Three more with a demographic edge

Article Excerpt

In addition to Pfizer, medical device makers like these three offer another way to profit from aging baby boomers and rising health care spending. However, not all are buys right now. BAXTER INTERNATIONAL INC. $55 (New York symbol BAX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 556.3 million; Market cap: $30.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.baxter.com) makes medical products, such as intravenous pumps and kidney dialysis equipment. It also makes vaccines and drugs. Half of the company’s sales come from single-use products that continually need to be reordered. Baxter earned $569 million in the first quarter of 2012. That’s down 0.2% from $570 million a year earlier. The company spent $575 million on share buybacks during the quarter. Because of fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 3.1%, to $1.01 from $0.98. These figures exclude several unusual items, such as costs to integrate Synovis Life Technologies Inc., which Baxter recently bought for $325 million. Synovis…