Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: Praxair, OSI Pharmaceuticals, CDW Corp. and Arkansas Best Corporation.

CHICAGO -- Zacks Equity Research highlights Praxair, Inc. (NYSE: PX) as the Bull of the Day and OSI Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: OSIP) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on CDW Corp. (Nasdaq: CDWC) and Arkansas Best Corporation (Nasdaq: ABFS). Full analysis of all four stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676.

Here is a synopsis of all four stocks:

Bull of the Day:

Our Bull of the Day recommendation is for Praxair, Inc. (NYSE: PX). Praxair is benefiting from the rising demand for industrial gases worldwide. Sales volumes are strong across the company's major geographic regions. Praxair has done well to improve its key growth platforms of refinery hydrogen, electronics and healthcare. With additional strict capital discipline, this has led to a surge of free cash flow. We reiterate our Buy recommendation on Praxair with a target price of $62.25.

Bear of the Day:

Our Bear of the Day recommendation is for OSI Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: OSIP). Although we believe that Tarceva will have meaningful use as a targeted cancer therapy for non-small cell lung cancer and pancreatic cancer, Macugen continues to be a financial drag thanks to the approval of Lucentis and off-label Avastin use. Management's estimated breakeven level for Macugen sales is too high. A divestiture of the business could be around the corner. In the meantime, we see little reason to own the stock. Our price target is $30.00.

Analyst Blog:

CDW Corp. (Nasdaq: CDWC) shares have bounced sharply since the middle of the summer. While we have been surprised at the strength of the stock's performance over the last several weeks, we don't expect the stock to continue this trajectory in the months ahead. We still recognize that CDWC is the best-run company in the tech distribution business, but this highly competitive industry will make it difficult for the company to accelerate growth in its sales and earnings. We continue to rate CDWC as a Hold and maintain our earnings per share estimates for 2006 and 2007.

We are continuing our Buy recommendation on Arkansas Best Corporation (Nasdaq: ABFS), as well as our $50 target price. ABFS is expected to post third quarter results on October 23, 2006. We are maintaining our EPS estimates at $4.30 for 2006 and $4.65 for 2007. Recent freight rate hikes and improving margins should support this growth going forward. However, headwinds include stock options expensing and higher depreciation charges. ABFS posted second quarter EPS of $1.13, $0.14 better than the $0.99 consensus and $0.13 ahead of our $1.00 estimate, primarily due to improved productivity and tighter expense control. We believe ABFS' $0.60 dividend, which provides a 1.4% yield, is safe.

Get the full analysis of all four stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=2649.

About the Bull and Bear of the Day

Every day, the analysts at Zacks Equity Research select two stocks that are likely to outperform (Bull) or underperform (Bear) the markets over the next 3-6 months.

About the Analyst Blog

Updated throughout every trading day, the Analyst Blog provides analysis from Zacks Equity Research about the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets.

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