Schaeffer's Midday Options Update FedEx, Bear Stearns, Fisher Scientific, Yahoo!, Sandisk.

Business Editors

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 17, 2004

Today's Schaeffer's Midday Options Update Features FedEx (NYSE:FDX), Bear Stearns (NYSE:BSC), Fisher Scientific (NYSE:FSH), Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO), Sandisk (Nasdaq:SNDK). The Midday Options Update contains a brief commentary on the day's most notable activity and a table listing the most active calls and puts for the day. The Midday Options Update is published every day at 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.

Schaeffer's Midday Options Update

Positive earnings reports from FedEx (NYSE:FDX) and Bear Stearns (NYSE:BSC) sent investors back to buying again today. FDX reported third-quarter net income of $207 million, or 68 cents per share. While the figures were below last year's 49 cents per share, they topped the Street's view by a penny. Meanwhile, BSC followed up by easily besting the consensus estimate of $2 per share by reporting first-quarter net income of $361.1 million, or $2.57 per share. Revenue totaled $1.7 billion, up from $1.5 billion in the same period a year ago.

In today's economic data, the Labor Department announced that U.S. consumer prices rose 0.3 percent in February as energy prices increased 1.7 percent. The core index, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.2 percent for the second straight month. Economists were expecting the CPI to rise 0.3 percent and the core to rise 0.1 percent. Core goods prices increased 0.2 percent in February, marking their first increase in 18 months. Housing costs rose a moderate 0.2 percent, while food prices also increased 0.2 percent.

Perpetuating the recent string of mergers and acquisitions, Fisher Scientific (NYSE:FSH) announced that it has agreed to acquire Apogent Technologies for $3.7 billion in stock. The deal calls for a swap of 0.56 FSH shares for every AOT share, valuing AOT shares at approximately $29.30 each and offering a modest premium over the stock's $27.78 close yesterday.

Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO) was the recipient of two analyst upgrades today. The stock received a boost from "hold" to "buy" and from "neutral" to "buy," citing growth in the company's "core" business and "positive trends in on-line advertising and strong subscriber growth." Both brokerages upped their target prices - one to $60 from $50 and the other from $47 to $48.

At 1:27 p.m. eastern time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA - 10293.8) is up 1.07 percent and the S&P 500 Index (SPX - 1122.55) is higher by 1.07 percent. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP - 1972.2) is up 1.50 percent. At 1:28 p.m. in the options pits, 1,621,614 calls and 1,221,040 puts traded for a composite put/call ratio across all five exchanges of 0.75. The CBOE put/call ratio for equity options weighed in at 0.75.

Pessimism is beginning to creep into flash memory manufacturer Sandisk's (Nasdaq:SNDK) sentiment picture. Options investors appeared to be betting bearishly today, sending 4,782 put contracts (or bearish bets) across the tape at the security's March 27.50 strike. Despite today's rise in pessimism from the options crowd, SNDK's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio of 0.84 sits below 37 percent of all such readings taken over the past year. Furthermore, the nearly 11 million SNDK shares shorted have left investors with a paltry 1.44 days to cover these bearish bets, decreasing the likelihood of the equity benefiting from a short-covering rally. (Shorting involves borrowing shares of a specific equity and selling them in hopes of the stock dropping. The trader then buys the shares back at a cheaper price.) Wall Street is also enamored of the shares, as six of the seven covering analysts rate SNDK a "buy" or better with no "sell" ratings.

Technically speaking, the security has been hampered by resistance at its declining 10-month moving average since breaching this key level of former support in January 2004. Additional resistance lies just above the shares at their descending 10-week moving average (currently located in the 28 area). Finally, SNDK's relative-strength measure versus its peers on the COMP has been declining since November 2003. In light of the stock's weak technicals and bullish sentiment backdrop, any potential analyst downgrades could send the shares even lower.

Click the following link to see the Weekly Chart of SNDK since July 2003 with 10-Week Moving Average: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=9695 .

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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 .