Schering Plough (SGP: chart, web, Y!) just can’t win, and I’m happy I decided to sit on the sidelines to watch the show. The more they try to pump the Vytorin drug, the lower the stock sinks.

Last week the stock got ploughed after doctors revealed they wouldn’t recommend the drug to their patients. Ouch!

So now Schering has resorted to cutting jobs in order to save money. Not good. Not good at all.

This certainly doesn’t look like a good buy-it and forget-it stock.

I’ve been watching Schering-Plough (SGP: chart, web, Y!) since I started looking for my next buy-it and forget-it stock. The stock price has fallen considerably since then on news that a company study produced disappointing results on the effects of Vytorin, a next generation cholesterol drug.

They study showed that Vytorin had no benefit on the buildup of artery plaque over the older drug Zocor. The silver lining to this story that is easily glanced over is that Vytorin cut bad cholesterol 40% more than Zocor or Zetia (Vytorin is …

Back in October, I started looking for the next buy-it and forget-it stock. My initial thoughts were Southern Copper (PCU: chart, web, Y!) and Schering-Plough (SGP: chart, web, Y!). However, through comments on that post, Mike chimed in and mentioned Walgreen Co. (WAG: chart, web, Y!).

At the time Mike mentioned the stock, it was around $39 per share, and has since dropped a bit more and is starting to show signs of increasing value. I must disclose that Mike says he is a pharmacist and individual investor, and worked for almost all of the chain pharmacies (like Walgreens).

Financial Summary

The stock has a 3-month average volume of 9.2 million shares traded per day with a current market cap of $36.8 billion. The company is paying a $0.095 per share dividend on a quarterly basis, which translates into a 1% annual yield.

The price to earnings ratio (P/E) is 18.3 as of the writing of this post, which is a significant discount to the rest of the companies in the sector. The average P/E ratio in the sector is 29.82.

Earnings growth is 18.6 as compared to a 21.41 average for the sector.

Earnings per share (EPS) is $2.03 and continues to increase quarter to quarter.

A few quick facts about the company…

Walgreen Co. was incorporated as an Illinois corporation in 1909 as a successor to a business founded in 1901. Walgreens is the nation’s largest drugstore chain (based on sales) and recorded its 33rd year of consecutive sales and earnings growth. During the year, the company opened or acquired 563 stores for a net increase of 478 stores after relocations and closings, not including 58 locations acquired from Option Care, Inc. The total number of locations at August 31, 2007 was 5,997 located in 48 states and Puerto Rico. Aggressive growth will continue as the company anticipates operating more than 7,000 locations in 2010.

I’ve been doing rather well in my Roth IRA for the last year. I’m holding Provident Energy (PVX: chart, web, Y!), which turns a healthy 11% dividend and pays monthly, Duncan Energy Partners (DEP: chart, web, Y!), which recently increased its dividend by 2.5%, and my company stock, which has better than doubled over the last year.

Being in the oil industry, I think it’s safe to say that I’m overweight in oil and gas; which, at this point in time is not such a bad thing. However, down the road, I foresee a major pullback in crude prices, which will not be such a good thing for the industry.

So, I’ve set out to find the next great “buy-it and forget-it” stock. Naturally, I don’t literally mean forget it. I just don’t want to have to watch the stock price every day with a twitchy trigger finger on the sell button.

I want a stock that I’ll hold for 2 or 3 years at a minimum, pays a bit of a dividend, but has tremendous room for growth, not only as an individual company, but I’d like to see a good forecast for growth in the sector too.

Here are a few options I’m looking at, for various different reasons.