AGC - American General Corporation $78.81 +1.56 (+2.19)

A driving force behind AGC's strong returns has been their high profit margin retirement services business, which now represents 37% of total sales. This division is expected to be an important long-term profit contributor for the company, as the gradual aging of the population steadily increases the need for servicing the needs of retirees. Finishing the day sharply higher, AGC resumed its upward momentum and climbed 1.56 points, up 2%. Much of the gains were the result of a strong gap up at the open, which was followed by good buying throughout the day. The IUX confirmed industry strength, as it continued to break more records with another all time high ($774.66). With AGC residing just below its intermediate high ($79.31), we'll expect initial resistance to reside at this level and then just higher at the $80 mark. Advances above each of these points will present entry opportunities, when accompanied by good daily volume of 900 thousand shares or better. Should this scenario unfold, we'll anticipate additional challenges at the $85 and $90 levels. Today's low of $77.75 will now present our first intra-day support level, however, a stronger base is sure to come at $77.25 (closing Thursday's gap). We've raised our stops to $77, as we want to be protected from the possible double top formation that could occur at the recent high. Look for signs of strength/weakness from the IUX and consider confirming entries/exits with an additional indicator.

Picked on September 10th @ $74.25 Change since picked +4.56

AGIL - Agile Software $92.00 +10.19 (+12.00)

In Tuesday's report we remarked that despite the continued technology stock swoon, one sector in particular was relatively strong. Fortunately, this trend continued, as B2B stocks were among the strongest players in today's solid NASDAQ recovery and Agile certainly joined in on the party. Despite the lack of earnings, market participants are still positively influenced by the belief that these companies possess an enormous amount of potential. Agile may be quickly approaching profitability. The current estimates are calling for a loss of only two pennies, which is a nice improvement over last year's 9-cent loss. Agile is a well-positioned B2B stock that focuses its efforts on making it easier for supply chain companies to receive design specifications and component requests quickly and efficiently. Today's solid gain took Agile's stock closer to the tempting split price of $100.00. Split announcement speculation may just add a little fuel to the fire. The 50-DMA finally crossed back above the 200- DMA, which is a bullish technical event. The MACD is steadily rising which indicates to us that this stable rally could continue. We are similarly impressed with the OBV and Money Flow. Our only real concern is the RSI, which is clearly indicating an overbought situation. Granted, stocks often go from overbought to really overbought, but this indicator is telling us that the short term move for AGIL may need cool down a bit before it can resume its up trend. We are raising our trailing stop to $84.50 and we will certainly exit this position if we get a welcomed split announcement.

Picked on September 24th @ $80.00 Change since picked +12.00

BMY - Bristol-Myers Squibb $58.00 +1.50 (+0.06)

Drug stocks inched forward again today, but this sector was clearly not in the spotlight. The Pharmaceutical Index (DRG) managed to gain 3.62 points to 409.16 but other indices including Semiconductors (SOX), Brokerages (XBD), Banks (BKX) and Biotechs (BTK) all substantially outperformed drug stocks. That's OK, we are happy with the small gain and we believe that Drug stocks and BMY in particular, offer a little more safety than most stocks in the market these days, due to their lower valuations and relatively modest P/E ratios. BMY gave the markets some very welcome news today as the Company said that it expects to meet or exceed current consensus estimates for the full year of 2000, including the third quarter. Current estimates are calling for third quarter profits of 61 cents and $2.34 for the entire financial year. The markets were also modestly impressed with BMY's plans to sell off two of its major non-pharmaceutical subsidiaries as part of a plan to restructure the Company to focus exclusively on its drug business. On the auction block are Clairol, the popular cosmetics company and Zimmer, a manufacturer of orthopedic implants and devices. The plan is to sell these businesses sometime over the next 6 to 12 months. BMY is still struggling to surpass the major resistance offered at $59.44 which was a high print achieved in early July. Today's high print touched this resistance before the stock fell back. One possible concern for traders and an explanation for why the stock did not break out is the fact that the RSI is currently signaling an overbought condition. Although this condition has been somewhat alleviated over the past few days, this technical indicator may continue to create some cautionary trading. We still want to give BMY a little room to maneuver, so we have decided to set our stop at $52.69, which is just below the 50-DMA. The MACD is still indicating that an up trend is in place but the OBV and Money Flow have returned to unimpressive levels. Technology stocks may be under pressure tomorrow due to the bad news from Apple (AAPL), which may help to get BMY over the hump. There is a trailing stop suggestion placed for your convenience in our In Play section.

Picked on September 21st @ $56.69 Change since picked +1.31

CMVT - Comverse Technology $106.00 +7.88 (+12.31)

Comverse Technology closed above the century mark on big volume today. The psychological $100.00 level was conquered on volume of 3.5 million shares. The rise in volume represents an increase of 74% compared to the average daily volume. The stock is now officially in split territory and with the recent vote by shareholders to increase the number of outstanding shares, the company has more than enough for a stock split. Converse Technology is in the business of computer and telecommunication systems and software for multimedia communications. Thursday's market rally was timely, with CMVT on the threshold of crossing over the century mark. Watch for volume to continue to bolster the stock. When considering new play opportunities, look for support coming from the broad markets, especially in the NASDAQ and the Telecommunications Sector. Looking at the chart we now see resistance at the $106.00 level followed by $110.00. Support is first noted at $100.00 and then the 5-dma at $97.83. Possible entry points for new plays might be a bounce off a support level if immediately followed by good volume or a direct charge up and through resistance. In order to secure a profit on this play we are now adjusting our stop to $98.00. Please review our IN PLAY section each day for changes and adjustments to our stops.

Picked on September 26th @ $96.44 Change since picked +9.56

ELN - Elan Corporation $55.38 +0.44 (+0.41)

Analysts are anticipating a strong earnings improvement of 24% this year from our drug friend, Elan. Behind much of this growth, net increases should come from ELN's two recent drug approvals, Ziconotide (chronic pain) and Zonegran (epilepsy). Alone, Ziconotide is expected to yield $100 million in annual sales for the company. The company's solid growth results have been reflected in the performance of its underlying stock, which is currently up 88% on the year. Now, as for our play, shares began an advance today from a weeklong consolidation at the 50-dma ($54.20). The advance came on improved volume (1.5m shares traded) and added an additional 0.56 or 1% on the day. After bouncing off its 50-dma on Wednesday, the stock did exceed its recent high ($55.63) on an intra-day basis, but still closed below this level. With this in mind, we're still looking for initial resistance to come at this level. The next significant challenge should come at the all time high of $59.88. As for support, we'll look for the 50-dma to continue its firm base, with heavier support coming at the important half-century mark ($50). Look for buying opportunities as prices give a hard bounce off support, or tread higher through resistance, when accompanied by good volume (2.0m shares or better). Time your entries near support, when prices bounce sharply off them. Use the DRG (Drug Index) as a guide for entry/exit confirmations.

Picked on September 24th @ $55.25 Change since picked +0.13

MXT - Metris Companies, Inc. $42.56 +2.75 (+2.43)

Our first thought when we entered this play is that Metris might be a nice hedge against a market that is becoming increasingly concerned about the ramifications of a slowing economy. A slowdown should be right up Metris' alley because the Company concentrates on providing credit for people that have nowhere else to turn. The pool of clients for Metris should increase if we run into economic difficulties. Metris, however, does have a substantial credit and merchandising business that will also do well during the current economic climate. That could be why we saw the stock do so well today as it rallied right along with most of the major financial stocks. Metris received a bit of a boost today when US Bancorp Piper Jaffray Financial Business Services analyst Bradley A Berning issued an extensive research report that was very bullish about the electronic payments industry. This analyst is also currently bullish about Metris. Earnings are just around the corner for Metris and we think there could be a split announcement due to the recent shareholder vote that approved an increase in the number of authorized shares. Metris established a new high today at $42.94. New highs are exceedingly rare in this market and impatient momentum investors are likely to get excited about any stock that is exhibiting this kind of relative strength. Granted momentum investors are very short term traders but we are only too happy to let them climb aboard this play. The MACD flipped back to the positive side today, which could indicate that a few more days of advances could be ahead of us. OBV and Money Flow are both very strong, which tells us that the longer-term trend is bullish. The RSI only has a little upside before hitting an overbought signal but the stock does have a history of trading higher after this indicator reaches the "top" of its range. Our stop is currently at $37.00. If it is not executed, we will exit this position either right after a split announcement or right before the October 18th earnings release.

Picked on September 26th @ $41.06 Change since picked +1.50

NTIQ - NetIQ Corporation $67.94 +8.44 (+6.06)

NetIQ is trading on pure market momentum. The stock traded down to an intra-day low of $59.38 along with the NASDAQ on Wednesday. The market direction then shifted on Thursday, taking shares of NTIQ up to close at its intra-day high of $67.94 on heavy volume. The stock looks technically healthy after a test of support and an increasing ADV. The company is expected to announce earnings on 10/19 and we are hoping for a split announcement with the earnings release or at the next BoD meeting. They have enough shares for a split and the share price is within split range. For now, NTIQ has light support at the 5-dma, now up to $64, with additional support at the 20-dma, currently at $58.31. Resistance remains at Tuesday's high of $68.63 and then at the $70 level. We plan to open new positions on a bounce off of $64 or a move above $68.63 on volume of at least 250,000 shares by midday. We are leaving our stop at $56.75 as protection.

Picked on Sep 24th @ $61.88 Change since picked +6.06

TEVA - Teva Pharmaceutical Industries $78.00 +3.62 (+6.25)

Shares of Teva Pharmaceutical blasted into new territory on Thursday on the heels of a major announcement. The FDA awarded TEVA final approval of a new drug called Nifedipine XL. Nifedipine XL is the generic version of Pfizer's drug Procardia XL for the treatment of hypertension and angina. In 1999, U.S. sales of this product were approximately $230 million. The news was well received by investors who took the stock to a new intra-day high of $78.69. The trading volume increased by 20% to 1.2 million shares noting buyers' conviction. As previously mentioned, the stock is now well into split territory. We will be watching for a split announcement to hopefully accompany the earnings announcement in October. Technically, the chart has exhibited a beautiful up trend all year. We now see the stock potentially challenging resistance at $79.00 and then at $80.00. Support for this play is now measured at the 5-dma at $74.00 and the 10-dma at $70.00. If you are still considering opening a new position on TEVA, look for the volume to continue to support the stock as it travels higher. The FDA news announcement may be short lived and profit taking may be at hand. Look for a type of move we had Thursday in the NASDAQ and the Drug Sector (DRG) as a guide for new plays. Watch for volume to dry up at resistance levels as a possible sign that the stock may be ready to turn. We are going to tighten our stop loss on this play, to secure in a profit, at $72.00. Watch our IN PLAY section daily for changes to our stops.

Picked on September 24th @ $71.75 Change since picked +6.25

THC - Tenet Healthcare Corporation $35.63 -0.44 (+0.63)

We are certainly getting accustomed to this pattern of Tenet Healthcare hovering around its all time high, making brief forays into uncharted waters, only to pull back into more comfortable harbors. Tenet has attracted what we like to call "safety" cash. When the market is shaky, some money is finding its way into THC because the Company is not among those that are struggling to meet earnings. On the other hand, THC could be approaching its fair value. Its P/E ratio is fairly justified by its growth rate, at least by historical healthcare stock measures. THC was very strong this morning, as it made yet another new high during the early morning turmoil amongst the popular technology issues. The subsequent recovery among the beaten down high capitalization technology stocks seemed to suck the enthusiasm right out of THC, as it finished down on the day. Slow and steady does win the race and we are very content with the current technical pattern that THC is exhibiting. The dissident shareholders, who are attempting to obtain four seats on the board, suffered a defeat when one of Tenet's largest shareholders, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, endorsed current management. The battle for the board seats may be holding the share price of Tenet back. That said, this play is starting to run out of time for us anyway and hopefully we will get another little push before the October 3rd earnings release. If our $34.00 stop is not triggered, we will definitely exit this position before the earnings release. It was a little discouraging that we could not get any follow through after THC moved into new high ground today, but we will be very happy if the stock can continue to inch its way higher as it approaches its earnings date. The long term looks very solid for THC because Money Flow and OBV are still very strong. Therefore, we do not expect much more of a gain for this play, but modest improvements are certainly better than the alternative. Look for an exit on Monday, before earnings, if we don't get stopped out before that point. If we do get another decent rally you can check our In Play section for a trailing stop suggestion.

Picked on July 30th @ $31.19 Change since picked +4.44