Street Chatter From SIR Highlights the Following Stocks: Abercrombie & Fitch, Best Buy, and TiVo.

Business Editors

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 2003

Today's Street Chatter from SIR focuses on: Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF), Best Buy (NYSE:BBY), and TiVo (NASDAQ:TIVO).

Street Chatter focuses on three stocks that are generating a lot of attention on Internet message boards and is published every day at SchaeffersResearch.com . For additional information about this report or to have it delivered to you via email everyday click on the following link : http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/addinfo .

Street Chatter:

1. Message boards throughout cyberspace are saturated with discussion of retailing names, after today's same-store sales announcements across the sector. One retailing star that failed to shine brightly today was Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF), a purveyor of apparel for young adults and children. The firm said same-store sales declined 13 percent in November, falling short of the five-percent decline expected by Wall Street. As a result of these lackluster results, ANF has endured downgrades today from Merrill Lynch, Prudential, and J.P. Morgan. ANF shares have dropped nine percent today, taking out the 26 mark. This level was a significant bastion of support throughout 2003 but acted as resistance in July and November of last year. Checking on the sentiment front, Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) for ANF has been on the rise since early October, when the indicator notched an annual low. The equity's SOIR now weighs in at 0.47, which stands in the 38th annual percentile. The number of shorted ANF shares surged 57 percent over the last reporting period to 4.5 million, the highest reading since March. The short-interest ratio for ANF remains less than impressive despite this charge higher, at 2.19 times the security's average daily volume.

Click the following link to see the Weekly Chart of ANF Since June 2002:

http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=9013 .

2. Another retailing name failing under the pressure is Best Buy (NYSE:BBY). The electronics retailer said same-store sales for the third quarter rose 8.6 percent, with a 18-percent upward burst in revenue. Thanks to an unexpected write-off of technology assets, however, the company is expecting third-quarter earnings to drop an unforeseen three cents per share, bringing total quarterly earnings for the firm within a range between 35 and 37 cents per share. BBY will unveil third-quarter results on December 17. Wall Street currently calls for a per-share result of 37 cents per share. In other, (but possibly related) news, CIBC downgraded its rating on BBY earlier today. After hitting a new 52-week high on Monday, BBY has been sagging for the rest of the week, dropping over six percent today on heavy volume. The stock has violated its 10-week moving average but remains above its 20-week trendline, below which the equity has not endured a weekly close since November 15 of 2002. Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) for BBY has been sinking over the past few weeks since registering a new annual peak of 1.58 on November 14. The sentiment indicator currently stands at 1.04, higher than 87 percent of the past year's worth of data. In today's action, options players are busy at the December 55 and 60 call strikes. The latter is currently the site of heaviest call open interest in the front-month series, home to nearly 19,000 open contracts.

Click the following link to see the Weekly Chart of BBY Since November 2002 With 10-Week and 20-Week Moving Averages:

http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=9013 .

3. TiVo (NASDAQ:TIVO) is taking it on the chin today following an announcement from cable company Comcast, who announced plans to develop its own digital video recording device. TIVO shares have been showing weakness of late, traveling through single-digit territory and foundering beneath their 10-day and 20-day moving averages, which completed a bearish crossover late last month. Although the stock has dropped about five percent lower today, it is hovering near potential triple-bottom support around the 7.5 region. This level contained previous pullbacks in the shares in September and October. On the sentiment front, Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) for TIVO shot higher after November options expiration, reaching an annual peak of 0.90 on November 24. The indicator currently stands at 0.84, just two percent shy of another annual high. The stock's short-interest picture didn't budge last month, holding pat at 9.3 million TIVO shares sold short. This amounts to a short-interest ratio of 5.28 days to cover.

Click the following link to see the Daily Chart of TIVO Since September 2003 With 10-Day and 20-Day Moving Averages:

http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=9013 .