Schaeffer's S&P 500 Index Hot Stocks Features International Paper, Georgia-Pacific, Robert Half International, RadioShack, and Avon Products

Business Wire, July 19, 2005

CINCINNATI -- Among the stocks featured in the July 19 edition of Schaeffer's S&P 500 Index Hot Stocks are International Paper (NYSE:IP), Georgia-Pacific (NYSE:GP), Robert Half International (NYSE:RHI), RadioShack (NYSE:RSH), and Avon Products (NYSE:AVP). 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 Tuesday, July 19, 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 - 1,223.36) 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 left, the SPX is up on the day. We are still in the middle of earnings season, and it comes as no surprise that a majority of today's hot stocks have landed on the list thanks, for good or ill, to earnings reports. At last check, 72.4 percent of SPX members were in positive territory.

International Paper (NYSE:IP) is at the top of our Hot Stocks list today after announcing this morning that it would restructure to focus on just two businesses, uncoated papers and industrial and consumer packaging. The firm will also sell or spin off its stakes in various units to return $8 billion to $10 billion to the company. The firm would sell a 50.5-percent stake in a New Zealand forest-products subsidiary, convert some paper mills, and close some packaging plants in a realignment expected to be complete by 2007.

Georgia-Pacific (NYSE:GP), which Hoover's describes as "the world's largest producer of tissue products (bath tissues, paper towels, and napkins)," gapped up this morning, benefiting from the lift that IP gave to the paper sector.

Robert Half International (NYSE:RHI) gapped up this morning, which is intriguing because the Dow Jones Newswires has carried no news on the stock for the past four trading days. This clearly makes RHI one to watch. Somebody knows something.

RadioShack (NYSE:RSH) skulks near the bottom of our Hot Stocks list after the company reported that second-quarter net income fell 23 percent, to $52.3 million or 33 cents per diluted share. Total sales in the second quarter of 2005 were up four percent to $1.09 billion, compared to total sales of $1.05 billion for the previous year. "Our profit decline in the second quarter was driven by lower comp store sales and more specifically by weakness in our core store wireless business," said David Edmondson, president and chief executive officer.

And finally... Avon Products (NYSE:AVP) is our biggest backtracker today. The firm reported that second-quarter earnings rose, but the company issued a third-quarter forecast that feel short of Street expectations while cutting its forecast for 2005 earnings. Apparently part of the problem can be attributed to weakness in China, a datum that takes a moment to grapple with. Placing further pressure on the stock, Prudential cut its rating on AVP to "underweight" from "overweight."

Click the following link to see a Chart of the SPX 500 Index's Top-20 Percentage Gainers: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=13664 .

Click the following link to see a Chart of the SPX 500 Index's Top-20 Percentage Losers: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=13664 .

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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 .