Schaeffer's Top and Bottom Ranked Stocks Features Providian Financial, Chico's FAS, Kindred Healthcare, Cost Plus, and Phelps Dodge

Business Wire, May 23, 2005

CINCINNATI -- Among the stocks featured in the May 23 edition of Schaeffer's Top and Bottom Ranked Stocks are Providian Financial (NYSE:PVN), Chico's FAS (NYSE:CHS), Kindred Healthcare (NYSE:KND), Cost Plus (NASDAQ:CPWM), and Phelps Dodge (NYSE:PD). Schaeffer's Top and Bottom Ranked Stocks screener is just one of the many features written everyday at http://www.SchaeffersResearch.com - the home of Bernie Schaeffer and Schaeffer's Investment Research. The information used to compile this commentary is derived from the Schaeffer's Equity Scorecard Filter. Below is a quick overview of some of the heavy hitters that are seeing some particularly high or low rankings. For a complete list of the stocks on our High/Low Schaeffer's Equity Scorecard Filter, sign up for an unlimited access free trial to Schaeffer's Gold. http://www.SchaeffersResearch.com/redirect.aspx?CODE=PRGLD3M&PAGE=1.

Schaeffer's Top and Bottom Ranked Stocks for Monday, May 23, 2005:

Providian Financial - Ranking 8.0

Credit-card company Providian Financial (NYSE:PVN) earns a 8.0 on the Equity Scorecard this Monday, thanks in large part to its steady long-term uptrend. Since a dramatic plunge during the second half of 2001 stripped the equity's value by more than 90 percent, PVN shares have staged an impressive recovery. Throughout the majority of this upswing, the stock has found support from its 10-week and 20-week moving averages. With sentiment indicators already mixed on the security, one encouraging contrarian sign is offered by the 12.34 million PVN shares sold short, representing more than four percent of the equity's available float. While short sellers may be placing bets against the stock, Wall Street is rather ambivalent, offering up eight "buy" ratings, three outright "sells," and 11 "hold" designations. These 11 wishy-washy analysts could be coerced toward the light side of "buy" territory, should PVN continue to motor higher. Finally, options players are probably the most cheerful of the lot. The Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) for PVN currently weighs in at 0.83, dwelling in the bottom one-quarter of the past year's data.

Click on the following link to see the Weekly Chart of PVN since October 2002 with 10-Week and 20-Week Moving Averages: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=13249.

Chico's FAS - Ranking 8.5

Upscale women's apparel retailer Chico's FAS (NYSE:CHS) has been among the top-performing names in its sector for many months. In today's trading, the stock notched a new all-time high. The shares are fresh from a break above potential resistance at the 30 strike, which guarded against the equity's advances in early March. CHS has certainly displayed impressive price action of late, but it is the signs of continued pessimism that earn the stock a Scorecard rating of 8.5. The SOIR for CHS has swooped higher since mid-March, illustrating a building preference for (bearishly slanted) put positions. Calls and puts are now near parity among short-term options, as the indicator stands at 0.98. This reading is just five percent shy of a new annual peak. Meanwhile, although short interest on CHS dropped 14 percent last month, nearly 15 percent of the stock's float remains sold on the short side. What's more, the resultant short-interest ratio of 12.5 days to cover is quite impressive. With last month's reduction implying that short covering may already be in play, look for continued bailouts from the shorts to add fuel to the equity's rally. Also in play is the stock's earnings announcement, due this Thursday after the close. Analysts are currently targeting first-quarter results of 25 cents per share, marking a 25-percent improvement over year-ago results.

Click on the following link to see the Weekly Chart of CHS since September 2004 with 10-Week and 20-Week Moving Averages: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=13249.

Kindred Healthcare - Ranking 9.0

Kindred Healthcare (NYSE:KND) operates 70 long-term acute-care hospitals and 250 nursing homes, according to Hoover's. KND achieved a new all-time high during last week's trading and has now achieved a solid Equity Scorecard grade of 9.0. Contributing to this high score is the stock's short-interest ratio of nearly six days to cover. Additionally, as shorted shares comprise more than 15 percent of the stock's available float, short covering could help prop the stock even higher. In other sentiment news, SOIR for KND spiked up to 1.03 today thanks to May options expiration on Friday. Previously, this indicator stood at 0.71. The move has taken the SOIR from the 40th annual percentile all the way to the 81st annual percentile, implying an extreme in pessimistic positioning from the options community. Analysts have taken a different view, according to data from Yahoo! Finance, and therein lies the one caveat to this potential bullish play. Of the seven brokerages currently following the shares, all have named KND a "buy" or better, leaving KND vulnerable to downgrades on any bad news.