Schaeffer's Daily Market Blog Features: Abercrombie & Fitch, Office Depot, Staples, Halliburton, and the AMEX Oil Services HOLDRS Trust

Business Wire, Nov 15, 2006

CINCINNATI -- Among the stocks featured in the November 15 edition of Schaeffer's Market Blog are Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF), Office Depot (NYSE:ODP), Staples (NASDAQ:SPLS), Halliburton (NYSE:HAL), and the AMEX Oil Services HOLDRS Trust (AMEX:OIH). Schaeffer's Market Blog 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. The Market Blog is written throughout every trading day by Schaeffer's financial analysts and traders. They are quick insights to the day's most notable market activity from an options perspective. To have this report delivered to you free via email every day click on the following link and you'll also get an opportunity to win an iPod Nano. http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/redirect.aspx?CODE=PROB13M&PAGE=1 .

Don't forget that many of our observations are available as audio presentations that you can hear on your computer or download from Apple's iTunes Music Store to play on a portable device such as an iPod. To see the full menu of podcasts, please visit http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/commentary/podcasts/.> 10:48 AM Abercrombie & Fitch Reports

Following Tuesday's close, Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) reported a 43-percent increase in third-quarter earnings to $102 million, or $1.11 per share. Sales rallied 22 percent to $863.4 million, as same-store sales rose one percent. The mean estimate on Wall Street called for earnings of $1.08 per share on revenue of $854 million. Looking forward, ANF expects earnings between $3.25 and $3.30 per share (including a two-cent charge) in the second half of 2006. For the full year, the trendy apparel retailer expects to earn between $4.59 and $4.64 per share, including stock-option charges of about 10 cents per share. Analysts are expecting full-year results of $4.63 per share.

Prudential reiterated its "overweight" rating on ANF this morning, but the stock dropped lower as it headed out of the gate. In mid-morning action, the shares are down four percent, testing the support of their rising 10-week moving average, which has helped guide the stock higher since early August. Some might say this is an attractive entry point for the stock, should it quickly recover from this technical support.

11:00 AM New Coverage for Office Retailers

Soleil Securities opted to weigh in on two prominent office-supply retailers ahead of Wednesday's opening bell. The brokerage started both Office Depot (NYSE:ODP) and Staples (NASDAQ:SPLS) with a "hold" rating. Both equities are currently trading about one percent higher. SPLS is fresh from its third-quarter earnings announcement, which was issued yesterday morning.

From a technical perspective, the equities look very similar. Both are testing the support of their 10-day moving averages and both have enjoyed long-term uptrends dating back to 2003. On the sentiment-analysis front, SPLS has a slight edge thanks to greater bearishness at work from the speculative crowd. The stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) stands in the 65th percentile, while ODP's is closer to the bullish camp, in the 15th annual percentile. Currently, SPLS earns a Schaeffer's Equity Scorecard rating of 7.0 compared with ODP's grade of 6.0.

12:12 PM Save Money on Gasoline

We have a new video series at our Audio and Video center at http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/commentary/podcasts/. It's called Fuel Report.

Pooling all our resources, which include the latest crude oil prices, oil inventory reports, geopolitical news, and the overall state of the economy, we aim to answer one simple question: should we fill up the gas tank today, or wait? That "I just saved 10 cents a gallon" feeling always makes my day, and it adds up over the course of a year.

12:52 PM Halliburton Seeing Heavy Call Volume

It appears that there is some heavy call option activity on oil service concern Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) today. Call volume on HAL is more than 10 times respective put volume with nearly 18,000 contracts traded at the January 2007 30 strike alone. The current Schaeffer put/call open interest ratio on HAL of 0.48 is below 96 percent of readings over the past year. After today's activity I wouldn't be surprised if the reading drops to the lowest it's been over the past 12 months. Perhaps the level of optimism towards this stock is becoming a bit overextended.

2:11 PM Energy is Having a Good Day

Energy is having a good day today thanks to bullish numbers from the weekly inventory report. Right now oil is up 38 cents to $60.56 a barrel and the Oil Service HOLDRs Trust (AMEX:OIH) is up over two percent. Technically, the OIH could close at its highest level since early August. Looking at other energy names, the XLE (XLE) is up less than a percent and the AMEX Natural Gas Index (XNG) is up just over a percent. My personal favorite energy play is Holly (HOC), which is up over two percent and nearing a new high. On a relative-strength basis, HOC is in a league of its own.