Schaeffer's Option Bytes Features United Natural Foods, AK Steel Holding, AmeriCredit, Countrywide Financial, VERITAS Software

Business Wire, July 6, 2004

CINCINNATI -- Among the stocks featured in the July 6 edition of Schaeffer's Option Bytes are United Natural Foods (Nasdaq:UNFI), AK Steel Holding (NYSE:AKS), AmeriCredit (NYSE:ACF), Countrywide Financial (NYSE:CFC), and VERITAS Software (Nasdaq:VRTS).

Schaeffer's Option Bytes are just one of the many free market commentaries written everyday at www.SchaeffersResearch.com - the home of Bernie Schaeffer and Schaeffer's Investment Research. Option Bytes are written throughout every trading day by Schaeffer's financial analysts and traders. They are quick insights to the day's most notable market activity from an options perspective. 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/redirect.aspx?CODE=PROB1M&PAGE=1

Schaeffer's Option Bytes for Tuesday, July 6, 2004:

Below are just a few of today's Option Bytes. Click here to read all of today's Option Bytes. http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/redirect.aspx?CODE=PROB1C&PAGE=1

3:59 PM No Respect for United Natural Foods

United Natural Foods (Nasdaq:UNFI) is a national distributor of natural and organic foods and related products in the United States. Before the market open today, the company raised its fiscal year 2004 outlook to 93-97 cents per shares from its previous views of 74-77 cents per share. Despite the rosy outlook, the shares gapped lower by 9.3 percent on the open. The stock rapidly moved toward the bottom of its recent range, posting an intraday low of 22.75. Options players are typically not very active on this stock, as current open interest in options with up to three month's of life remaining stands at just one open put and 24 open call options. It seems that the silence may have been broken today, as the July 25 put has traded 192 contracts on no open interest. Furthermore, short interest jumped by ten percent to 2.1 million shares over the most recent reporting period. At the stock's average daily trading volume, it would take 5.6 days to liquidate these positions. Volume in today's session has exceeded four times that of a typical trading day.

2:16 PM AK Steel Holding Soars on Positive Guidance

AK Steel Holding (NYSE:AKS) has gained more than nine percent today after reporting that second-quarter earnings will come in better-than-expected. The Middletown, Ohio based-company now expects to report a profit for the quarter thanks to stronger-than-expected shipments. Analysts were looking for a loss of 10 cents per share. Several other steel companies have had a good day as the news sparked a rally in the industry. One positive for AKS from our contrarian point of view is its heavy buildup of shares sold short, as AKS's short-interest ratio checks in at more than 10 days to cover. This could definitely lead to a short-covering rally as the shares continue to advance.

1:37 PM Optimism Creates Resistance for AmeriCredit

AmeriCredit (NYSE:ACF) call options are very active today. In fact, call volume has exceeded 12 times the average for ACF thus far. This could add to outstanding call positions that already outnumber open put option positions by a ratio of nearly three to one. ACF shares have been struggling to break through the $20 level for several days now, and extreme optimism toward the stock may be part of the problem. Should the equity break the resistance at $20, however, there may be some further upside potential for the shares.

12:12 PM Investors Increase Bullish Bets on Countrywide Financial

Friday, calls traded actively on Countrywide Financial (NYSE:CFC), as call volume was 2.8 times heavier than average. The most actively traded contract was the July 70 strike (CFC GN), which saw nearly 3,900 contracts cross the tape. A large portion of this activity was concentrated in a trade that occurred just after the market opened, at 9:39 a.m. More than 2,200 contracts traded at the mid, making it difficult to discern if the activity was call buying or call selling. This activity caused the Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) to decrease 15 percent to its current reading of 1.35. Today CFC is up 27 cents to $71.70.

10:25 AM VERITAS Software Warns of Second Quarter Shortfall

Just when investors thought it was safe to wade back in to shares of VERITAS Software (Nasdaq:VRTS), the company warned that the second quarter would not be as strong as what analysts were predicting. VRTS had boosted confidence in June when it finally filed its Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission after being delayed since January. In Friday's trading, puts saw higher volume than usual, with total put volume coming in at 3,938. This is more than five times the average daily put volume. Almost all of this activity was on the August 25 strike with volume of 3,829. Shares of VRTS are down over 30 percent in early trading.

The above are just a few of today's Option Bytes. Click here to read all of today's Option Bytes. http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/redirect.aspx?CODE=PROB1C&PAGE=1