The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 22 points to 12,734.63 (-0.18%), the NASDAQ fell about 13 points (-0.46%) to 2,805.28, and the S&P 500 fell -0.57% or nearly 7 points to 1,318.45.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) cut to ‘perform’ at Oppenheimer; Vale S.A. (NYSE: VALE) cut to ‘hold’ at Deutsche Bank; Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) started as ‘perform’ at Williams Capital; Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) cut to ‘underweight’ at Morgan Stanley; and Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) cut to ‘underweight’ at JPMorgan.

Earnings reports since markets closed on last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Airgas Inc. (NYSE: ARG) is down -3.66% at $77.29; Arctic Cat Inc. (NASDAQ: ACAT) is up more than 19% at $28.40 after posting a new 52-week high of $29.20 earlier today; AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is down -2.65% at $29.41; Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) is down -0.92% at $32.40; Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) is up 1.95% at $111.18; Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: CY) is down more than -11% at $17.03; Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) is up 0.95% at $82.51; McCormick & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MKC) is up 0.90% at $78.55; Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) is down more than -20% at $7.18; Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. (NYSE: POT) is up 1.61% at $45.96; and Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) is up 0.34% at $49.88.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

VIST Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: VIST) is up more than 62% at $11.20 after posting a new 52-week high of $11.50 earlier today. The bank holding company has agreed to be acquired by Tompkins Financial Corp. (AMEX: TMP) in an all-stock deal at an 86% premium to last night’s closing price, or about $85 million.

RealNetworks Inc. (NASDAQ: RNWK) is up more than 35% at $9.98. The digital media company has sold a video codec and a number of patents to Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) for $120 million.

Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTA) is down nearly -21% at $15.13. The biotechnology company lost its bid for an injunction against certain competitors.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is up about 22% at $116.01. The digital video streaming and rental company reported a better-than-expected number of new subscribers after markets closed last night.

Enterprise Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ: EFSC) is down more than -19% at $12.51. The bank holding company will restate earnings for 2010 and the first three quarters of 2011 and expects to dilute 2010 earnings by half as a result.

Stay tuned for Friday. New York Fed President William Dudley is giving a speech in the morning. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – US GDP report
• 9:55 a.m. – Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index

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Paul Ausick

The companies we’ve included are Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), Merck & Co Inc. (NYSE: MRK), Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY), Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA), Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN), and GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK).

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) trades around $22.00 and the 52-week range is $16.63 to $22.00. With a $168 billion market cap, this one trades at about 15-times expected earnings and 9.5-times expected 2012 earnings. Thomson Reuters has a mean price target objective of $23.76, indicating implied upside of 8%.

Merck & Co Inc. (NYSE: MRK) trades near $38 and the 52-week range is $29.47-$39.00. With a $117 billion market cap, Merck trades at about 28-times expected earnings and 10-times expected 2012 earnings. The mean price target objective is $39.85, indicating a potential upside of 4.9%.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) trades near $34 and the 52-week range is $24.97-$35.44. With a market cap of about $58 billion, this one trades at about 17-times expected earnings and 17-times forward earnings. The mean price target objective is $32.91, indicating that shares are fully valued and upside potential has gone missing.

Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA) trades at about $44 and the 52-week range is $35.00-$57.08. With a market cap of $39 billion, Teva trades at about 13-times earnings and 8-times forward earnings. The mean price target objective is $53.15, indicating an implied upside of nearly 21%. The company has also seen gains since disclosing a new CEO.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) trades at about $66 and the 52-week range is $47.66-$65.70. With a market cap of $58 billion, this one trades at about 16-times earnings and 11-times forward earnings. The mean price target objective is $65.45, and, like Bristol-Myers, Amgen is fully valued and there is no implied gain at the current price.

GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK) trades at about $44 and the 52-week range is $36.28-$46.50. With a market cap of $221 billion, this one trades at about 44-times earnings and 13-times forward earnings. The mean price target objective is $49.58, indicating an implied upside of 12.7%.

Only Teva and GlaxoSmithKline have double-digit upside potential percentage gains. Of the two, Teva’s upside potential is greater, largely because it just lost a patent dispute (which pushed the share price down) and gained a new CEO, an industry veteran from Bristol-Myers (which pushed the share price back up). The downside on the company is that it is trading down about -18% over the past 12 months, the only one of these six companies to show a loss for the period.

Glaxo is preparing a regulatory filing in the US with a replacement for the company’s Adair asthma drug which loses patent protection next year. Late-stage trials have been promising, and the stock could get a nice boost if the FDA grants approval. Glaxo also received three new drug approvals from the FDA in 2011,

Paul Ausick

Eurozone Crisis Meetings

The financial disaster in the eurozone is still without a systematic solution. The European Central Bank leaders will meet this week. It is nearly certain that the central bank will keep rates low, or perhaps even drop them. But, as the U.S. has demonstrated, low rates are not the key to GDP improvement. The ECB also has said it will not be the financial catalyst of a rescue of weak nations in the region. Germany’s Merkel and France’s Sarkozy are set to meet to discuss how job growth might be renewed in the region. How a fund to help save the eurozone might be structured will also be part of talks. As long as each of these issues is open, the rescue of the eurozone will remain incomplete.

Chevy Volt Production

General Motors (NYSE: GM) said it will match demand for its Chevy Volt electric car with adequate production. That should not be difficult. Battery fire problems have prompted analysts to question whether GM can sell many of the cars. GM has offered to reinforce battery housings in the Volt. This is an admission there is more risk to owning a Volt than anyone might have expected. Production of the Volt could be so tiny that it will become uneconomic for GM to stick with the model at all.

Gadgets on Parade

The International Consumer Electronics Show opens this week in Las Vegas. It is the world’s largest exhibition of gadgets each year. All of the major software, hardware and internet companies will display their latest products. So will hundreds of small firms, each with hopes it can strike gold with consumers, and perhaps with big companies that will buy or license their technologies. The show is so vast that it will be hard for any product, whether from a big company or a small one, to rise above the chaos of an event attended by hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of potential customers.

Douglas A. McIntyre

The EPA may send fresh water to communities close to fracking sites. (Reuters)

The International Monetary Fund says that Europe may avoid a 2012 recession, but that some areas are in deep trouble. (Reuters)

China may create a large ministry to oversee the nation’s energy. (Reuters)

Merkel and Sarkozy will meet to discuss ways to stimulate job growth in Europe. (Reuters)

The euro reaches a 16-month low against the dollar. (Reuters)

Olympus is close to a delisting from the Tokyo stock exchange. (Reuters)

Lions Gate (NYSE: LGF) is about to buy Summit, which created the Twilight series. (Reuters)

Pay cuts on Wall St. will be large for 2012. (WSJ)

Detroit car companies have begun to introduce new models to fight back against Japanese and European brands. (WSJ)

Unemployment problems are likely to last many years in the U.S. (WSJ)

Occupancy rates at malls saw a small improvement late last year. (WSJ)

BMW claims it will outperform the car market next year. (WSJ)

Weight Watchers (NYSE: WTW) will begin to market to men and to the Chinese. (WSJ)

General Motors (NYSE: GM) says Volt production will meet demand, but did not say what the demand is. (WSJ)

Time Warner’s (NYSE: TWX) Warner Bros. will delay DVD releases for eight weeks after theater release, up from four weeks. (WSJ)

The Canadian government to begin deliberations on a pipeline to run from its oil sands areas to the Pacific ocean. (WSJ)

Venezuela may stop working with the World Bank’s tribunal, which would leave billions of dollars in disputes in limbo. (WSJ)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) says it will rely on Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) less for product platforms, but that may be challenged by the software firm’s problems in mobile devices. (WSJ)

Bristol-Myers (NYSE: BMY) to buy hepatitis C drug-developer Inhibitex (NASDAQ: INHX) for $2.5 billion. (WSJ)

RHR International, a research firm, says more CEOs feel under pressure to deliver short-term results. (WSJ)

A European Central Bank meeting likely will not yield any aid for nations in the region that are part of the financial crisis. (WSJ)

A slowdown of trading will hurt Wall St. Q4 results. (WSJ)

Ford (NYSE: F) will gamble on its mid-sized Fusion to beat Japanese competition. (NYT)

Germany is unlikely to offer more money for bailouts as its belief in effective austerity grows. (NYT)

The oversight panel of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision says some banks may be able to drop below capital requirements. (NYT)

The UK may still give the IMF a large sum, intended mostly for a bailout of some eurozone nations. (FT)

S&P 500 earnings growth likely will stumble. (FT)

The ECB could cut interest rates much as the Federal Reserve did. (Bloomberg)

A strong export economy helps keep Germany out of recession. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

American Airlines parent AMR (NYSE: AMR) files for Chapter 11. (Reuters)

S&P cuts its ratings on large American banks after it changes the way it treats their financials. (Reuters)

Facebook settles privacy charges with the FTC. (Reuters)

Company officials and bankers work on plans for a eurozone breakup. (Reuters)

Cyber Monday sales hit a record $1.25 billion, according to Comscore. (Reuters)

Samsung wins a court battle with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) in Australia. (Reuters)

Small U.S. banks lay off workers as the slow economy hurts their prospects. (WSJ)

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) begins to provide start-up money to hedge funds. (WSJ)

A eurozone fund to bailout troubled nations still is not large enough to cover Italy or Spain. (WSJ)

The FCC attacks the AT&T (NYSE: T) takeover of T-Mobile in a document that says the deal would limit competitiveness. (WSJ)

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) will try to close a deal to sell the company by the end of the year. (WSJ)

Fed vice chairwoman Janet Yellen warns that the economy could be badly damaged by Europe. (WSJ)

Facebook may decide that it does not need to go public and has enough capital to remain private. (WSJ)

Asian PC company Lenovo will launch a web TV project. (WSJ)

American Airline employee pensions could be at risk because of the Chapter 11 filings. (WSJ)

The UK will have to increase borrowing because of a slowing economy. (WSJ)

Eliquis, an anti-clotting drug from Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and Bristol Myers (NYSE: BMY), will get a quick FDA review. (WSJ)

Honda (NYSE: HMC) expects January sales to improve in the U.S. (WSJ)

Despite resistance, James Murdoch will remain chairman of BSkyB. (WSJ)

The Empire State Building will have an IPO. (WSJ)

There is still a chance that a slow U.S. economy will prompt the Fed to start QE3. (WSJ)

Some critics say Moody’s and S&P missed early signs that Greece was in trouble. (NYT)

The Home Affordable Refinance Program to double in size to help more homeowners. (NYT)

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) struggles to sell Lipitor as generic versions appear. (NYT)

Hundreds of thousand of UK workers strike as austerity measures grow. (NYT)

The Center for Automotive Research says automaking jobs will increase 28% by 2015. (NYT)

The SEC asks Congress for greater powers to regulate the financial and corporate sectors. (FT)

India’s GDP growth drops below 7%. (FT)

Eurozone finance ministers agree on certain bond guarantees and say they may turn to the IMF for help. (Bloomberg)

The EU may prepare debt write-down plans that would help keep private sector lenders intact. (Bloomberg)

Large PC company Acer turns to a profit. (Bloomberg)

Silver Lake offers $16.60 a share for a private stake in Yahoo! (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Large pharmaceutical companies like Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN), Bristol Meyers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY), and Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) are also spending less in developing new drugs and there have been calls within the industry to share more information, especially on drugs that have failed trials. High development costs join pricing pressure in Europe, a lack of urgency on this year’s flu season, lower rates of prescription writing, and more competition from generics to weigh on drug company revenue and profits.

We’ve looked at the price targets for J&J, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Bristol Meyers, and Merck with an eye toward trying to detect value opportunities. All data from Yahoo! Finance, with current prices gathered about noon today.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) has a median price target of $72.00 from 13 brokers. The current price is $63.03, for a potential upside of $8.97, or 14.2%. The company pays a dividend yield of 3.6% and its forward P/E is 12.02. J&J’s share price has fallen about -2% since our last look at these companies. The company’s list of missteps and mishaps in the past year or so is long enough to have mortally wounded just about any other company. The company has been found liable for some $750 million in health care fraud claims, it has paid a $70 million fee to settle a foreign bribery case, the factory that makes many of its popular over-the-counter brands has been shut down, and it is being sued for selling a faulty hip-replacement device. Despite all that, J&J continues to make a profit, and its median target price rose from its October level of $70.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) has a median price target of $23.00 from 17 brokers. The current share price is $19.02, for a potential upside of $3.98, or 21%. The company pays a dividend yield of 4.1% and its forward P/E is 8.24. Pfizer announced today that it would pay $60 million in the same foreign bribery investigation that cost J&J $70 million last Spring. The company recently got some good news when UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) announced that it would charge a lower co-payment for the Pfizer’s Lipitor than it would for generic equivalents. Pfizer lost patent protection on the drug this month, jeopardizing $10.7 billion in revenue from sales of Lipitor. Trying to buy market share by lowering the price of Lipitor might make up some of the loss, but it’s hard to see all the revenue being replaced this way.

AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN) has a median price target of $52.25 from just 4 brokers. The current share price is $44.05, for a potential upside of $8.20, or 18.6%. The company pays a dividend yield of 3.8% and its forward P/E is 7.03. The company’s Crestor drug competes with Pfizer’s Lipitor, but has patent protection until 2016. Crestor also recently bested Lipitor in a trial at the Cleveland Clinic. While Crestor did better at lowering cholesterol levels, the two drugs performed equally on reducing atherosclerosis and clinical events like strokes and heart attacks. Whether that will be enough to justify the hefty cost premium for Crestor over Lipitor and its generics remains to be seen. Adding to the company’s challenges, an anti-depressant jointly developed by AstraZeneca and Targacept also recently failed a late-stage trial.

Bristol Meyers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) has a median price target of $33.50 from 18 brokers. The current share price is $30.29, for a potential upside of $3.21, or 10.6%. The company pays a dividend yield of 4.3% and its forward P/E ratio is 15.08. A diabetes drug jointly developed by Bristol Meyers and AstraZeneca was denied US FDA approval due to increased cancer risk among those involved in the trial. If the FDA doesn’t reverse itself, the fallout from this decision would also likely hit Pfizer, J&J, and other companies working on a similar diabetes drug. The global market for diabetes treatment will nearly triple, to $114.3 billion in the next five years, so there is a lot at stake here.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) has a median price target of $40.25 from 16 brokers. The current share price is $34.11, for a potential upside of $6.14, or 18%. The company pays a dividend yield of 4.3% and its forward P/E is 8.91. Merck received 5 approvals for new drugs in 2011, has hopes for 8 further approvals in 2012 and 2013, and claims to have 19 more in late-stage testing. The company already has the best-selling diabetes drug and it continues to work on more diabetes combination drugs as well. The company is still hampered by claims against it for its Vioxx painkiller, which was found to cause heart attacks.

Big pharma faces some big issues, but chief among those is reining in the development costs for news drugs. The company that appears to have done the best job of that, to date, is Merck. Provided that Merck can steer its new drugs through the approvals process, then those efforts at cost control could pay off nicely for investors.

Paul Ausick

The DJIA jumped above 12,000 in the opening minutes of trading this morning and had topped 12,200 by mid-afternoon. European Union leaders have agreed on a deal that would make up to $1.4 trillion as a bailout fund for troubled European banks, offer a 50% haircut to Greek debt holders, and recapitalize the continent’s banks. Apparent euphoria over the deal in Europe caused investors to miss the weak number on pending home sales. The euro rose to more than $1.42, its highest level in nearly two months, and oil prices were about $3/barrel higher this morning and had gained nearly another dollar by mid-afternoon. The day closed with a few uncertainties still remaining on the agreement announced earlier in Europe.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly more than 340 points to 12,209.23 (2.87%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 88 points (3.32%) to 2,738.63, and the S&P 500 rose 3.43% or more than 42 points to 1,284.54.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) maintained at ‘neutral’ with price target cut from $16 to $14 at Credit Suisse; Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) cut to ‘neutral’ at Citigroup (ahem!); Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) started at ‘outperform’ with a $60 price target at Credit Suisse and maintained at ‘buy’ with a $50 target at Canaccord Genuity; Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) cut to ‘market perform’ at FBR; and Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC) reiterated at ‘sell’ by Canaccord Genuity.

Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Proctor & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) up about 0.5%, at $65.25; Colgate Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) up about 1%, at $91.49; Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) up 0.84%, at $81.75; Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) up nearly 11%, at $96.59; Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX) up nearly 2.5%, at $48.98; Johnson Controls Inc. (NYSE: JCI) up 2.2%, at $33.32; Bristol Meyers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) up 1.8%, at $33.10; and Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) up 1.5%, at $27.69.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

QuickLogic Corp. (NASDAQ: QUIK) is up nearly 25%, at $2.87. The company announced an agreement under which mobile phone maker Kyocera will use QuickLogic chips in new products for the Japanese market.

Kelly Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: KELYB) is up nearly 28%, at $16.75. The company is set to announce earnings on November 9th, and is glimmering in the glow of a solid earnings report today from Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: MWW).

LDK Solar Co. Inc. (NYSE: LDK) is up more than 21%, at $4.00. Germany has announced another cut to its solar power feed-in tariff at the first of the year, and that could unleash a horde of new projects to take advantage of the current higher tariff rate.

Century Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ: CENX) is up more than 19%, at $11.74. The company reported an EPS loss yesterday, even though sales were up 24%. Investors must like the revenue report more than they hate the EPS loss.

McDermott International Inc. (NYSE: MDR) is down nearly -26%, at $10.85. The engineering and construction company lowered its third-quarter profit and revenue guidance. Analysts were expecting EPS of $0.29 and McDermott is now saying EPS will be just $0.03-$0.05.

Avon Products, Inc. (NYSE: AVP) is down about -18%, at $18.87. The company missed its earnings expectations, but the worse news is that the SEC have begun a formal investigation into bribery charges against the company for actions it took in foreign markets.

Stay tuned for Friday.  We have noted the following events (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – Consumer spending
• 8:30 a.m. – Employment cost index
• 9:55 a.m. – Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index

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Lilly’s Zyprexa lost patent protection in Europe just last month, and European sales in the quarter fell by -3%. Two other Lilly drugs, anti-depressant Cymbalta and osteoporosis drug Evista lose patent protection by 2014. Regarding the loss of protection on Zyprexa in the US, the company said that it “expects the introduction of generics to result in a rapid and severe decline in Zyprexa sales.”

For the first three quarters of 2011, Zyprexa has accounted for $3.9 billion in Lilly’s sales. Cymbalta brought in another $3 billion, up 19% over 2010 Cymbalta sales.

The company also noted the impact of the Affordable Care Act, which it says reduced EPS in the third quarter by -$0.13. Lilly said the ACA has lowered revenue by $330 million as a result of higher rebates and subsidies, and added $135 million in expenses related to mandatory manufacturing fees.

Lilly now expects full-year 2011 adjusted EPS to be $4.30-$4.35, up to -9% lower than 2010 EPS of $4.74. The revised guidance is in-line with the existing consensus EPS estimate from analysts of $4.33. The company’s gross margin guidance was unchanged, with an expected decline of 2%-3%.

Lilly’s position at the edge of the patent cliff is perhaps more frightening than that of its major competitors. The company does not have a product to replace any of those that are losing patent protection, and so far its only answer has been to announce a $1 billion cost-cutting plan that will eventually cost 5,500 jobs.

Shares in Lilly are down about -0.7% in the first hour of trading this morning, at $38.43, in a 52-week range of $33.46-$39.78. For the past 12 months, Lilly’s shares have risen 6.8%, about the same as Pfizer’s gain, but far behind Bristol-Meyers’ gain of 21%.

Paul Ausick

The first bit of news is that the $1.18 EPS report was a penny ahead of expectations, but other reports were calling the earnings a miss.  The larger news is of the company’s break-up whereby it will spin off its drug unit.  Zacks has outlined its take on the break-up as well with a current “Neutral” rating. 

There are at least two partnerships which hang in the balance, although this should not change the relationships in any meaningful way on the surface.  Abbott has a partnership with Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) for daclizumab (in phase III) to treat relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.  The candidate of elotuzumab, under development with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) is in Phase III studies for multiple myeloma. We would not consider any of these partnerships as being at-risk.
 
After the split, Abbott will become two separate public companies: one will be focused on diversified medical products and one will focus on R&D-based pharmaceuticals.

Diversified medical products: will have an estimated $22 billion in sales and it will retain the Abbott Labs-branded generic pharmaceutical, nutrition, diagnostics, and devices operations.

R&D-based pharma: NewCo is yet to be named and sales are estimated at roughly $18 billion.  This is Abbott’s current portfolio of proprietary pharma and biologics.  Products are CReaon, Kaletra, Humira, Lupron, Synagis, and Synthroid.

The tax-free spin-off will be distributed to existing Abbott Laboratories shareholders and is slated to be completed by the end of 2012 as it wants to continue to ensure its growth strategy.

Abbott saw its shares peak in the $58 to $60 range in 2007 to 2008 and things have not yet recovered the former peak.  Still, shares did hit a 52-week high of $55.61 on Wednesday morning and the stock is currently up 4.5% at $54.83 and shares have already traded double the normal volume in less than an hour of trading.

The current consensus analyst price target one-year out from Thomson Reuters is only $58.00.  This break-up aims to go above and beyond that.

JON C. OGG

We’ve taken a look implied gains at five large pharmaceutical makers based on current share price targets: Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN), Bristol Meyers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY), and Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK). All data from Yahoo! Finance.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) has a mean share price target of $70.00 from 13 brokers. In early afternoon trading today, the stock changed hands at $64.63, for an implied gain of $5.37, or 7.7%. J&J’s forward P/E is 12.2, and the company’s dividend yield is 3.5%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $57.50-$68.05, and it’s trading today at about 12% above its 52-week low and 5% below its 52-week high. J&J made our list of one of 15 recession-proof companies and is one of the S&P Dividend Aristocrats, an index of 42 companies that have increased their dividends in each of the last 25 years. Even product recalls and bumbling management can’t seem to derail this stock.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) has a mean share price target of $23.00 from 15 brokers. The stock traded today at $18.99, for an implied gain of $4.01, or 17.4%. Pfizer’s forward P/E is 8.26 and the company’s dividend yield is 4.2%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $16.25-$21.45, and it’s trading today about 17% above its annual low and 11% below its 52-week high. Pfizer’s Lipitor is one of the best selling prescription drugs in the world, but it loses its patent protection next month. Pfizer filed suit against Merck yesterday, in an effort to stop Merck from selling a generic version of Lipitor in combination with Merck’s Zetia anti-cholesterol drug.

AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN) has a mean price target of $51.50 from 4 brokers. The stock is trading at $47.42, for an implied gain of $4.08, or 7.9%. AstraZeneca’s forward P/E is 7.63 and its dividend yield is 3.6%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $40.89-$53.50, and it’s trading today at about 14% above its 52-week low and about 11% below its 52-week high. Earlier this week the company said it will build a $200 million manufacturing facility in China to meet the demand for AstraZeneca’s medicines in that country. With 1.3 billion potential sick people, China is a natural bet for drug company expansion. The company also said yesterday that it was cutting about 400 employees from its US workforce.

Bristol Meyers Squibb Co. Inc. (NYSE: BMY) has a mean price target of $32.50 from 17 brokers. The stock is trading at $33.08 today, after setting a new 52-week high earlier in the day at $33.20, well above the mean target price. The company’s forward P/E is 16.02 and its dividend yield 4%. The stock’s new trading range is $24.97-$33.20, and it’s trading today at about 32% above its 52-week low. The company’s leukemia drug, Sprycel, received an FDA safety warning today, but nothing seems to be cooling off the stock’s rising price. Bristol Meyers Squibb also made our list of recession-proof companies.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) has a mean target price of $40.00 from 17 brokers. The stock trades at $32.57 today, for an implied gain of $7.43, or 18.6%. Merck’s forward P/E is 8.46, and the company’s dividend yield is 4.70%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $29.47-$37.68, and it’s trading today about 11% above its 52-week low and about 14% below its 52-week high. Merck won a decision in Australia yesterday that overturned that country’s first trial decision against the company’s withdrawn Vioxx painkiller.

Paul Ausick