Healthcare Stocks, Including Abbott, Making Big Moves on October 17, 2012

The Nasdaq has remained steady, the S&P 500 is up 0.3% and the Dow remains relatively unchanged so far today. The healthcare sector is the category of stocks relating to medical and healthcare goods or services. This sector includes hospital management firms, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), biotechnology and a variety of medical products. Stocks in the healthcare sector are often considered to be defensive because the products and services are essential. Even during economic downturns, people will still require medical aid and medicine to overcome illness. Having a consistent demand for goods and services makes this sector less sensitive to business cycle fluctuations.

These are the biggest movers in the Healthcare sector (XLV) (+0.1%):

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
Centene (NYSE:CNC)	$1.8 billion	+9.1%
St Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ)	$13.48 billion	-6.1%
ISIS Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ISIS)	$1.03 billion	-5.9%
Emeritus (NYSE:ESC)	$1.03 billion	+5%
Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX)	$10.06 billion	-4.9%
Questcor Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:QCOR)	$1.48 billion	+4.7%
Abbott (NYSE:ABT)	$113.2 billion	-4.3%

Broker Summary: E-Trade Financial

Increasing 9.1%, Centene (NYSE:CNC) is trading at $38.15 per share. With 2.1 million shares changing hands so far today, the company's volume is 3.6 times its current three-month average.

Falling 6.1%, St Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) is currently at a share price of $40.32. The company's volume is currently 4.3 million shares. This is more trading activity than there was yesterday.

Currently trading at $9.66 per share, ISIS Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ISIS) has fallen 5.9%. At 3.7 million shares, the company's volume so far today is 1.1 times its current daily average.

Emeritus (NYSE:ESC) has risen 5% to hit a current price of $24.09 per share. The company is currently trading a volume of 346,034 shares.

Slipping 4.9%, Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) is currently trading at $60.26 per share. The company's volume for the day so far is 1.5 million shares, 2.2 times its average over the past three months.

Rising 4.7%, Questcor Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:QCOR) is currently trading at $26.04 per share. So far today, 2.8 million shares of the company's stock have changed hands. This is on pace to reach yesterday's trading volume of 6.4 million shares.

Abbott (NYSE:ABT) has fallen 4.3% and is currently trading at $69.02 per share. At 12.1 million shares, the company's volume so far today is 1.7 times the current daily average.

The Bottom Line On any given day, a particular stock may see positive or negative change in its share price. Daily stock performance should be weighed against historical performance and put in context of the market overall. Tools like valuation ratios and profit margins, however, are only as useful as the context you put them in; remember to take historical data and competitor performance into account.