Prospecting for Stocks: Novartis

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Identifying the best investment opportunities in the sector takes time. So we've built this "Prospecting" screen -- which is a simplified version of the special checklist that has helped Jeff Fischer and the Motley Fool Pro team -- to accelerate your research and help you identify companies that may make a winning addition to your portfolio.

The following stock screen is based on proprietary community intelligence from the 135,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS . We've enhanced the data by factoring in four hand-picked fundamental criteria to measure growth rates, margins, and overall financial health. Although we use these as guidelines, optimal benchmarks vary widely by industry. So get out your shovel and pickax as we start digging for gold.

Is it time to consider Novartis AG?
Our expedition into the sector begins with Novartis AG. Is now a good time to consider Novartis AG, or should you look elsewhere? Let's look at Novartis AG and some of its competitors.

Novartis AG vs. Industry Peers

Stock	Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS)		Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT)		Endo Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ENDP)		Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)
CAPS Community Rating We prefer 4-star or 5-star stocks.
CAPS 1000 We like stocks rated "outperform" by 80% of top CAPS members.	97% Outperform		99% Outperform		100% Outperform		96% Outperform
Five-Year Revenue Growth We like to see five-year revenue growth of at least 10%.	4.78%		8.80%		17.21%		-2.27%
Gross Margin (TTM) We like to see gross margins of 35% or higher.	80.5%		64.4%		81.3%		89.4%
Total Debt-to-Equity A total debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50 or less gets a check.	.27		.73		.24		.70
Return on Equity We look for a minimum of 14% return on equity.	10.4%		26.9%		14.4%		12.3%
Total Score	4 of 6		4 of 6		6 of 6		3 of 6

N/M = not meaningful.

Endo Pharmaceuticals appears to be a better opportunity than these peer comparisons.

What do you think about Novartis AG? If you'd like to make your own call on Novartis AG, or post a pitch about why you think it will outperform or underperform the market, click here. Of course, you can also just visit to see what other members are saying about it now or what they are saying about more than 5,300 other stocks by joining us on CAPS.

Our Prospecting Stocks screen is a simplified version of the special checklist that has helped Jeff Fischer and the Pro community to find the next opportunities for the Motley Fool Pro portfolio. Learn more about Motley Fool Pro.