In the spirit of World Cup competition, we're holding our own tournament in search of the Better Stock Today. We're pitting 32 companies against each other and you, the reader, will determine the winner.
Bank of America takes on AbbVie for this first round-robin match up in our search for the better stock today.
Banking Analyst David Hanson makes the case for Bank of America (BAC -0.13%) to win this match up. He believes Bank of America's troubled mortgage unit is temporarily hiding the strong performance in the bank's other segments. The bank's wealth management business is world-class and consistently generates returns on capital of over 30% -- not to mention the improving retail and investment banking segments. As the bank continues to work through legal issues, these high-performing business will cause the stock to fetch higher multiples than its currently assigned by the market.
Motley Fool health care analyst David Williamson makes the case for AbbVie (ABBV -1.03%) to win this match up. He believes AbbVie has been fundamentally undervalued by the market. It is cheap compared to its pharma peers and its pipeline with hepatitis-c and multiple sclerosis drugs in late stage development is underrated. AbbVie still has Humira, the best-selling drug in the world, under patent until 2016 and generic drug makers may struggle to get cheap competitors approved after that. AbbVie is poised to outperform in the meantime.
Vote here to determine the winner of this match and sound off in the comments. Check back to Fool.com to see who advances in the tournament.
