Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD)
Recent Share Price: $54.57
Below 52-Week High: 5%
Two-Minute Drill: That said, if racy is what you're after, Gilead Sciences is the most responsibly Foolish way we can currently think of to play the go-go biotech sector. Here we have a company whose profitability metrics smash industry averages and virtually triple those of the broader market as measured by the S&P 500. Cash flow is strong -- the company milked nearly $1.7 billion in 2007 -- and top-line revenue growth has been increasing.

To be sure, investors here will pay a premium for this purer biotech, with price-to-sales and price-to-cash flow multiples well above industry norms. The stock looks cheap, however, on a price-to-earnings basis, which is fairly remarkable given what the company has accomplished for its shareholders: For the 10 years ending in July 2008, Gilead served up an annualized gain of more than 43%.

Shocker Stock: Gilead: Stephanie Link, director of research for the Action Alerts Plus Portfolio, defends her team's stake in Gilead even though it has no dividend and faces stiff competition.
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growth

Cramer: Obama's Win Gives Us Two Markets: In the short term I'm bullish; in long term I'm bearish, says Jim Cramer.
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Cramer: The Obama Biotech Winners: These three stocks will do better under Obama, says Jim Cramer.
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There are two major camps right now. One group is betting against the plan and is buying high-growth stocks with no economic exposure like Gilead (GILD) and Celgene (CELG) or the Procters (PG) of the world.

Cramer's Game Plan: Jim Cramer says the market is artificially up and investors should sell portfolio holdings that are up.

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The derivatives are more powerful than the stocks they encompass -- Nasdaq or S&P futures -- but they are not more powerful than the companies themselves. Genzyme (GENZ), Gilead (GILD), Hologic (HOLX), Starbucks (SBUX), they will all get killed. Is that right? I don't think so.

Best HIV/AIDS drug on the market. This is a growth play as they expand their presence in the EU and rest of the world.

But for those who think that the decline in commodities is signaling total collapse of the economies, then these will work. Schering-Plough (SGP)? I don't know ... I like Gilead (GILD), which is on fire. Abbott (ABT) had a great quarter. Bard (BCR) and Becton (BDX)? The latter, thought of as a resin play, seems particularly good for the moment.

Gilead. One of my few losers. Bought because it had good things going but it turns out, it's never gone up more than a few pennies. Not a good one for me; may be a long term stock but not for me.