Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)

BORING!!

when things get better jnj will go down, too conservitive in this market.

I cannot help but feel the broader market indexes are due for a pullback. Too fast a climb over the last 6 months plus has anyone noticed how volume is drying up at an alarming rate?

So why am I bullish on JNJ?

Because if I'm right about the overall markets, then you should see a flight to safety into solid blue-chips with good dividends and JNJ fits the bill to a "T". So while I'm not at all confident that JNJ will actually gain over the next few months, I do believe it will outperform the S&P 500.

A solid defensive company that has excellent product development and growth. I like this defensive name to 70 if it can get there but i would take some profit at 65.

Good dividend and generally an industry leader. This company also has high RO and ROE, and a low P/E. A good pick over several years.

Overall based upon accelerating (home & business) foreclosures, financial weakness in the banking sector, tremendous tax increases on the horizon (suppressing the economy), and a federal spending policy that can only result in double digit inflation, I expect the economy (& stock prices) to decline over the remainder of 2009 and through 2010 at the least.

So the question is not whether JNJ goes up or down but by how it does in relation to the S&P500. JNJ's sterling financial strength and proven management team provides it a great deal of protection against possible declines in the economy. In fact any company with strong financials should perform better than the market average in a down economy.

Now with the prospect of a government run health care bill raising punitive taxes upon any company in that sector, expect the price to remain depressed until everything sorts out. Still given the fact that JNJ has a lot of non-health care related business over which it can distribute those taxes, it should not be as adversely affected as say PFE or MRK.

So I expect the stock price to remain depressed over the short term (giving you time to buy the stock) with a nice bump if Congress fails to pass something before the end of the year. In the mid-term, conservative management, good management, and good financial strength will preserve stock price values better than other S&P500 companies. In the long-term expect JNJ stock prices to rise when the economy improves in line with other companies.

Overall, I'd say that JNJ is a safe bet with reasonable upside and limited downside.

Health care stocks have been punished by uncertainty during the debate over the future of health care in the United States, and while Johnson and Johnson's valuation is not currently compelling, it is reasonable at 13 times earnings, paying slightly better than a 3% yield. Unlike pharmaceutical behemoths like Merck, Johnson and Johnson is at least as much a consumer goods stock as a pharma stock: its products include shampoo, Band-Aids, and other goods which consumers will continue to purchase even when their disposable income is limited. J&J derives a substantial portion of its revenue from overseas, and also engages in currency hedging, giving some protection from a steep decline in the US dollar relative to other currencies.

We follow this company and some other fine businesses on our blog at http://threedollarhedgefund.blogspot.com.

Steady giant, paying dividends, that has low P/E.

I am confident in their management, products, r&d, balance sheet, market share, and their future.

no brainer,good products, good mgmt

This account tracks the less exciting stocks from my watch list - companies that are easy to understand with clean balance sheets and good track records in relatively straight-forward industries.

Big well run company that should do incrementally better than the S&P 500 over the long run. Not exciting, but should do well in any caps portfolio.

JNJ will continue to grow, they are a solid company with solid people in charge.

I currently own this stock.

Consistant growth in sales and earnings

If you don't have this stock in your portfolio as a long-term play, I would love to know why.

flu

Buy and hold. If they never raise the dividend again, you'll still get a decent return, but how likely is that?

Looks like it's broken the $60 resistance level so it should keep climbing, along with it's dividend.

I like the company, as it's diversity of products helps add stability to the enterprise. As a market leader within each segment, each of which has a strong future, the company should continue to grow earnings above the average S&P company. With a P/E around 13 the company appears undervalued compared to pharma(P/E around 15), medical devices(P/E's 15-20), and consumer(P/E's around 15-20). The company has also not traded at this low a valuation in the last 10 years, based on P/E, P/B, P/CF and P/S. The company has taken an unfair hit due to patent expirations and uncertainty in the medical industry. The company has a strong pipeline which should help replace a portion of expired sales, helped by regular growth within its other segments. Although concerns about legislation do have merit as they could increase costs, I believe the economiic moats these companies have will help them pass on a portion of these costs. I do not own this stock in my real portfolio, I took advantage of extraordinarily low implied volatility to purchase an in the money call for 2 years out, giving me the chance to get a 3-5 bagger on one of the most stable companies you'll find anywhere(I wouldn't recommend this strategy to everyone, consider your risks yada yada yada)