Schaeffer's Market Leaders and Laggards Features Allegheny Energy, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, Agile Software, MBNA Corp., and Whirlpool Corporation.

CINCINNATI -- Among the stocks featured in the April 27 edition of Schaeffer's Market Leaders and Laggards are Allegheny Energy (NYSE:AYE), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE:KMP), Agile Software (NASDAQ:AGIL), MBNA Corp. (NYSE:KRB), and Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR). Schaeffer's Market Leaders and Laggards screener is just one of the many features written everyday at http://www.SchaeffersResearch.com - the home of Bernie Schaeffer and Schaeffer's Investment Research. The information used to compile this commentary is derived from the Schaeffer's Equity Scorecard Filter. Below is a quick overview of some of the heavy hitters that are seeing some particularly high or low rankings. For a complete list of the stocks on our High/Low Schaeffer's Equity Scorecard Filter, sign up for an unlimited access free trial to Schaeffer's Gold. http://www.SchaeffersResearch.com/redirect.aspx?CODE=PRGLD2M&PAGE=1 .

Schaeffer's Market Leaders and Laggards for Tuesday, April 27, 2005:

Allegheny Energy - Ranking 8.0

Allegheny Energy (NYSE:AYE) has enjoyed steady price rises on the support of its weekly trendlines, interrupted only once, when it entered a consolidation phase from November last year until February 2005. But that is over now, and we've seen a healthy 30-percent gain since February 22. The stock fell dramatically from April to October 2002, when the company saw something like 89 percent of its value vanish. Perhaps the most significant is the 50-percent retracement level which lies, unsurprisingly, half way between the April 2002 peak and the October 2002 trough. If the stock manages a confident close above this threshold, we can reasonably expect further rises tomorrow. The sentiment data for AYE is encouraging. The Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) stands at 0.73, and investors have been more pessimistic than this only 29 percent of the time during the past year. Only six analysts rank the stock, and five of them see the shares as a "hold" or worse, so there is ample room for upgrades. What's more, almost 13 percent of the float is sold short, and the short-interest ratio is a massive 15.61 days to cover, another pessimistic sign. While pessimism towards a poorly performing stock is right and proper, pessimism toward a well-behaved stock like AYE makes it one to watch.

Click on the following link to see the Weekly Chart of AYE since April 2002 with 20-Week Moving Average: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=13052 .

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners- Ranking 8.50

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE:KMP) has been in a solid uptrend lately, despite today's slight drop thanks to an announced $5-million settlement between SFPP (a subsidiary of KMP) and the Attorney General of the State of California. This caused KMP shares to drop from their near-term high of 49.13 to 47.50. While this kind of pullback may be disconcerting, the 47.50 level has assumed the role of support for the falling shares. What's more, KMP's 10-day moving average is rapidly ascending toward the 47.50 level. KMP has used this trendline's support to mark steady gains since the beginning of April. Look back to January 1997, since that time KMP has used the support of its 10-month and 20-month trendlines to rise from the 6.84 level to a new all-time high of 49.95 at the end of 2003. Throughout this eight-year span of support, KMP has logged eight monthly closes below both trendlines. Despite this technical outperformance, KMP's SOIR checks in at a hefty 2.18, higher than all those taken during the past 52 weeks. This pessimistic outlook is echoed in KMP's short interest, which increased by a sizeable 42 percent over the past month. This pessimistic piling results in a short-interest ratio of 8.23, more than enough fuel to fire a short-covering rally should bears need to cover their short bets. Finally, analysts are not jumping on the bandwagon as, according to Zacks eight of the 10 covering analysts rank KMP a "hold" or worse. Should this pessimistic gathering change its mind, watch for KMP to continue its run. The energy firm's pessimistic sentiment backdrop combines with its outstanding technical performance to result in a Equity Scorecard ranking of 8.5 out of 10.0.

Click on the following link to see the Monthly Chart of KMP since January 1997 with 10-Month and 20-month Moving Averages: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=13052 .

Agile Software - Ranking 3.0

Agile would not be the way to describe Agile Software's (NASDAQ:AGIL) stock movement since the end of 2003. Looking at AGIL's weekly chart, note that the stock has consistently dropped, thanks to the resistance of its 10-week and 20-week moving averages. On the two recent occasions that AGIL has been able to peak its head above these trendlines, the nine level has acted as resistance and turned away the equity's advances. The most recent test of this resistance resulted in the shares falling back below their short-term trendlines on their trek toward a near-term low. For AGIL to move higher, it is going to have to overcome this resistance combined with the resistance of the seven level, where its 10-week moving average currently resides. Furthermore, both the 10-week and 10-day moving averages have recently completed bearish crosses of their respective 20-unit moving averages. These are technical precursors of a continued downtrend. AGIL is met with skepticism from the options community as well as the analyst community, this results in an Equity Scorecard ranking of 3.0 out of 10.0.

Click on the following link to see the Weekly Chart of AGIL since October 2003 with 10-Week and 20-Week Moving Averages: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=13052 .

MBNA Corp. - Ranking 1.0

It's been a rough week for banking concern MBNA Corp. (NYSE:KRB), as the shares plunged sharply after the firm missed first-quarter earnings expectations and guided lower for 2005 on April 21. During the ensuing trading session, KRB plunged more than 16 percent and has languished below resistance at the 20 area ever since. Naturally, the stock's current position beneath all of its 10-unit and 20-unit moving averages is not a positive sign, but KRB is attempting to cling to some semblance of support in the 18-18.50 area as it attempts to reckon with its recent losses. Sentiment for the equity is far from encouraging, hence its lowly Schaeffer's Equity Scorecard rating of 1.0 out of 10.0. Options players feel that KRB may be a bit oversold, as the security's SOIR of 0.34 ranks below 88 percent of all those taken in the past year. Furthermore, short-covering support is nearly nonexistent, as the 7.94 million KRB shares sold short could be covered in less than two days of trading. Wall Street has yet to bail on the security, as 16 of the 22 covering analysts still rate the shares a "buy" or better, despite its recent earnings disaster. With resistance holding in the round-number 20 area and sentiment maintaining a positive bias, KRB could be in trouble in the coming weeks.

Click on the following link to see the Weekly Chart of KRB since April 2003 with 10-Week and 20-Week Moving Averages: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=13052 .

Whirlpool Corporation - Ranking 2.0

Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR) is not doing a lot of cleaning up on its daily chart. Resistance from the equity's 10-day moving average has been the catalyst for a drop of 10 dollars since tagging a near-term high of 71.25 near the middle of January. What's more, resistance from this trendline has pushed WHR so low that it is relying on the support of its near-term low in the 61 region. This support has held nicely on various occasions in the past, but WHR's 10-day trendline recently completed a bearish cross of its 20-day moving average, suggesting that this downtrend may have some legs. Despite this technical sluggishness, WHR's SOIR ranking indicates optimism from the options crowd. Yes, a SOIR of 1.67 indicates that more put contracts are open than call contracts in the front three months of options; however, it is lower than 82 percent of the readings taken over the past 52 weeks. This combination of technical difficulties and optimistic sentiment results in a Scorecard ranking of 2.0 out of 10.0.

Click on the following link to see the Daily Chart of WHR since December 2004 with 10-Day and 20-Day Moving Averages: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=13052 .

For a complete list of the stocks on our High/Low Schaeffer's Equity Scorecard Filter, sign up for an unlimited access free trial to Schaeffer's Gold. http://www.SchaeffersResearch.com/redirect.aspx?CODE=PRGLD2M&PAGE=1 .

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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.