Schaeffer's Daily Market Blog Features Las Vegas Sands, Advanced Micro Devices, Dell, Exxon Mobil, and KB Home.CINCINNATI -- Among the stocks featured in the March 23 edition of Schaeffer's Market Blog are Las Vegas Sands Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) is a casino resort company based in Las Vegas, Nevada and majority owned by one of the world's richest men, Sheldon Adelson. Las Vegas Sands chairman Sheldon Adelson, the world's sixth richest man, has said that his company will soon be (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :LVS LVS Linux Virtual Server LVS Live Vaccine Strain LVS Las Vegas, New Mexico (Airport Code) LVS Low Voltage Switchgear LVS Logistical Vehicle System LVS Laser Vibration Sensor LVS Logistics Vehicle System ), Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, www.amd.com) A major manufacturer of semiconductor devices including x86-compatible CPUs, embedded processors, flash memories, programmable logic devices and networking chips. ), Dell (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 :DELL), Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM XOM Exxon Mobil Corporation (stock symbol) XOM X/Open Object Management XOM OSI-Abstract-Data Manipulation API XOM Xml Object Model XOM X/Open Osi Abstract Data Manipulation ), and KB Home (NYSE:KBH KBH København (Danish: Copenhagen) KBH Katonai Biztonsági Hivatal (Military Security Office, Hungary; since 1989) KBH Kicked By Horse KBH Ka'anpali Beach Hotel (Maui, HI) ). 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 12M&PAGE=1 . Schaeffer's Market Blog for Thursday, March 23, 2006: 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 . 1:42 PM Las Vegas Sands Marches Higher Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) owns and operates the Venetian Casino Resort. The resort stands on the site of the bulldozed Sands Hotel. Replete with gondoliers and a replica of the Rialto Bridge, the Venetian offers a 116,000-sq.-ft. casino and a 4,000-suite hotel. The facility also houses a shopping, dining, and entertainment complex. Las Vegas Sands operates the Congress Center conference facility that links the casino to the nearby Sands Expo Center trade show and convention center. The firm is building The Palazzo Casino next door to the Venetian, as well as another in the United Kingdom. It also operates a casino in Macao, China. The stock has been a stellar performer, gaining more than 32 percent in 2006. This ascent has been largely supported by its 50-day moving average. There is a significant amount of skepticism on LVS in the form of high short interest, a high Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio and lukewarm analyst stock ratings. 12:58 PM AMD on the Move Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD) is moving higher today on news that Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) is acquiring Alienware, a manufacturer of game and multimedia personal computers. An analyst with J.P. Morgan observed that this could have a positive impact on AMD, as it represents the first time Dell-labeled products have utilized AMD chips. AMD processors are currently used in 30 percent to 40 percent of all Alienware products. A like-minded analyst with Lehman Brothers noted that the acquisition could improve AMD's chances of acting as a DELL supplier. AMD is currently trading higher by about 2.5 percent, while DELL shares are down a fraction. 12:23 PM Heavy Call Selling on Exxon Mobil Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) had some heavy call activity yesterday at the out-of-the-money May 65 call (XOM EM). More than 17,000 XOM EM contracts changed hands yesterday. Over 14,000 of those came in a few-minute span just after 3:00 p.m. eastern time. Those trades went off at 0.45 and 0.50, closer to the bid price at the time. Open interest jumped from 2,655 to 17,901 so most of the trades translated to new open interest. These new positions could be naked call Naked Call A call option position held by a writer who does not hold a long position in the stock on which the call has been written. Sometimes referred to as an "uncovered call." Notes: Naked options are very risky. selling or could be part of a covered call Covered Call Having a long position in an asset combined with a short position in a call option on the same underlying asset. Notes: This is considered to be one of the safest option positions. strategy. In either event, those taking these positions are not looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. XOM to move above 65 by May's option expiration. Though the stock moved briefly above 65 last September, it has not ever closed a session above that mark. XOM has been mired mire n. 1. An area of wet, soggy, muddy ground; a bog. 2. Deep slimy soil or mud. 3. A disadvantageous or difficult condition or situation: the mire of poverty. v. in a trading range, trading mostly between 56 and 64 for the last 13 months. XOM is unchanged today at 61.05. 11:49 AM Good News for Home Sector from NAR NAR National Association of REALTORS NAR Nucleic Acids Research (journal) NAR National Association of Rocketry NAR Nationale Arbeidsraad (Dutch: National Labor Council; Brussels, Belgium) , KBH In a shock to the bubble-watchers, the National Association of Realtors The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is made up of residential and commercial realtors who are brokers, salespeople, property managers, appraisers, and counselors, and others working in the real estate industry. said Thursday that resale of U.S. homes rose by 5.2 percent in February, the biggest percentage gain in two years, to a seasonally adjusted annualized annualized Of or relating to a variable that has been mathematically converted to a yearly rate. Inflation and interest rates are generally annualized since it is on this basis that these two variables are ordinarily stated and compared. rate of 6.91 million. Economists were expecting sales to total 6.52 million. Analysts are chalking up the surprise increase to unseasonably warm weather in January, allowing home buyers to more comfortably visit properties that were ultimately closed on during last month. Since last February, sales of existing homes have slipped just 0.3 percent. In all of 2005, 7.075 million homes were sold; experts expect sales to reach 6.67 million in 2006. Looking at the data more closely, sales were up 19.2 percent in the Northeast, 11.1 percent in the Midwest, and 5.1 percent in the West. In the South, existing home sales Existing Home Sales An economic indicator of both the number and prices of existing single family houses, condos and co-op sales over a one-month period. Released monthly by the U.S. were lower by 2.5 percent. Single-family home sales increased 4.7 percent in the month, while condo sales rose 8.8 percent. In related news, KB Home (NYSE:KBH) announced first-quarter income of $174.5 million, or $2.02 per share, compared with year-ago per-share results of $1.41. Revenue rose to $2.19 billion during the reporting period. The consensus forecast on Wall Street was for per-share results of $1.96 on $2.17 billion in revenue. The shares are currently up nearly 3.7 percent and have overtaken their 10-day and 20-day moving averages. For more information on these stocks or any stock in your portfolio, feel free to visit our Schaeffer's Equity Scorecard. Also, for more information on what makes up these scores, or if you want more filters and screens, take a 30-day trial to our Schaeffer's Gold. 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=PROB12M&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 . |
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