Health-care stocks cheap, attractive - Barron's

NEW YORK, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Health-care stocks including companies such as medical products maker Baxter International (BAX.N) look cheap and could present an opportunity for investors, Barron's said on Sunday.

The Standard & Poor's 500's health-care sector is trading at 12 times earnings for the next 12 months as well as 2010, compared with 14 times earnings for the S&P as a whole, the business weekly said.

European health-care companies, which include firms such as Roche Holding AG (ROG.VX) and AstraZeneca (AZN.L), had underperformed the benchmark by 25 percent over the last six months, it said.

The sector has historically come back strongly over the following six months after such periods of underperformance, going back to 1987, Barron's said.

The paper also said Baxter could be especially attractive as it has growth prospects, and appears to be cheap and protected from potential reforms.

The maker of blood therapy, kidney dialysis products and vaccines said earlier this month it expects to increase annual profits 11 percent to 13 percent on average over the next five years, and sales about 7 percent to 8 percent over the same period. [ID:nN16102938]