Schaeffer's S&P 500 Index Hot Stocks Features Advanced Micro Devices, Weyerhaeuser, eBay, Harman International, and St. Jude Medical

Business Wire,  August 22, 2006  

Tags: Advanced Micro Devices Inc., eBay Inc., S&P 500, St. Jude Medical Inc., Weyerhaeuser Co.

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CINCINNATI -- Among the stocks featured in the August 22 edition of Schaeffer's S&P 500 Index Hot Stocks are Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD), Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY), eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), Harman International (NYSE:HAR), and St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ). Schaeffer's S&P 500 Index Hot Stocks is just one of the many free market commentaries written every day 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=PRSHS13M&PAGE=1 .

Schaeffer's S&P 500 Index Hot Stocks for Tuesday, August 22, 2006:

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 - 1,295.56) as well as the bottom-20 names. Featured along with this table will be news that is moving some of the securities, including a look at Newmont Mining.

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

The SPX is slightly lower this afternoon, thanks to some worries over the Iranian situation and comments from Chicago Federal Reserve President Michael Moskow. The Chicago Fed president warned that the financial markets should not assume that the Fed is done tightening just because it paused at its last meeting. Moskow said his assessment of economic conditions is "that the risk of inflation remaining too high is greater than the risk of growth being too low. Thus some additional firming of policy may yet be necessary to bring inflation back into the comfort zone within a reasonable period of time." Iran stepped back to the forefront when Iran's Chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, stated that his country is ready to begin "serious talks" with the U.S. and five Western powers that put an incentive package together to encourage the country to end its nuclear activities. Currently, 49 percent of the SPX has managed to crawl into positive territory.

This morning, Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD) received a bit of a boost, which it has parlayed into the top spot on the SPX this afternoon. Bear Stearns upgraded AMD to "outperform" from "peer perform," set a year-end stock target price of $29 per share, and increased its financial estimates for the rest of 2006 and 2007. The brokerage's analysts stated expectations for AMD to extend its share gains for PC and server chips, be less affected by ongoing declines for PC chips, and benefit from healthier chip inventories. AMD is nearly six percent higher this afternoon.

In the second spot on the SPX this afternoon is Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY), which agreed to sell its composite panels business. WY will sell the Clonmel, Ireland business to Coillte Teoranta, an Irish state-owned company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but investors seem to like it, as WY is more than five percent higher today.

eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) rounds out our list of upwardly mobile stocks this afternoon. The online auction house is more than two percent higher after initiating higher fees for retailers using the company's stores. EBAY hopes that the rate hikes restore the usual balance between items listed for sale at its stores, which are less profitable.

Turning to stocks that are moving lower, we find Harman International (NYSE:HAR). The company announced that Douglas Pertz, chief executive officer, is resigning effective immediately. The company's prior CEO and current vice chairman, Bernard Girod, will serve as interim CEO. Pertz was named CEO earlier this year. Thanks to this news, HAR is more than four percent lower.

St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) is more than two percent lower this afternoon, after announcing that it received approval for its QuickOpt Timing Cycle Optimization feature for defibrillators from the Food and Drug Administration. STJ stated that the feature, which "electrically characterizes the conduction properties of the heart and uses an exclusive algorithm to calculate the optimal timing values," is available worldwide on its Merlin Patient Care Systems and 3510 programmer.

Click the following link to see a Chart of the SPX 500 Index's Top-20 Percentage Gainers: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=17190 .

Click the following link to see a Chart of the SPX 500 Index's Top-20 Percentage Losers: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=17190 .

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