ASML largely shrugs off analyst action

	Bernie Schaeffer Schaeffer’s Investment Research Inc.
Get Free Stock Picks from Bernie Schaeffer, 3 time winner of the Wall Street Journal Stock Picking Contest. Click here for your Free Trial. Click here!

"Petercam raises ASML price target to Eur 12 from Eur 10; Rating 'Sell'"
(Reuters News Wire – 4/24/09)

Schaeffer's addendum: As Joe Hargett pointed out on April 17, there has been significant accumulation in the May 20 put options on ASML Holding N.V. (ASML), and this accumulation has continued at a fairly rapid clip, with current put open interest equal to the equivalent of about a million shares of the Dutch chip maker.

Now comes the Dutch securities firm Petercam Group with what I can only describe as an odd overnight announcement. My best interpretation of the cryptic Reuters headline is that the firm maintained its "sell" rating on the stock, but raised its target from (roughly) $13.30 to $16.00. So Petercam is now projecting a 20% decline in the shares rather than a 33% decline.

This strikes me as a very strange pretext for a press release – almost an excuse to showcase their negative view of the stock. And my curiosity is all the more piqued by the big put position, most of which has resulted from "buy to open" transactions.

ASML shares are down by about 1% today, with the sector trading to the upside in a strong market. But perhaps of greatest interest is that the shares have thus far been firmly supported at $20.00, which may bode well for a bullish resolution once the negative fallout dissipates from the overnight "news."

Bernie Schaeffer:
• Developed Expectational Analysis®, a proprietary, three-tiered method of options analysis combining technical and fundamental studies with the analysis of investor sentiment.
Publisher
• In 1981, Bernie launched the newsletter, Bernie Schaeffer’s Option Advisor. Serving as senior editor since inception, Bernie has led the Option Advisor to become the nation’s leading options newsletter. Features: market commentary, specific trade recommendations, and trading strategy.
• Launched SchaeffersResearch.com, in 1997. A four-time winner of Forbes “Best of the Web” award, the website has also received positive mention in Barron’s, AAII and The Wall Street Journal Guide to Online Investing - “An independent options site that is one of the best for providing primers for both novice and advanced investors.” Features tools, quotes, data, commentary, and education.
• 10 Days to Successful Options TradingSM – This multi-media home study program teaches options basics. Learn fundamental strategies with hands-on application exercises and examples.
Author
• The Option Advisor: Wealth-Building Techniques Using Equity and Index Options (1997)
• New Thinking in Technical Analysis: Trading Models from the Masters – The industry has viewed Bernie’s Expectational Analysis® methodology as a groundbreaking approach to trading. Proof of this came with the publication of this new book by Bloomberg Press. One of twelve authors, Bernie was honored to be chosen from hundreds of market analysts to explain his methodology.
• Writes a monthly options column for Bloomberg Personal Finance magazine.
• Multexinvestor.com regularly calls on Bernie to contribute to their “Analyst Corner.”
Awards and Recognition
• Three time winner of The Wall Street Journal stock picking contest.
• Ranks fifth among market timers tracked by Timer Digest for the past decade.
• Dick Davis Hall of Fame inductee for his bearish posture ahead of the 1987 crash.
• He is known for successfully maintaining a bullish market posture throughout the 1990s.
• The Market Technician’s Association (MTA) awarded Bernie “Best of the Best” in 1997 in the field of Sentiment/Psychological Analysis.
• Bernie is regularly featured on investment chats on Yahoo! Finance.
• Bernie’s views on the stock market and the economy are regularly quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Investor’s Business Daily, and USA Today.
• Both Barron’s and The New York Times have featured Bernie in “Question & Answer” interviews.
• Recognized as a CNBC “Market Maven.”
• Appears regularly on national financial broadcasts such as CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg Television, the Nightly Business Report, Wall Street Week with Fortune and Fox News. Also serves as a guest host on CNNfn.
• Frequently invited to speak at national investment conferences and seminars.
• Regularly sits on Options Industry Council panels around the country.
• One of 50 market strategists appearing in BusinessWeek’s 2001 market forecast.