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 a combo pill of Zetia and Zocor).

Opportunity Knocks?

I view these situations as opportunities. Schering is a strong company, whose stock price is being affected by panic selling stimulated by an initial communication from the FDA concerning the results of this inter-company study.

The fact is, Schering isn’t relying on the success of Vytorin to keep the company afloat, just like Merck (MRK: chart, web, Y!) didn’t bet the farm on Vioxx (which they ended up with tens of thousands of liability claims).

Schering is sitting on a P/E of 14.8, which is fairly low for big-pharma players, and the stock price has been driven down by higher than average volume on the news. I suspect that a good portion of the money that’s fleeing the company stock belongs to institutional investors already gun shy about overall market health.

The downside to SGP is that it doesn’t have the return on revenue that other, bigger pharmaceutical players like Pfizer (PFE: chart, web, Y!), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK: chart, web, Y!) and Merck, sitting at just 10.6% compared to 22.8%, 23.2% and 19.8%, respectively.

Buy-it and Forget-it?

I’m still not sure this is a buy-it and forget-it stock. The financial health of the company is good, but there are others out there that are better. However, it may be prudent to take advantage of the stock price while it’s down. Once the whole Vytorin issue blows over, like the Vioxx debacle did, I think there is some considerable upside to the stock itself. After all, there is an inherent upside of nearly 70% if you consider the recent highs of $32 per share.

Schering Plough has been beaten down by over reaction to headlines and overall market sentiment. This could be the kind of opportunity you want to take advantage of in times like these.

Investing, Stock Thoughts pharmaceuticals, schering-plough, SGP, Stock Thoughts

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.

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.

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Investing, Stock Thoughts copper, metals, PCU, pharmaceuticals, quality stocks, schering-plough, SGP, southern copper, Stocks