Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: Strayer Education, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Forest Laboratories, Inc., ViroPharma and Pfizer

Chicago, IL – June 29, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Strayer Education (STRA - Analyst Report) as the Bull of the Day and Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (RRGB - Analyst Report) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Forest Laboratories, Inc. (FRX - Analyst Report), ViroPharma (VPHM - Analyst Report) and Pfizer (PFE - Analyst Report).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676.

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

Financial results for the past thirteen quarters at Strayer Education (STRA - Analyst Report) have been above expectations, and management's guidance for 2009 portends continued double-digit EPS growth.

The company benefits from positive pricing through annual 5% tuition increases with the 2009 tuition increase having been announced concurrent with the third quarter earnings report.

Despite the stock's valuation being in the upper-half of the historical range, the stock is rated a Buy.

Bear of the Day:

We believe shares of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (RRGB - Analyst Report) will continue to underperform both the larger market and the restaurant industry.

Red Robin's traffic began declining long before the onset of rising gas prices in October 2007, which began choking business in the casual dining sector -- a victim of poor site selection in new markets. In spite of their poor performance, the company has retained and even added to these sites as it repurchased 45 franchises since 2005.

Moreover, 2009 consensus EPS estimates are 10% higher than ours, and we think our estimate may prove aggressive if the economic slowdown is deeper or more protracted than we currently anticipate.

Latest Posts on the Zacks Analyst Blog:

Good News for Forest Labs

Forest Laboratories, Inc. (FRX - Analyst Report) announced positive results recently from two global multi-center phase III studies which were conducted to evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of ceftaroline for the treatment of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP).

The top-line data in each of the studies (FOCUS I and II) showed that ceftaroline met the primary endpoint of non-inferiority and achieved high clinical cure rates compared with ceftriaxone (84.3% vs. 77.7%). Additionally, ceftaroline was well tolerated with an adverse event profile similar to ceftriaxone. Earlier, Forest had reported positive phase III results on ceftaroline for the treatment of complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI).

Ceftaroline is a novel, bactericidal, injectable, broad-spectrum cephalosporin which is being developed for the treatment of cSSSI and CABP. The anti-infective market, which is currently dominated by antibiotics, represents a significant commercial opportunity for the company.

Commonly prescribed anti-infective treatments include products like Vancocin from ViroPharma (VPHM - Analyst Report) and Zyvox from Pfizer (PFE - Analyst Report) among others. Improved clinical cure rates and a good side effect profile should help ceftaroline gain share once approved and launched. We estimate peak sales could be in the range of $250 - $300 million.

Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=5507.

About the Bull and Bear of the Day

Every day, the analysts at Zacks Equity Research select two stocks that are likely to outperform (Bull) or underperform (Bear) the markets over the next 3-6 months.

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