For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – September 18, 2009 – Zacks Equity Research highlights ON Semiconductor (ONNN) as the Bull of the Day and Developers Diversified (DDR) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Alcon Inc.(ACL), AstraZeneca (AZN) and Allergan, Inc.(AGN).

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:

ON Semiconductor (ONNN) is an OEM of primarily analog semiconductors used within a diverse set of end markets. June quarter results beat consensus expectations, with management guiding for stronger results in the September quarter.

Recent acquisitions, a broad product portfolio, a well diversified business across end markets and geographies, restructuring actions and debt reduction initiatives are other positive factors.

While competition is strong as ever and restrictive covenants and some residual integration

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Yesterday, ISTA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ISTA) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its drug candidate, Bepreve, for the treatment of ocular itching associated with allergic conjunctivitis in patients two years and above. The drug is approved as a twice-daily prescription eye drop treatment. ISTA filed the New Drug Application for the drug (bepotastine ophthalmic solution) on Nov 13, 2008.  As a reminder, the advisory committee of the FDA had recommended the drug in June. The seven-member panel had voted unanimously in favor of Bepreve after reviewing comprehensive safety and efficacy data from ISTA's clinical program.  Bepreve is expected to be available to ophthalmologists and patients in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2009. The company, which expects to recognize revenues from the drug from this year, is expanding its sales force for this purpose.  ISTA has three drugs on the ...

Abbott (ABT) yesterday entered into a definitive agreement whereby it will acquire Visiogen, Inc., a privately-held company, for $400 million in cash. Visiogen is focused on the development of innovative products for cataract and refractive patients.

The deal will provide Abbott with access to Visiogen’s next-generation accommodating intraocular lens (IOL) technology, which helps address presbyopia in cataract patients. Visiogen’s first commercial application, Synchrony, is currently available in Europe and under Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review in the U.S.

Synchrony is designed to deliver improved vision at all distances, potentially eliminating the need for glasses or contact lenses, reducing glare and nighttime halos, and improving contrast sensitivity.

This deal is in-line with Abbott’s goal of strengthening its ophthalmic portfolio. As a reminder, Abbott entered the ophthalmology market earlier this year with its acquisition of Advanced Medical Optics. The acquisition of Advanced Medical Optics should help Abbott build its strong medical device business

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ISTA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ISTA) yesterday announced that its once-per-day eye drug Xibrom QD displayed successful results in a late-stage study. The multi-center, randomized, double-masked, parallel-group study included 299 subjects who underwent cataract operation in one eye.   ISTA revealed that Xibrom QD eye drops were significantly better than placebo at curing eye inflammation 15 days post cataract surgery. The drug was also successful in eliminating eye pain one day following surgery. No serious adverse events were observed and the safety profile appeared to be consistent with the company’s twice a day Xibrom version, which has already hit the market.   The U.S. marketing rights to Xibrom, which is used for the treatment of ocular inflammation following cataract surgery, were acquired by ISTA in 2002 and the product was launched in the U.S. in 2005. As per IMS data, sales in the first half of 2009 were $33.8 million....

Fed sees the bright side… Bernanke says worst it over, inflation not a worry… Warren Buffett can’t see any green shoots… even after eye surgery… Alan Knuckman on how to survive a sideways stock market… Byron King says now’s a good time to book profits on this sector… Housing still out of whack… one chart foreshadows the market’s next move…

Take two days off and look what happens… the recession has bottomed.

At least that’s what “they” would have you believe. While we locked ourselves in our bimonthly editorial meeting the last two days, we missed some new “the worst is over” calls. Here’s the rundown: “The pace of economic contraction is slowing,” declared the Federal Open Market Committee yesterday after emerging from a two-day meeting of their own. Even though Mr. Bernanke and his brood say, “economic activity is likely to remain weak for a time,”

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Currencies rally…  More on the BRIC’s…  New Zealand’s GDP contracts..  Bernanke gets grilled! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Happy Friday to one and all! The end of what seemed to be a very long week… The last weekend in June, can you believe that? Next week, we’ll be getting ready for the 4th of July celebrations! WOW!

Well… What a volatile week it has been in the currencies! Up, down, all around, and settling back to levels that we saw before the Fed’s FOMC meeting earlier this week. Suddenly, investors are looking for yield again… Looks like they are “Desperately Seeking (not Susan) Yield! And why not? The Fed, and the Bank of Canada (BOC) have come out and said that there will be no interest rate hikes until we’ve turned quite a few pages on the 2010 calendar.

So, with investors clamoring for yield, the dollar gets taken to the woodshed… As I

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Despite all the data out this week — new and existing home sales, GDP, jobless claims — only one has given the Street a jolt: durable goods.

Orders for items meant to last a few years increased 1.8% from April to May, smashing Wall Street’s expected 0.4% growth. Never mind that orders in the first five months of 2009 are down 27% compared to 2008… May’s number is another green shoot! Hooray!

“I get figures on 70-odd businesses, a lot of them daily,” said Warren Buffett yesterday. “Everything that I see about the economy is that we’ve had no bounce. The financial system was really where the crisis was last September and October, and that’s been surmounted and that’s enormously important. But in terms of the economy coming back, it takes awhile. There were a

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SALT LAKE CITY, UT — (Marketwire) — 04/07/09 — Paradigm Medical Industries, Inc. (OTCBB: PDMI) announced today that Stephen Davis, a leading executive in the medical device industry, has been named new President of the Company. His range of sales, marketing, manufacturing, and operations management in both the domestic and international markets will prove very beneficial to the organization.

Mr. Davis brings over 25 years of experience in global healthcare and medical devices markets and over 14 of those in the ophthalmic arena to Paradigm Medical Industries, Inc. Stephen has also served as the President and CEO for Zinetics Medical, Inc. Salt Lake City, Utah for nine years. Stephen was successful in raising over $2.7 million for Zinetics Medical and spearheaded the purchase of Zinetics Medical by Medtronic for over $50 million. He served as Site Director for Medtronic Functional Diagnostics for a year after the conclusion of the

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Healthcare Products and Supplies is a unique sub sector of healthcare that holds the potential for great growth opportunities in the coming years. The sub sector is extremely vast, with companies providing products and supplies to a variety of medical areas such as cosmetic surgery, eye care, cardiology, orthopedics, and diabetes to list just a few. Within these major areas, HCP&S ’s products are further divided into higher tech products such as drug eluting stents (DESs) and lower tech products such as hypodermic needles and scalpels.

In addition to the diversification of products, there are many other variables that affect the profitability and riskiness of companies in the industry. One example would be the geographic revenue breakdown, since revenue concentration in foreign markets typically increases risks associated with exchange rate fluctuations as well as changes in demand. However, geographic

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The recent volatility from the Healthcare sector has left many investors weary about where to place their money. General market swings aside, M&A activity and legislative developments have intensified the uncertainty in the sector, but have also lead to many investment opportunities.

M&A has been very exciting and has ramped up heavily in the last few months.  Pfizer[PFE: 14.04, 0.00 (0.00%)] and Wyeth, Roche and Genentech [DNA: 0.00, N/A (N/A)], Merck [MRK: 27.16, 0.00 (0.00%)] and Schering-Plough, Gilead [GILD: 44.37, 0.00 (0.00%)] and CV Therapeutics have all hit the headlines.  Obama’s Healthcare Budget Plan has stirred up heavy trading in recent weeks, putting downward pressure on the Managed Care and Pharmaceuticals sectors, while giving a boost to the Generic Drugmakers. The market has rallied in the past week.  Is your portfolio ready

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