BMY - Bristol-Myers Squibb $56.25 (-1.25)

BMY suffered only a minor loss during a week that was a nightmare for so many other stocks. The stock did keep pace with its tracking index, Pharmaceuticals (DRG), which slipped a little last week. The drop was a minor 3.98 points to a close at 409.02, just above the important 400.00 support level. Drug stocks in general had been attracting a little bit of the cash that was vacating the hardest hit sectors. On Friday, however, it seemed everybody succumbed to the bears. The third quarter should be strong for BMY. Current First Call consensus estimates are looking for profits of $0.61, which would compare favorably to last year's $0.47. BMY has a solid inventory of profitable drugs. However, they may lose their hold on one of their drugs TAXOL, which is one of the Company's leading anti-cancer agents. Last week a federal court ruled in favor of allowing IVAX Corp (IVX) to immediately begin production and marketing of a generic form of TAXOL. The ruling may help to account for a little bit of BMY's recent lackadaisical performance. On the plus side, at least two bidders have entered the fray for BMY's Zimmer orthopedic equipment subsidiary. BMY had just recently announced that it is planning to sell Zimmer as well as its cosmetics business, which is under the prominent Clairol name. British concern Smith & Nephew and Swiss group Sulzer both may be interested in acquiring Zimmer. The last two splits that BMY executed were announced when the stock was trading over $100.00. Therefore, a split announcement does not seem likely at this time, in light of the current share price. BMY is consolidating right along its 200-DMA at $56.81. The 200-DMA appears to be leveling after a steep decline since the spring. On the down side, BMY did close below its 200-DMA which is typically a technical negative. The 50-DMA at $53.84 is attempting to close the gap but is a fair bit away from crossing back over the 200-DMA, which would be a buy signal. Perhaps if BMY can continue to trade sideways and not give up too much ground, it can stage a pre-earnings rally. Earnings will be released on October 20th. Other technical indicators are less encouraging. The MACD turned negative last week but hopefully this will be a false sell signal. OBV and Money Flow continue to be extrememly weak but have improved slightly over the past couple of weeks. The RSI is meandering lower and is near the middle of its range so at least there is room to run with this oscillator. Our current stop remains at $52.69 and we have placed a trailing stop idea in our In Play section. If we are not stopped out we will exit this position before the earnings release.

Picked on September 21st @ $56.69 Change since picked -0.44

QCOM - QUALCOMM $77.81 (+6.56)

Wireless communications chipsets and software provider, QUALCOMM Incorporated, had a rough day on Friday. Shares of QCOM traded down to an intra-day low of $77.31 on average volume as the NASDAQ sold off. On the positive side, the stock managed to stay above the 5-dma during the session. We expect QCOM to regain its momentum as we move closer to the Company's earnings release, scheduled for 11/2, after the bell. We are also hoping for a split to come with the earnings release. QUALCOMM already has enough shares for a split but the shares are currently trading lower than its past split announcement price range. In the meantime, support is the 5-dma at $76.56 with stronger support at $75.56, the 10/3 intra-day high. There is light resistance at $80 and then Friday's high of $84. The MACD is slightly positive and the RSI has been on the rise, both signs of an impending up trend. We plan to open new positions on a bounce off of $76.50 or a move above $80, on volume greater than 9 million shares by midday. Our stops are unchanged at $75.50 to limit losses.

Picked on Oct 5th @ $82.88 Change since picked -5.06