Schaeffer's Daily Market Blog Features Altera, Schlumberger, Monster Worldwide, Washington Mutual and American Express.CINCINNATI -- Among the stocks featured in the April 26 edition of Schaeffer's Market Blog are Altera (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :ALTR), Schlumberger (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :SLB SLB Solomon Islands (ISO Country code) SLB Schlumberger Ltd. (oil field services firm) SLB Server Load Balancing SLB Sport Lisboa e Benfica (soccer) ), Monster Worldwide Monster Worldwide NASDAQ: MNST is the parent company for Monster.com; it also owns other well-known websites such as Military.com, Tickle.com and Fastweb.com. Company Overview (NASDAQ:MNST MNST Maximum Network System Throughput ), Washington Mutual (NYSE:WM) and American Express (NYSE:AXP The brand name Digital gave to its first family of Alpha-based computers. In 1998, Digital was acquired by Compaq. See Alpha. ). Schaeffer's Market Blog is just one of the many free market commentaries written everyday at www.SchaeffersResearch.com - the home of Bernie Schaeffer and Schaeffer's Investment Research. The Market Blog is written throughout every trading day by Schaeffer's financial analysts and traders. They are quick insights to the day's most notable market activity from an options perspective. For additional information about this report or to have it delivered to you free via email every day click on the following link: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/redirect.aspx?CODE=PROB PROB Probable/Probably PROB Problem PROB People's Republic of Bangladesh 1M&PAGE=1 Schaeffer's Market Blog for Tuesday, April 26 2005: Below are just a few of today's Market Blog entries. Click here to read all of today's Market Blog: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/redirect.aspx?CODE=PROB1C&PAGE=1 9:56 AM Altera Beats Forecasts PHLX PHLX See: Philadelphia Stock Exchange PHLX See Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX). Semiconductor Index member Altera (NASDAQ: ALTR) posted first-quarter earnings of 17 cents per share Cents per share The amount of a mutual fund's dividend or capital gains distributions that a shareholder will receive for each share owned. , citing a lower tax bracket Tax Bracket The rate at which an individual is taxed due to a particular income level. Notes: Each income class is taxed at a different level. Generally, the more you make the more you are taxed. and higher sales of its latest communications chips. Analysts were expecting the company to earn 15 cents per share for the quarter. ALTR also issued a second-quarter forecast that was higher than the Street expected. Heading into the announcement, the sentiment toward ALTR was pretty bullish. For several months, the short-interest ratio short-interest ratio A ratio that is used for market analysis and is calculated by dividing short interest by average daily volume. Technicians use the short-interest ratio as a tool to determine market direction. has been lower than two. The Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR SOIR Schaeffer's Put/Call Open Interest Ratio SOIR Simultaneous Operations on Intersecting Runways ) shows a reading of 0.61, which is lower than 81 percent of the readings for the past year. Analyst ratings show 12 "buys," seven "holds," and three "sell" ratings, and there was one upgrade this morning. ALTR shares are trading higher by 4.2 percent so far today. 10:25 AM Schlumberger Down after Topping Forecasts Oil service company Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) released its first-quarter earnings report this morning and the figures beat the Street estimate. Analysts were expecting earnings of 62 cents per share, but SLB reported 86 cents per share before items, 65 cents per share excluding items, and 87 cents per share from continuing operations continuing operations Parts of a business that are expected to be maintained as an ongoing segment of an overall business operation. Income and losses from continuing operations are reported separately if any segments have been discontinued during the . Despite exceeding expectations, the shares are down 0.67 percent this morning. The sentiment toward SLB does not seem to be overly optimistic, except from the analyst crowd. There were 12 "buy" ratings and five "hold" ratings heading into the report. The Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) is at 0.60, which is in the middle of the past year's readings. The short-interest ratio of 2.40 is neither bullish nor bearish. 11:15 AM Monster Worldwide Options Active Ahead of Earnings Report Yesterday, options on Monster Worldwide (NASDAQ: MNST) traded briskly ahead of the company's quarterly earnings report. Call volume was 9.7 times heavier than average, and the most actively traded call was the June 25 strike (BSQ BSQ Band Sequential BSQ Barbershop Quartet FE). Investors traded more than 11,000 BSQ FE contracts yesterday. Put volume was 13.4 times heavier than average, with the most active contract being the June 22.50 strike (BSQ RX). Investors traded more than 10,400 contracts yesterday. This morning before the market open, MNST reported in-line earnings and also guided in-line. However, the news was not enough to appease investors. At last check, MNST was trading $1.20 lower to $24.72 today. 2:21 PM Washington Mutual Gaining Ground; Calls Active Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) is moving higher today, and attracting a bit of call volume on the part of options traders. The stock blew past $40 this morning, but seems to have struggled as it approached $42. Part of the reason for the stock's stall could be over eagerness from traders. There has been excessive volume at the WM June 42.50 call thus far today. This type of activity can sometimes create overhead resistance for a stock. Shares of WM are currently up $1.28 to $41.28. 1:45 PM American Express Reports Earnings American Express (NYSE: AXP) just reported first-quarter earnings of 75 cents per share, which was in-line with the consensus estimate. The stock reacted negatively at first, then rebounded, but now stands up only a few cents, at $51.16 at last check. Although much of the recent option activity on AXP has been of the call variety, today's activity ahead of the report was skewed skewed curve of a usually unimodal distribution with one tail drawn out more than the other and the median will lie above or below the mean. skewed Epidemiology adjective Referring to an asymmetrical distribution of a population or of data to the put side. I wrote an observation yesterday that predicted the stock will struggle following this earnings release. Despite the slightly positive reaction, I still believe the stock will have a difficult time making a meaningful move higher. 4:22 PM Carnage Continues From the time of my last comments at 2:37 we had a very strong sell-off, and volume really picked up. Few groups were spared. Leading the way lower were tobacco, steel, and trucking. On the upside, casino stocks, hotels, and medical names were able to avoid the selling. I can't stress this enough, the recent bounce looks like nothing more than a dead-cat bounce on low volume and I think we are on the verge On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning) is a play written by Eric Overmyer. It makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. of another sudden selling spell soon. The above are just a few of today's Daily Market Blog entries. Click here to read all of today's Daily Market Blog: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/redirect.aspx?CODE=PROB1C&PAGE=1 Take advantage of the timely Schaeffer commentaries by signing up for their free e-newsletters -- Opening View, Market Recap and Monday Morning Outlook. Click here to have the Schaeffer's commentaries delivered to you free via email every day: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/redirect.aspx?CODE=PROB1M&PAGE=1 About Schaeffer's Investment Research (www.SchaeffersResearch.com) Schaeffer's Investment Research, founded by Bernie Schaeffer in 1981, is a financial information and trading resources company. It publishes Bernie Schaeffer's Option Advisor, the nation's leading options subscription newsletter. The firm's contrarian approach focuses on stocks with technical and fundamental trends that run counter to investor expectations. The firm's website, http://www.SchaeffersResearch.com, is recognized as one of the leading information sources for stock and options traders and was cited as the top options website by both Forbes and Barron's. Click here for more details about Schaeffer's trading methodology: http://www.SchaeffersResearch.com/method |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion