Schaeffer's S&P 500 Index Hot Stocks Features Kerr-McGee, Sherwin-Williams, Schering-Plough, Eaton, and Apple Computer

Business Wire, April 14, 2005

CINCINNATI -- Among the stocks featured in the April 14 edition of Schaeffer's S&P 500 Index Hot Stocks are Kerr-McGee (NYSE:KMG), Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW), Schering-Plough (NYSE:SGP), Eaton (NYSE:ETN), and Apple Computer (NASDAQ:AAPL). Schaeffer's S&P 500 Index Hot Stocks is just one of the many free market commentaries written everyday 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/redirect.aspx?CODE=PRSHS1M&PAGE=1 .

Schaeffer's S&P 500 Index Hot Stocks for Thursday, April 14, 2005:

A daily feature available on SchaeffersResearch.com is the "SPX Hot Stocks" column. Each afternoon, we will provide a list of the day's top-20 performing stocks in the S&P 500 Index (SPX - 1,167.54) as well as the bottom-20 names. Featured along with this table will be news that is moving some of the securities.

NOTE: Stocks trading under $5 per share have been eliminated from this listing of the top-20 and bottom-20 performing stocks.

With less than an hour of trading left this Thursday, the indexes are markedly down again. The SPX is has fallen 12 points and only 20.8 percent of the index's components have managed to prop themselves higher on the day.

Wachovia raised Kerr-McGee (NYSE:KMG) to "market perform" from "underperform" today, and the stock flew to the top of our S&P 500 leaders list, seemingly heedless of the plunging market conditions. The Oklahoma-based oil and gas concern has something like $3.1 billion of debt outstanding, and Standard and Poor's Ratings Services lowered KMG's corporate credit rating this morning. Andrew Watt, a Standard & Poor's credit analyst said: "Kerr-McGee's board of directors has authorized a modified 'Dutch Auction' tender offer for up to $4 billion of its common stock." He added: "The share repurchase will be funded entirely through the issuance of debt and borrowings under new credit facilities, which materially harms the company's credit profile," said Mr. Watt.

I notice that one of KMG's products is titanium dioxide, a white pigment used in paint. So it is appropriate that Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) is our next featured stock. Today the Ohio-based paint maker upped its first-quarter earnings above its own prior forecast and Wall Street estimates, attributing the gain to acquisitions and strong domestic paint sales. The stock gapped up this morning and is still looking like a nice little earner.

Schering-Plough (NYSE:SGP) announced the appointment of a new general manager, Urban Widen, who joins the firm from AstraZeneca, where he served as president. He succeeds Jan Nilsson, who retired in March 2005. The Street liked the news because the stock gapped up and then rose sharply, holding on to most of its gains through the afternoon.

Turning to our worst-performing S&P stocks of the day, Eaton (NYSE:ETN) was reiterated at "overweight" by Prudential but the price tumbled through the day. The firm announced earnings this morning, with first-quarter net income surging 39.6 percent, helped by strong sales in ETN's electrical business segment. Earnings per share came in a penny ahead of Reuters estimate and in line with Thomson First Call's consensus.

Apple Computer (NASDAQ:AAPL) announced second-quarter earnings of $290 million, or 34 cents per share last night, on sales of $3.24 billion. For the same period a year ago, the firm gained four cents per share. What's more, the company easily swept by the consensus estimate of 24 cents per share on sales of $3.2 billion. AAPL reported that it sold 5.3 million iPods during the quarter, 31 percent of the firm's revenue. The stock was down almost nine percent when we grabbed our figures.

And finally... Allegheny Technologies (ATI) is at the bottom of our S&P sinking stocks after being downgraded to "neutral" by Merrill Lynch. The stock has been in a solid uptrend since March 2003 but it has trended sideways since the second half of January this year.

Click the following link to see a Chart of the SPX 500 Index's Top-20 Percentage Gainers: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=12955 .

Click the following link to see a Chart of the SPX 500 Index's Top-20 Percentage Losers: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=12955 .

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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 .