Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)

They have a decent sized economic moat and are in the process of cost cutting and restructuring which should position them well. They have a pretty diverse product portfolio and though some patents will be expiring, they have others in the pipeline. The P/E ratio seems a bit lower than the S&P 500 as a whole and they offer a 3.10% dividend currently.

While JNJ is not a rocket ship, this diversified medical company will be able to adapt to whatever the US health system will look like when the politicians are done. I am building my position here as ballast for my portfolio. I am confident their strengths will remain in 5 years, and beyond, even through this uncertainty.

always a winner - good dividend too

....from my egocentric observations that have been mentioned on the PG CAPS site. By the way, I do own shares in both PG and JNJ.

Great company

At this point, long on large cap dividend payers.

What can I say? They make things that people need to buy. Need. Not "want". I'm focused on their sales and it looks steady enough for me.

solid fundamentals and growth at a good price.

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.