Biotechs Make Appearances in Best and Worst Lists of WSJ Review

The Wall Street Journal published a list of the best and worst performers of the WSJ 1000 today. It contains the best and worst performing stocks for the past 1-year, 3-year, 5-year and 10-year periods.

No biotech or pharma made it into the top 25 for one-year performance. But diet-food company NutriSystem (NTRI) dominated both the 3 and 5- year categories. Another food company with a health claim, Hansen Natural (HANS) was runner-up in those categories, but walked away with the top 10 year award with a return of 73.9%.

Both our favorite biotech picks, Celgene (CELG) and Gilead Sciences (GILD) made the top 25 for 10- year performance. Celgene came in fourth overall with a gain of 51.1%, while Gilead was 13th with a gain of 35.4%. Healthcare company Express Scripts (ESRX) also made the top 25 with a gain of 31.9%.

In the worst performing category, hospital operator Tenet Healthcare (THC) led the 3 and 5-year groups with a loss of 24.3% and 29.2% respectively. Omnicare (OCR), a geriatric pharmaceutical services company, was 10th for the past year with a loss of 32.4%.

Device maker Boston Scientific (BSX) was 14th on the one-year board, with a loss of nearly 30%, and it was the runner-up for 3 year worst performance at -22.4%. Also on the one-year loser board was St Jude Medical (STJ) with a loss of 27.2%.

Other biotechs and pharmas making the worst lists were Abraxis BioScience (ABBI), Watson Pharmaceuticals (WPI), Millennium Pharmaceuticals (MLNM), King Pharmaceuticals (KG), and ImClone Systems (IMCL).

More high tech companies than biotechs made the worst list. Although Yahoo (YHOO) was the 8th best performer in the 10-year winner category with a gain of 43.1%, it was also number 7 in the one-year loser category, with a loss of 34.8%. Apple (AAPL), Akamai (AKAM) and Nvidia (NVDA) were the most consistent high tech performers, while former high-flyers such as Sun Microsystems (SUNW), and Check Point Software (CHKP) were among the worst.

The complete list can be found in today's (Feb 26) Wall Street Journal.

Disclosure: none.