Analysts at Goldman Sachs (GS, Financial) took action on large health care stocks on Thursday.
Goldman Sachs upgraded WellCare Health Plans Inc. (WCG, Financial) from buy to conviction buy, CytomX Therapeutics Inc. (CTMX, Financial) from neutral to buy and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN, Financial) from neutral to conviction buy. The U.S. bank downgraded Universal Health Services Inc. (UHS, Financial) from neutral to sell.
The table below shows Goldman Sachs’ price targets for each of the health care stocks, the percentage of upside or downside the target price represents from the closing share price on Thursday, the average target price and the mean recommendation rating.
The following chart portrays the closing share price on Thursday and the change in the market value of each health care stock since the beginning of the year.
The table below illustrates the current market capitalization, 52-week range, price-book ratio, price-sales ratio and price-earnings ratio for each health care stock.
| Stock | Market cap | 52-week range ($) | Price-book ratio | Price-sales ratio | Price-earnings ratio |
| WellCare Health Plans | $12.22 B | 187.06 - 324.99 | 2.93 | 0.60 | 25.35 |
| CytomX Therapeutics | $668.81 M | 12.51 - 35.00 | 4.17 | 7.66 | N/A |
| Universal Health Services | $12.21 B | 108.62 - 139.63 | 2.30 | 1.17 | 14.83 |
| Regeneron Pharmaceuticals | $40.97 B | 281.89 - 416.49 | 5.21 | 6.84 | 24.19 |
The charts below compare the stock price of each company to the the Peter Lynch earnings line, except for CytomX Therapeutic,s which is reporting a negative price-earnings ratio.Â
According to the Peter Lynch charts, WellCare Health Plans, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Universal Health Services are overpriced.
In addition, Universal Health Services has a forward dividend yield of 0.30% versus an industry median of 1.99%. The other health care companies do not pay dividends.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any securities mentioned in this article.
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