Replies to post #326461 on Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[was hotlinktuna]

Yes Zeev...I just noticed KFX in 14's...Bear picked it in the 8's about a month ago if I'm remembering right! Wow!! Traded it okay but never got back in...tuna

[esperanto2]

ZEEV...OSIP....fwiw...

OSI Pharmaceuticals

According to Hoover's, OSI Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:OSIP) develops both chemotherapy and drugs targeting the growth and development of tumors. Its newest drug Tarceva, which blocks tumor growth hormones, has won FDA approval for non-small cell lung cancer. Tarceva is also in Phase III trials as a therapy for pancreatic cancer, and may treat ovarian, brain, and head and neck cancers as well. The firm has been the target of a hefty amount of pessimism lately, despite the recent approval of Tarceva. However, the stock's technical performance this year seems rather deserving of its bearish following.

Since gapping to a new all-time high of 98.70 in early May, the shares have slowly filled this gap. OSIP has declined some 48 percent during this time frame, plunging recently due to a Wachovia downgrade on November 22 to "underperform" from "market perform." But there is some hope for the security, as OSIP appears to be clinging to support at the round-number 50 level - the site of former support/resistance for the shares. This level is key for the security, as there appears to be little in the way of technical support for the stock until the 40 level, a more than 25-percent drop from OSIP's current perch.

The equity's sentiment backdrop does little to reflect the security's downtrending nature of the past several months. While the stock is receiving heavy bearish put activity in today's session, with more than 2,400 puts crossing the tape at OSIP's December 50 strike on open interest of 1,945 contracts, the security's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio remains in a downtrend. Since setting a near-term peak at 0.76 in the 90th percentile, this ratio has meandered lower to its current perch at 0.65 in the 57th percentile, as calls are added at a faster rate than puts in the front three months of options.

Wall Street has also joined the bullish bandwagon, as Zacks reports that seven of the 10 covering analysts rate the shares a "buy" or better. Should any more analysts follow in Wachovia's footsteps, it could spell trouble for the shares.

Meanwhile, the equity's short-interest ratio provides a bit of a conundrum for this otherwise bullish sentiment reading (more clarity may be available when November short interest is released later today). During October, the number of OSIP shares sold short slipped lower by 12 percent to 4.5 million shares. This activity resulted in a short-interest ratio of 2.85 days to cover for the stock, indicating that there is very little in the way of short-covering support for the security. However, this accumulation of bearish bets accounts for more than 10 percent of OSIP's total float, and could therefore add some additional pop to a rally in the equity.

One final note for curious investors. OSIP is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings on November 29 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. The Street is currently expecting the drug concern to post a loss of $1.13 per share for the quarter and a loss of $4.74 per share for the year, according to Yahoo!Finance. The company has also been a rather disappointing performer in the earnings spotlight, missing the consensus estimate by an average of 15 percent in the past four periods. With a bullish to mixed sentiment backdrop, another miss in the earnings confessional this time around could send the stock spiraling lower.

Click on the following link to see the Weekly Chart of OSIP Since February 2004 With: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=11843&obspage=2.

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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.

SOURCE: Schaeffer's

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