Schaeffer's Street Chatter Highlights the Following Stocks: Coca-Cola, Exxon Mobil, and Magal Security Systems.

Business Editors

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2004

Today's "Street Chatter" from Schaeffer's Investment Research focuses on: Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), and Magal Security Systems (Nasdaq:MAGS). "Street Chatter" is a report that analyzes three newsworthy stocks that are generating a lot of attention on Internet message boards. "Street Chatter" is published on www.SchaeffersResearch.com - the home of Bernie Schaeffer and Schaeffer's Investment Research. 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/addinfo .

Street Chatter:

1. Coca-Cola issued a voluntary recall of its Dasani bottled water in the United Kingdom, citing the potential for undesirable bromate levels. Analysts say this may throw a wrench into the soft-drink titan's plans to introduce the Dasani brand to international markets. KO shares have been struggling over the past six weeks, dropping below short-term resistance at their 10-day and 20-day moving averages. The equity has also fallen beneath its 20-week moving average, which is now encroaching upon the stock's 10-week trendline. A cross above the 10-week by the 20-week would constitute a bearish crossover, which is typically a sign of impending technical weakness.

Despite the equity's recent decline, speculative players are feeling optimistic toward KO. Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) for the stock weighs in at 0.40, which is lower than 99 percent of the past year's worth of readings. This indicator, which compares outstanding call (bullish) positions to their bearish counterparts, put positions, can effectively quantify sentiment among the options crowd. A historically low SOIR reading means that optimism is perhaps near a peak.

Wall Street is a bit more mixed on the shares. According to data from Zacks (http://www.zacks.com), there are 17 analysts who currently follow the stock. Nine have named KO a "buy" or better, while eight list the equity as a "hold."

Click the following link to see the Daily Chart of KO Since September 2003 With 10-Day and 20-Day Moving Averages: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=9723 .

2. Over the weekend, the Fortune 500 was released, featuring Exxon Mobil as the number-two member, with about $213 billion in revenue last year. The company was also referenced on Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street, as a guest mentioned the stock as one of his top picks, noting it was a stronger company than competitor Chevron Texaco. Technically speaking, XOM is currently perched at a fairly precarious spot. The equity has slipped beneath previous support at its 10-week moving average but is hovering near the 41 mark. This level acted as resistance in December and January and may now help to bolster the stock higher in the short term.

The sentiment picture on XOM is mixed. On one hand, the number of shorted XOM shares (an indication of bearish sentiment) dropped by 48 percent during the last reporting period to 17.15 million shares, the lowest reading since mid-2002. Compared to the stock's average daily volume, this represents a short-interest ratio of only 1.57. If the stock manages to turn higher, there is little chance that short-covering activity would have much of an effect on the shares.

On the other hand, the SOIR for XOM shares has been slowly rising of late to its current reading of 0.49. Although this means that total call open interest (bullish bets) outweighs total put open interest (bearish bets) by a margin of just over two-to-one among near-term options, it is a relatively lofty reading on the XOM landscape. In fact, this SOIR of 0.49 is higher than 64 percent of the past year's worth of data. A continued increase in this figure would indicate building skepticism on the part of the speculative, options-playing community.

Click the following link to see the Weekly Chart of XOM Since August 2003 With 10-Week and 20-Week Moving Averages: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=9723 .

3. Magal Security Systems is a manufacturer of security systems. Based out of Israel, the company peddles its wares in approximately 70 countries, according to Hoover's (http://www.hoovers.com/). Last week, MAGS shares soared following General Electric's bid to acquire InVision Technologies, another security technology company, for $50 per share. This nugget of information infused strength into the industry as a whole. Today, MAGS has gapped over 25 percent higher to a new 52-week high, moving above its December 2001 peak in the process. Catalyzing this latest burst of strength was Israel's assassination of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, leader of the militant Palestinian group blamed for a slew of suicide bombings. With Hamas vowing revenge, security concerns have escalated, boosting the price of MAGS.

On the sentiment front, the short-interest picture on MAGS is a bit peculiar. As recently as August 2003, there were more than 40,000 MAGS shares sold short, as a fair number of bearish players bet against the security. Over the ensuing six months, this number quickly dwindled until it was nearly nonexistent, but last month short-sellers boosted the level of short interest on MAGS by a whopping 571 percent to 1,765 shorted shares, equaling an unimpressive short-interest ratio of 0.05 times the stock's average daily volume. There is nothing to report on the options front, as the stock is not yet an optionable security.

Click the following link to see the Weekly Chart of MAGS Since November 2001 With 10-Week and 20-Week Moving Averages: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=9723 .

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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 .