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Congratulations: It's Time to Book Your Profits

By Dr. George Huang
Friday, May 8, 2009

It happened faster than I thought possible...
 
Last November, after Obama's win, I realized one overlooked sector was going to rocket higher on government spending. And while all the suckers piled into alternative energy stocks – which were already at obscene valuations – I showed you a much better bet to pocket a 30% "boondoggle bonus" in 12 months.
 
Well, it's been six months, and we're up 36% on our health care IT trades...
 
Company
Symbol
Return since November
2009 P/E
McKesson
MCK
3%
10
Cerner
CERN
50%
24
Eclipsys
ECLP
18%
36
Quality Systems
QSII
45%
27
Allscripts
MDRX
79%
21
Athenahealth
ATHN
27%
55
HMS Holdings
HMSY
32%
32
Average
36%
30

 All of these companies are working to bring America's old-fashioned hospitals and doctor's offices into the 21st century. They're replacing mountains of paperwork with bar coding, electronic health records, and web-based billing services.
 
Obama wants to cut health care spending. He believes the best way to achieve more efficiency is by upgrading the current archaic paper trail to a state-of-the-art health care IT infrastructure. So he vowed to invest $10 billion a year over the next five years to jump-start the process.
 
For an industry with an existing revenue base of about $20 billion, Obama's $50 billion plan is a significant boost. That's why these stocks have chugged higher... while the S&P ended up essentially flat – after a stomach-churning drop to the March bottom.
 
Simply throwing a dart at the health care IT companies would've gotten you double-digit returns without much volatility. But now, the party is almost over. And it's time to bail on the sector...
 
Since we checked in on these stocks in March, novice investors have piled in, pushing shares to 52-week highs. As you can see from the table above, many of the stocks' price-to-earnings ratios are approaching stratospheric levels only seen in euphoric markets.
 
So if you own any of these companies, use tight trailing stops to protect your profits. And don't hesitate to sell.
 
I believe the long-term opportunity for the health care IT sector is tremendous. But at these prices, your money is better off in your pocket.
 
Good investing,
 
George Huang




In The Daily Crux
Market Notes
Let your gold miners ride... IAMGOLD and International Tower Hill Mines hit 52-week highs.
 
Natural gas up 4.5% yesterday... trading above $4 for the first time since March.
 
For-profit education continues collapse... Corinthian Colleges and ITT Educational at four-month lows.
 
Earnings today... Beazer Homes, Bronco Drilling, Calpine, Six Flags, Toyota.
Market Watch
Symbol Price
Change
52-Wk
S&P 500 1228.28 +0.37% +12.49%
Oil 37.96 +0.42% +3.01%
Gold 134.79 -1.25% +21.49%
Silver 27.70 -1.35% +60.12%
US-Dollar 79.96 +0.39% +4.93%
Euro 1.33 -0.01% -9.84%
Volatility 17.74 -1.39% -25.12%
Gold Stocks 563.51 -2.25% +27.65%
10-Year Yield 3.24 +2.53% -4.42%

World ETFs
Symbol Price
Change
52-Wk
USA 123.28 +0.37% +12.47%
Canada 30.21 -0.66% +18.94%
Russia 21.85 -0.68% +21.39%
India 37.51 -1.68% +21.47%
Israel 16.84 -0.47% +12.12%
Japan 10.59 +0.28% +6.54%
Singapore 13.74 +0.59% +20.10%
Taiwan 14.81 -0.40% +19.24%
S. Korea 57.08 -0.47% +23.23%
S. Africa 71.34 +0.27% +30.54%
China 43.30 -1.57% -0.80%
Lat.America 52.25 -0.84% +9.10%

Sector ETFs
Symbol Price
Change
52-Wk
Oil Service 135.21 +0.23% +21.49%
Big Pharma 64.01 -0.05% -1.89%
Internet 73.02 +0.18% +28.67%
Semis 16.43 +1.11% +28.06%
Utilities 30.87 -0.36% +0.29%
Defense 18.50 -0.27% +9.21%
Nanotech 10.10 -0.59% +1.10%
Alt. Energy 10.28 +0.78% -3.11%
Water 18.78 +0.05% +16.14%
Insurance 16.28 +0.87% +21.86%
Biotech 20.67 +0.10% +28.87%
Retail 19.49 -0.81% +27.14%
Software 24.98 +0.60% +26.42%
Big Tech 54.08 +0.37% +23.92%
Construction 13.31 +0.08% +17.79%
Media 13.80 +0.36% +23.77%
Consumer Svcs 67.39 -0.06% +24.11%
Financials 55.78 +1.51% +9.39%
Health Care 63.99 +0.16% +2.25%
Industrials 63.65 -0.22% +21.10%
Basic Mat 73.75 -1.06% +28.19%
Real Estate 54.70 -1.49% +23.25%
Transportation 91.23 -0.46% +24.77%
Telecom 22.68 -0.04% +15.48%

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