Health stocks gain on expectations of "benign" legislation

[Enrique]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/health-insurers-shares-rise-after-obamas-speech-2009-09-10


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Shares of Cigna Corp. (CI 31.00, +1.59, +5.41%) gained 4.8%, Humana Inc. (HUM 39.42, +1.35, +3.55%) added 3.2%, HealthNet Inc. (HNT 17.43, +0.83, +5.00%) advanced 4.3% and UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH 28.96, +0.56, +1.97%) rose 0.9%.

Humana reached a six-month high at $39.04.

"The plan for healthcare reform Obama introduced last night consisted of broad strokes," said John Sullivan, analyst at Leerink Swann & Co., a healthcare equity research firm, in a note. "We've heard it all before."

Other health-care stocks, such as hospitals and drug companies, also rose.

Shares of hospitals Community Health Systems Inc. (CYH 31.23, +1.13, +3.74%) gained 2.7% and Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC 5.34, +0.25, +4.91%) added 3.2%. Pfizer Inc. (PFE 16.29, +0.12, +0.74%) shares increased 1.1%

"We still expect benign signed reform legislation in 2009 and view such an outcome as good news for health-care investors," Sullivan said.

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