Healthcare Stocks, Including Gilead, Making Big Moves on October 24, 2012

So far today, the Nasdaq remains relatively unchanged, the S&P 500 has risen 0.1% and the Dow has climbed 0.3%. 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) (+0.5%):

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
NuVasive (Nasdaq:NUVA)	$549.9 million	+16.6%
United (Nasdaq:UTHR)	$2.76 billion	-13.7%
Abaxis (Nasdaq:ABAX)	$796.1 million	-7.1%
Gilead (Nasdaq:GILD)	$49.11 billion	+6.1%
Amsurg (Nasdaq:AMSG)	$822.3 million	+5.6%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:REGN)	$14.69 billion	+4.5%
Thermo Fisher (NYSE:TMO)	$21.06 billion	+3.7%

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NuVasive (Nasdaq:NUVA) is trading at $14.75 per share, a significant rise of 16.6%. The company's volume is currently two million shares for the day, 2.2 times its average over the past three months.

Taking a 13.7% hit, United (Nasdaq:UTHR) is currently trading at $46 per share. So far today, 2.6 million shares of the company's stock have changed hands. This is more trading activity than there was yesterday.

Abaxis (Nasdaq:ABAX) has decreased to $33.71 per share, a 7.1% fall. The company's volume is currently 175,536 shares for the day, 2.2 times the average daily volume.

Gilead (Nasdaq:GILD) is currently trading at $68.87 per share, a 6.1% increase. The company is currently trading a volume of 5.9 million shares.

Amsurg (Nasdaq:AMSG) has moved up 5.6% and is currently trading at $27.51 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 59,746 shares, 0.4 times the average volume over the last three months.

Increasing 4.5%, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:REGN) is trading at $159.85 per share. So far today, the company's volume is one million shares.

Thermo Fisher (NYSE:TMO) is up 3.7% to reach a current price of $59.72 per share. The company's volume is currently two million shares for the day, 1.1 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.