William Wrigley Jr., Co. manufactures and sells chewing gum under the Wrigley%s Spearmint, Doublemint, JuicyFruit, Big Red, Winterfresh, Freedent and Extra brand names.For the fiscal year ended 12/31/00, revenues rose 4% to $2.15B. Net income rose 8% to $479.3M. Revenues reflect higher worldwide shipments, a favorable mix and selected selling price increases in all regions. Net income reflectshigher gross margins.

February 4, 2001

William Wrigley Jr. (NYSE:WWY) isn't just blowing bubbles when it says that it owns 50% of the U.S. chewing gum market. The company is the world’s largest manufacturer and seller of chewing gum and specialty gums. Wrigley's principal products include Wrigley's Spearmint, Doublemint, Juicy Fruit, Big Red, and Extra. Aside from WWY’s steady earnings history, we feel that the chart may have just completed a rounded bottom formation off good support. What’s more, the company announced a 2:1 stock split on January 23rd, which could help to generate extra buying ahead of the payable date of February 28th. Is this sounding familiar yet? It certainly does to us, so lets point out a few of the important support and resistance levels for entry timing. First, for resistance we’ll look for a close above Friday’s intraday high of $88.45 to set the stage for a breakout. Should this occur, we will expect the next challenge to arise just higher at the 20-dma of $88.75. A much more difficult test will occur at the 50-dma of $89.82, which has been confirmed as an important level from the stocks recent history. Look for entry points when WWY can exceed resistance on good daily volume of 295,954 shares or better. Next, for support we’ll anticipate the convergence of the 5 and 10-dma’s at $87.61 and $87.48 to hold the initial support base. Secondary support should crop up at $86, bolstered by previous lows. Look for entries to develop from support when WWY bounces sharply off these levels on mid-day volume of 150,000 or more. We recommend placing stops at $85 to protect our backside. We ill plan our exit strategies ahead of the February 28th payable date, as per our normal policy.

Picked on February 4th @ $88.12
Change since picked 0.00
Stop Loss @ $85.00

February 25, 2001

Our tightened stop helped us to lock in profits on Friday, as WWY shares slipped below support due to heavy selling across the broader market. We feel its a much safer strategy, not to mention more profitable, to keep a tight stop in a volatile market. So, although our gains on WWY were not astonishing, the stock performed very well in relation to market as a whole. As mentioned in our write-ups, WWY is a good candidate for future growth and will likely be considered for future plays.

Picked on February 4th @ $88.11
Profit/Loss = +2.89 (+3%) (Stopped out @ $91.00)
Best Profit = +4.24 (+5%)