The shares of health care products and pharmaceutical giant (JNJ) continue to aggravate and consternate.

JNJ, first discussed here on May 20, 2010 at a price of $55.87, formed a double-bottom last summer, after which the shares re-took the $60 level, rose to $65, only to retreat this winter to $60.

The sell/stop loss is not far away at $56, and the way JNJ has performed, some investors with long positions are probably rooting for it. I would argue that JNJ has one more chance to break through $70 this year, or the position will be closed.

From a fundamental standpoint, JNJ's revenue should increase 3% to 4% in FY2011, despite some sales erosion to generics. Meanwhile, new orthopedic and cardiovascular products should help the company's medical device unit perform adequately in 2011. A 2% to 3% revenue rise also is seen for FY2012.

Pharmaceutical company MannKind (MNKD) shares have traded considerably higher this morning, gaining 9% shortly after the opening bell and trading in the upper $8 region. It appears that the rally was sparked by news that the U.S. Federal Drug Administration would not be able to complete a review of the company's inhaled insulin Afrezza by December 29.

The FDA added that it will need roughly four more weeks to complete the review. Back in July, the FDA accepted a resubmission on Afrezza and classified it a class 2 response.

Pharmaceutical firm Pfizer (PFE) announced third-quarter earnings this morning, reporting that large charges pulled its profit 70% lower than a year ago. The pfunnily spelled pfarmaceutical pfirm reported that net income came in at $866 million, or 11 cents per share, down from $2.88 billion, or 43 cents per share, a year ago.

Taking one-time items out of the equation, Pfizer earned $4.37 billion, or 54 cents per share, topping the consensus estimate by three cents.

Over the weekend, French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) made its attempt to take over biotech firm Genzyme (GENZ) official. SNY offered $69 per GENZ share, which is slightly more than a dollar higher over GENZ's Friday close. The total value of the offer comes to $18.5 billion.

Although the offer isn't much more than Friday's close, it is 38% higher than GENZ's July 1 close. This is when speculation cropped up about a potential buyout offer from SNY. GENZ turned down the offer, noting that SNY was undervaluing the company.

As the opening bell sounded and stocks got off to a sluggish start, I decided to take a look for stocks that got off to a fast start. One of those stocks is Botox-maker Allergan (AGN). In early trading, the pharmaceutical firm was more than a percentage point higher, so I took to digging to find out why.

The biggest news I found for Allergan was that it entered into an Amended and Restated License, Development and Marketing Agreement with Inspire Pharmaceuticals. The agreement deals with terms related to the Prolacria 2% development program and Inspire's right to receive revenues from Allergan relating to net sales of Restasis and any other human opthalmic formulations of cyclosporine owned or controlled by Allergan. Simply put, Inspire will receive revenues on net sales of Restasis and any related cyclosporine-based medicines.

Pfizer Inc. (PFE) reported a blowout second quarter this morning prior to the opening bell. Net income attributable to the company increased to $2.475 billion compared to $2.261 billion in the year-ago quarter. On an adjusted basis, quarterly earnings were $4.959 billion, or $0.62 per share, versus $3.249 billion or $0.48 per share, in last year's corresponding quarter. This compared to Wall Street analysts' consensus EPS estimates of $0.52.

Revenues were up 58% to $17.327 billion which came in way ahead of analysts' estimates of $16.65 billion. The company also reaffirmed its 2010 EPS guidance of $2.10 to $2.20 and said it expects earnings to come in at the higher end of that range. Using these metrics, PFE looks ridiculously cheap (and has been for sometime). The stock has been a favorite of value investors such as David Einhorn because of its blue-chip brand, inexpensive valuation, fat dividend yield, and defensive business profile.

Today's stock market could not offer a repeat of triple-digit DJIA gains. Personal income and spending failed to offer a renewed hope that a major upside was coming from Joe Public in new consumer spending. The pending home sales data is also running at historic lows.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 10,636.38 -38.00 (-0.36%)
S&P 500 1,120.46 -5.40 (-0.48%)
Nasdaq 2,283.52 -11.84 (-0.52%)

Top Analyst Calls

In its weekend edition, Barron's Andrew Bary wonders whether Big Pharma's punishment on Wall Street has gone too far. The sector has fallen out of favor with Wall Street and now has one of the lowest price/earnings ratios of any major sector of the stock market, Bary writes.

Investors are staying away from the large pharmaceutical companies ahead of their looming patent cliff, when blockbuster drugs like Lipitor, Plavix and Singulair lose patent protection and lose most of the sales from these drugs to generics. Investors also fear the companies don't have enough new drugs in the pipeline to make up for the lost sales, which could mean big hits to earnings.

But when the Street writes off one of the world's most important industries and with valuations at all-time lows, investors ought to take notice, Bary says. Especially when the average dividend yield of the big drugmakers is 4.8%.

It looks like some members in Congress are not too happy about the way Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) has behaved in the aftermath of the recent recalls involving some medicinal products.

That may be, but I'll tell you, the stock is trading with a pretty cool dividend yield attached right now. At the time of this writing, shares were exchanging hands during the afternoon session at a price of $58.12. That means that the yield is about 3.7%.

Eli Lilly (LLY) announced Wednesday that burglars broke into a Connecticut-based warehouse over the weekend and stole roughly $75 million in prescription drugs. According to police, the break-in happened either late Saturday or early Sunday. According to LLY, "dozens of pallets" of antidepressants were stolen, including Prozac, Cymbalta, Zyprexa (an anti-psychotic), and other medicines. The police called the theft a "well-planned event."

The company stated that it is working with the U.S. FDA Office of Criminal Investigations and other law enforcement officials. LLY's senior vice president of global equity noted that the company has "taken quick and appropriate actions to ensure the safety of our medicines." The company added that the "U.S. pharmaceutical distribution system is tightly controlled and monitored, making it extremely difficult for stolen product to make it to patients through legitimate channels."

Late Thursday, Pfizer (PFE) announced that two of its late-stage studies of an approved kidney cancer drug failed to treat breast cancer significantly. Reportedly, two studies of kidney cancer drug Sutent did not show a significant benefit to advanced breast cancer patients when combined with chemotherapy.

This news is definitely a setback for PFE, as it was hoped that Sutent could demonstrate a significant benefit when combined with chemotherapy as opposed to treatment by chemotherapy alone.

The market slipped in and out of a stupor today as traders tried to decide whether the new $980 billion health care reform bill will help or hurt the economy if it passes.

Today's unofficial closing numbers:

Dow 10,382.63 -19.72 (-0.19%)
S&P 500 1,108.01 -1.16 (-0.10%)
Nasdaq 2,242.03 -1.84 (-0.08%)

Late Tuesday, pharmaceutical firm Pfizer (PFE) announced the discontinuation of A4021016, a Phase 3 trial that was examining the effects of figitumumab. Figitumumab is an investigational compound that is used as a first-line treatment in patients with advanced non-adenocarcinoma non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The study was terminated because it met predefined boundaries for early termination. The Data Safety Monitoring Committee (DSMC) found that the addition of figitumumab to paclitaxel plus carboplatin would be unlikely to meet the primary endpoint of the study.

Bright and early this morning, lab-technology innovator StarLIMS (LIMS) announced that it will be bought by pharmaceutical firm Abbott Laboratories (ABT) for roughly $123 million. This purchase price reflects a per-share price tag of $14 for LIMS, which closed Monday's trading session near the $10 region.

Needless to say, LIMS was the subject of heavy pre-market trading, which pushed the per-share price closer to the premium paid by ABT. According to the report, ABT will acquire all outstanding equity of LIMS, which currently has roughly $18 million cash in hand.

Biopharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) is performing on schedule, which is why I'm reiterating my buy rating for the company's shares, first recommended on June 1, 2009 at a price of $20.11. If you bought BMY in June, you're up about 24%.

Look for a 6-8% revenue increase for BMY in 2010, boosted by revenue gains in key proprietary drugs, led by Plavix (for the prevention of stroke, heart attack, and vascular disease). Also look for impressive results from new products Orencia (for rheumatoid arthritis) and Sprycel (for leukemia); BMY's nutritional products also should register a good year. The First Call FY2009/FY2010 EPS estimates for BMY are $2.02 to $2.21.