"One of my favor defensive sectors is healthcare," says Elliott Gue; the contributing editor to Personal Finance looks to Quality Systems (NSDQ: QSII), a company that helps automate medical records.

Quantitative analyst Richard Moroney also sees opportunity in the same niche sector. In his Upside newsletter, he looks to a competing play, Cerner (NASDAQ: CERN). Here are their reviews.

"The President made health care a centerpiece of his campaign, including investments in health care-related information technology (IT).

"Health care IT systems can save doctors' offices and hospitals significant administrative costs as well as prevent mistakes. In addition, some major health insurance firms are already putting heavy pressure on their physician networks to adopt these systems."

"Medical offices and hospitals are seeking to automate many functions, from storing patient records online to automatically submitting insurance claims for reimbursement.

"It's estimated that as much as 90% of health care records at smaller medical practices are still maintained in paper form, while even bigger hospitals keep close to half of their records manually.

"Quality Systems, a holding in our growth portfolio, is a leading provider of such systems. It sells software used to manage electronic patient records, billing, scheduling and other common administrative functions for medical and dental practices.

Health care has long been considered a recession-resistant business. Given the current economic challenges, it's little surprise that in our survey of favorite stocks for the coming year, a number of leading advisors turned to this classic defensive sector.

In this year's Top Stock Picks from 75 advisors report, we found an intriguing group of medical-related stocks, from speculation in emerging biotech to well-established pharmaceutical firms, and from medical products makers to medical services firms focused on increasing health care efficiency and early disease detection.

Mike Cintolo, editor of The Cabot Market Letter, thinks Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ: MYGN) could be a "big winner in 2009," The company is a lead in the new field of cancer predisposition testing. For Mike's full report, read Top Stock Picks '09: Myriad Genetics.

Chuck Carlson, editor of The DRIP Investor, sees both quality and potential in Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY). For Chuck's full report, read Top Stock Picks '09: Bristol-Myers Squibb.

"One way to deal with a choppy market is to focus on steady performers with strong market positions in growing industries," says Richard Moroney.

In his Upside Stocks, a leading newsletter focused on small and mid-cap stocks,, he notes, "PetMed Express (NASDAQ: PETS), a leading nationwide pet pharmacy and retailer, fits the bill nicely." Here, the advisor offers his review.

"PetMed Express sells prescription (30% of fiscal 2007 revenue) and nonprescription medications and health products (70%) to retail customers ordering by phone, via the Internet, or through a catalog. The company's Web site generates nearly two-thirds of annual sales.

"Fiscal 2008 ending March should represent the firm's sixth consecutive year of at least 20% per-share profit growth. While earnings growth is expected to slow to about 10% in fiscal 2009, recent operating results suggest PetMed is capable of exceeding consensus expectations.

"PetMed is benefiting from strong market fundamentals and constructive trends. An estimated 63% of U.S. households own a pet, up from 56% in 1988. The U.S. dog and cat population is estimated at a staggering 163 million.