Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and More Big Movers in Healthcare on November 20, 2012

This morning, the market has been relatively quiet. The Nasdaq remains relatively unchanged; the S&P 500 has been relatively flat; and the Dow has remained steady. 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.

While the market overall has shown little change, the Healthcare sector (XLV) is up 0.4% and its current biggest movers are:

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
Patterson Companies (Nasdaq:PDCO)	$3.97 billion	-7.3%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:REGN)	$15.49 billion	+6.4%
Schiff Nutrition International (NYSE:SHF)	$965 million	-5.3%
Prestige Brands Holdings (NYSE:PBH)	$1.01 billion	+5.3%
Puma Biotechnology (NYSE:PBYI)	$541.8 million	-3.5%
Mednax (NYSE:MD)	$3.68 billion	+3.2%
Pharmacyclics (Nasdaq:PCYC)	$3.68 billion	-2.1%

Forex Broker Summary: UFXMarkets

Patterson Companies (Nasdaq:PDCO) has fallen 7.3% and is currently trading at $33.39 per share. The company's volume for the day so far is 1.5 million shares.

Rising 6.4%, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:REGN) is currently trading at $170.68 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 998,492 shares, whereas yesterday, volume was only 796,069 shares.

Schiff Nutrition International (NYSE:SHF) is down 5.3% to reach $41.80 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 988,628 shares. This is 3.3 times its average volume over the past three months.

Prestige Brands Holdings (NYSE:PBH) has risen 5.3% and is currently trading at $21.06 per share. The company's volume is currently 113,362 shares for the day, in line with the current daily average.

At $18.24, Puma Biotechnology (NYSE:PBYI) has slipped 3.5%. So far today, the company's volume is 30,100 shares.

Mednax (NYSE:MD) is up 3.2% to reach a current price of $76.13 per share. So far today, 392,987 shares have changed hands, which is more trading activity than there was yesterday.

Falling 2.1%, Pharmacyclics (Nasdaq:PCYC) is currently at a share price of $51.59. So far today, 170,365 shares have changed hands. This is 0.2 times the current three-month average.

The Bottom Line The nature of the market is such that stocks will have good days and bad days. It is important to weigh current activity against historical performance when making any investment decisions. Keep in mind that all these ratios should be compared against historical numbers and industry information in order to get a more complete picture.