ANALYSTS WHO GET IT

摘要

A few are willing to rile companies-and investment pros love them PacifiCare Health Systems Inc.'s stock had been a loser for years. The Cypress (Calif.) health-maintenance organization was mired in an accounting scandal; Medicare plans were siphoning profits; and top management had bailed. "Everything about the company was horrible," says Michael W. Green, a money manager for Moody, Aldrich & Sullivan LLC in Marblehead, Mass. A former highflier that hit $93 in 1999, it had plunged as low as $10. But in late October, Green had a change of heart. He bought $5 million worth of shares after getting a hot contrarian tip from Kevin P. Lane, chief market strategist at Technimentals Research Group, an independent research firm in New York. Lane said the new chief executive, Howard G. Phanstiel, had cleaned house, and the company had turned profitable. Hardly anyone on Wall Street had noticed. All but one of the 14 analysts covering the company had a sell on it. The next week, the stock soared 40% when PacifiCare surprised analysts by more than doubling third-quarter profits. Green now expects the $29 stock to double in the next 12 months. Of Lane, whom he has known for a year, Green says: "He's mpved to the top of my radar screen."