These picks remain strong despite COVID

Article Excerpt

Hospitals and research labs had to shift their spending during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic to products that helped combat the virus. Now that the pandemic is easing, it’s likely Baxter and Agilent will benefit from improving demand for their non-COVID-19 products. BAXTER INTERNATIONAL INC. $82 is a buy. The company (New York symbol BAX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 508.8 million; Market cap: $41.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.5; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.baxter.com) makes a wide variety of medical devices, including intravenous pumps and kidney-dialysis equipment. The U.S. accounts for about 40% of its revenue. In the quarter ended March 31, 2021, revenue rose 5.1%, to $2.95 billion from $2.80 billion a year earlier. That’s mainly due to strong demand for its dialysis equipment. The company is also supplying packaging and other services to pharmaceutical firms producing COVID-19 vaccines. Those factors offset weaker demand for other equipment as the virus deferred elective surgeries…