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Analyst has a neutral rating on CVS. Full article published: 03/31/2000     JACK P. RUSSO is a Vice President and Securities Research Analyst for A.G. Edwards & Sons


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TWST: You've written about the positive fundamentals for the drug chains, and the fact that these fundamentals have not really been appreciated by the market. Why is that?

Mr. Russo: I think healthcare stocks in general have been ignored over the last 12 months. And I think the reason for that is twofold: number one, obviously the market has been focused on tech and, compared to tech, even health care takes a back seat; secondly, we're in an election year now, and I think people were afraid, going into this year of politicians' talk about price controls on prescription-drug prices or other areas of health care, so there were some overall worries there. But the big reason, I think, is just that people focused on tech. Now, here in the last week we've had the healthcare stocks doing a lot better. People are understanding that the fundamentals in the healthcare area are outstanding, so over time, this sector will be rewarded. People will recognize there are a lot of good things going on -- and of course, our aging population doesn't hurt those trends!

TWST: What are you telling investors? What should they do with the stocks? And do you still have a buy on CVS (NYSE:CVS)?

Mr. Russo: We have a neutral rating on CVS.

TWST: What caused you to move from a buy to a neutral on CVS?

Mr. Russo: Well, we did that last fall. And to be quite honest with you, there was really not a huge rationale for that, just that the group was being pummeled, people were disinterested, and I could tell that the situation was not going to correct itself for a while. As it turned out, we were right, because six months later, and until the last couple of days, these stocks were down a lot more than they were at that point. So it was a strange rating change, nothing specific with the companies. I just threw up my hands and said, “I'm going to take a breather right now on these names, given the negative momentum working against these stocks.” So that was the reason for that. I think CVS is a close second, but Walgreen (NYSE:WAG) is ahead of them in terms of technology implementation. In terms of the real estate program, they're also ahead of CVS.


Tickers included in this excerpt: CVS

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This interview is a small excerpt from a comprehensive interview published in The Wall Street Transcript on 03/27/00. For more information call (212) 952 7400. The Wall Street Transcript does not endorse any of the comments made by interviewees, and does not make stock recommendations.

Copyright 2000, Wall Street Transcript Corp.

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