Dueling Fools: Johnson & Johnson Bull Rebuttal

There's little doubt that companies in the Dow Jones Industrial average appear to defy logic, despite market capitalizations in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ  ) is such a firm. My contention is that negative short-term news and a flagging stock price have resulted in low enough expectations to allow for a compelling risk/reward trade-off for Fools looking for large-cap health-care exposure.

As I mentioned in my opener, I think that current concerns over Procrit, drug-eluting stents, and the DePuy medical device unit are only short-term in nature and are masking what is otherwise a very strong, well-diversified business. In other words, J&J's stock will perform like the stocks of its peers once near-term challenges subside.

In terms of valuation, we're looking at a company that has grown annual earnings and cash flows in the double digits over the past five years. Despite this growth, J&J has experienced significant multiple contraction, as its P/E ratio has dropped from 32 at the end of 2000 to a current 18.

This is not much different than many of the Dow Giants, including Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT  ) , General Electric (NYSE: GE  ) , and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG  ) . And while I don't expect Fools to get rich quickly by investing in these names, I would recommend taking a closer look after any share price weakness. J&J is currently an opportunity, and there should be nice upside, since the market expects it to grow free cash flow only 8% annually -- a low bar given its long-term growth track record.

Check out the other arguments in this duel, and then vote for a winner.