go. This is one of the stocks that has the ability to turn and run. Their group is out of favour. There hasn’t been any money flowing into the sector for a while, and they are fairly cheap.

(Market Call Minute.) If you have patience, and you don’t mind the stock price, this is a time to step in.

Generics are not his favourite in healthcare. Prefers looking for innovators, and would rather own companies with strong Intellectual Property. He prefers things like Roche, one of the leaders in oncology, Novartis which has a very strong IP in both cardiology and oncology, Shire in orphan drugs where they are the leaders in IP. When you buy a stock like Teva, you have to pick the right time to get in and that is not his style of investing.

It has been caught up in the health care sector decline. Now they are less worried about regulation. But they don’t have a lot of branded drugs that are high priced. He owns some of the TEVA-N debt. He thinks it is a pretty good entry point here even if the chart does not look that good.

The problem in the generic space is that they are getting a lot of pricing deflation going on, which is hurting their business. This one is highly leveraged, which is why it is getting hurt. Also, they are a very litigious company.

This has had 4 quarters of earnings decline, and there may well be some benefit that comes out of restructuring. They made an acquisition and are hoping they can cut some costs and do well with marketing the products. At this time, there is no evidence that that is happening yet. The stock is not behaving well. He would be a little careful on this and look at something else.

All the generic drug makers are acting the same. He believes ETF’s are controlling this space, and is very interested in this group. Prefers Endo International (ENDP-T). We’re getting close to year-end, but the Justice Department is going to come out and say whether they are going to charge 3 of the generic drug companies for any wrongdoing. If they are not going to do anything with these 3, look for substantial rallies.

Most of their business is in generics. Recently made a big acquisition which they are working through, which is one of the reasons it has come off. At these levels, this is a great time to buy.

Healthcare has had a tough year. This stock is down again today. This company is part branded pharmaceuticals and part generic. Its largest branded pharmaceutical is losing its patent protection. They have filed a suit against their competition for bringing out a generic, and lost the 1^st round, and it looks like they don’t have much time left with that drug. They will lose a large chunk of sales. At some point, this would be a good buy, and he is actually starting to buy some now because it is so cheap.

This has been in the news, and is getting a great pop today. Most of the news for the pharmaceutical industry as a whole, has been tied to political expectations in the US, as to whether we might see price controls or long-term opportunities. With this company, it is really about the generic section, and that has been nothing short of skewered in many ways, in the media and the market recently. On all these companies, we need to wait and see how the administration views the sector, what they are talking about going forward, what changes might go to Obamacare. She is not ready to make a call either way.

(Market Call Minute.) There are rumours today of subpoenas and collusion against the US drug makers and that this is the biggest.