Headlines can bring opportunity to swap into bargains

Mar.04, 2008 in Market Outlook

Headlines bring opportunity

By MarketWatch

Last Update: 11:18 AM ET Mar 4, 2008

BOSTON (MarketWatch) — Money manager Tom McIntyre of McIntyre Freedman & Flynn
in Orleans, Mass., says that investors can’t avoid the headlines and ignore them
at their own peril.

“You wake up every morning and shudder as to what the [market] news might be,”
McIntyre said, “but then you take that [information] and wonder what the news
might do for other companies in that arena, and you go looking for
opportunities.”

In a radio interview with Chuck Jaffe, MarketWatch senior columnist, McIntyre
said that investors should be watching the news for opportunities to make swaps,
to upgrade from stocks they own now to issues that get beaten down to where they
are superior bargains.

During his interview, McIntyre suggested that investors sell troubled Ambac
Financial Group (ABK) and noted that both Commerce Group (CGI) and Take Two
Interactive Software (TTWO) should be sold now because of planed or discussed
mergers that have taken the stocks about as far as they can go.

McIntyre likes the looks of Suncor Energy (SU), but said that he would sell El
Paso (EP) in favor of Spectra Energy (SE) and that he would drop American
Electric Power (AEP) and use the proceeds on TECO Energy (TE) or Duke Energy
(DUK).

He also said he would sell Fairpoint Communications (FRP) and that he would hold
ADC Telecommunications (ADCT) until it reaches the high end of its trading range
– roughly $20 per share — at which point he’d be looking to cash out.

In another interview, Ken Shreve, markets desk anchor at Investor’s Business
Daily, noted that one-quarter of the just-updated IBD 100 comes from the oil and
gas drilling and exploration sector, and said that investors looking for
leadership in any market bounce-back will want to look in the direction of oil.

The IBD 100 is the publication’s weekly list of the highest-rated stocks
available today, and Shreve noted that four stocks — Encana (ECA), Transocean
(RIG), Rowan Companies (RDC) and Occidental Petroleum (OXY) — stood out for him
as potential buys, once the IBD analysis program turns positive and puts the
market into buying territory.

“These are four institutional-quality stocks with strong fundamentals and
earnings growth,” said Shreve. “They will be the kinds of stocks you’ll want to
consider once the market has moved to where we think it’s time to buy.”

Jaffe’s radio show regularly features expert reviews of stocks and mutual funds
suggested by MarketWatch readers; to request a stock or mutual fund for review,
send your name, hometown and the ticker symbols that interest you to .

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