Top Health Care Stocks

JNJ +0.63%

PZE -1.39%

MRK -0.62%

ABT -0.65%

AMGN -0.32%

Health care stocks were mixed in late trade with the NYSE Health Care Sector Index dropping less than 0.1% and shares of health care companies in the S&P 500 climbing less than 0.1% as a group.

In company news, Advaxis ( ADXS ) plunged Wednesday, with shares of the biotech company falling under $10 for the first time since Jan. 8 after a short-seller posted a negative Seeking Alpha article today, writing trial data for the company's ADXS-HPV lead drug candidate overstates its ability to fight tumors.

Blogger Richard Pearson dismisses many of the factors helping lift ADXS shares more than 60% since November, arguing the company's stock is soon poised for a steep drop. In particular, he directs much of his scorn at Mission IR and its "Dream Team Group," which he accuses of "dumping" favorable articles onto stock research websites as part of a broader effort to push ADXS' share price higher.

"This is simply another heavily promoted, retail-driven microcap stock being traded by technical day traders for the moment," Pearson said, later adding it and similar stocks lacking broad institutional support are often subject to "wild swings on [investor] sentiment."

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Health Care Sector Update for 01/21/2015: ADXS,NVIV,OCLS