Health Care – Medical Supplies & Devices: 2012 First

For a sixth consecutive year — and for the ninth time in ten years — Michael Weinstein leads the lineup. The J.P. Morgan researcher reports on 25 stocks and expects the group to modestly underperform the broad market for the remainder of the year, as end markets continue to face pressure from rising deductibles, increasing copays and high unemployment, he explains. Weinstein’s top picks for 2012 — Dublin-based device maker Covidien and HeartWare International, a heart-pump manufacturer headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts — climbed 26.2 percent and 29.8 percent, respectively, in the first eight months of the year. During the same period the sector gained 11.2 percent. “We continue to be buyers of both stocks at current levels and have been reiterating our top-pick rating over the course of the year,” he says. Weinstein, 42, “combines an excellent grasp of fundamentals with a timely knowledge of [a company’s] investability,” says one money manager.