Schaeffer's S&P 500 Index Hot Stocks Features Transocean, XTO Energy, Archer Daniels Midland, Network Appliance and Cooper Tire & Rubber

Business Wire, Feb 16, 2005

CINCINNATI -- Among the stocks featured in the February 16 edition of Schaeffer's S&P 500 Index Hot Stocks Transocean (NYSE:RIG), XTO Energy (NYSE:XTO), Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM), Network Appliance (NASDAQ:NTAP), and Cooper Tire & Rubber (NYSE:CTB). 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 Wednesday, February 16, 2005:

A daily feature available on SchaeffersResearch.com is the "SPX Hot Stocks" column. Each afternoon immediately prior to the close, we will provide a list of the day's top-20 performing stocks in the S&P 500 Index (SPX - 1,210.63) as well as the bottom-20 names. Featured along with this table will be news that is moving some of the shares.

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

Digging into the hot stocks a bit, we find news for Transocean (NYSE: RIG). The operator of offshore rigs was upgraded from Deutsche Bank, from "hold" to "buy." RIG announced yesterday that it sees the demand for deepwater offshore drilling vessels strengthening over the next year. This news has boosted RIG by more than five percent in today's trading action.

Yesterday, XTO Energy (NYSE: XTO) declared a four-for-three stock split of its common stock. The company added that it was going to maintain its quarterly cash dividend of five cents per share. This marks a 33-percent increase over the last quarter. XTO's split will be paid through a dividend on March 15 to shareholders as of March 1. The firm's quarterly dividend will be payable on April 15 to shareholders as of March 31. This news was applauded by investors as XTO is more than three percent higher thus far in trading today.

Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) announced today that it has acquired The Solae Co.'s global soy isoflavone unit. The acquisition includes all related intellectual property. What's more, Solae will depart from the soy isoflavone business with the sale and ADM will supply Solae's Novasoy brand to its former customers. Financial terms for the deal were not disclosed, but the Street seems to be happy about it, as ADM is up more than three percent today.

Now to the bottom of the list, occupied by Network Appliance (NASDAQ: NTAP). After reporting strong third-quarter earnings, NTAP forecast that fourth-quarter revenue will rise between 30 percent and 33 percent from last year's reported $337 million. Frantic bead pushing on the abacus tells us that this comes out to sales between $438.1 million and $448.2 million, below the consensus estimate for $450 million. Full-year earnings between 60 and 62 cents per share with sales of $1.59 billion from the company fall inline with the Street's forecast. As investors focused on this disappointing forecast, NTAP fell nearly nine percent in trading.

Cooper Tire & Rubber (NYSE: CTB) has fallen nearly 8.5 percent today after posting fourth-quarter earnings. The titan of tires reported earnings of four cents per share, lower than last year's earnings of 10 cents per share. After issuing this report, the firm turned its focus to the first quarter, forecasting earnings of one to three cents per share. This forecast is affected by "challenging industry conditions" including higher raw material costs, tough comparisons, and some continuing capacity constraints. CTB added that raw material prices marked a year-over-year increase of 16 percent in the quarter. Synthetic rubber and steel saw the largest increases, 25 and 18 percent respectively.

Click the following link to see a Chart of the SPX 500 Index's Top 20 Percentage Gainers: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=12537

Click the following link to see a Chart of the SPX 500 Index's Top 20 Percentage Losers: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=12537

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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.>

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