Today, let's look at one of the stocks we have talked about, and see what's been happening.

We'll review EntreMed, and I certainly hope that doesn't mean that we have a latent sadistic streak. You may recall that in early May, the New York Times had an article over the weekend, stating that EntreMed had developed two proteins which were very effective in treating cancerous tumors in mice. The previous Friday, the stock closed at 12 1/16. Well, Monday proved that one of the dubious advantages to living in the Big Apple is that you get to read the Times, and then you get to act on what you read.

Monday morning the stock took off like a scalded cat (my apologies to animal rights groups; in my defense, I had nothing to do with the mice being used in the tests), with EntreMed opening at 82, up almost 70 points! It then went up a little more to 84 7/8, back down to 40 3/4, and closed at 51 13/16 up 39 3/4. The next day it closed at 43 1/8 down 8 11/16, and the day after that it closed at 31 1/8 down 12. What a financial enema. In the interest of public decency, we held off from giving you updates. However, even mercy has its limits, so we must advise you that the stock has been trailing off since that last May 6 article, and closed today at 24 down 1 1/2.

I still keep this stock on my radar screen obviously, as you never can tell if ultimately their approach will be a winning one. In the meantime, I hope you remember this calamity the next time you read something exciting and you want to get in at any price. The market is only too glad to give a haircut to the greenhorns, so you don't want to be one of them. There is no substitute for doing your research to come up with your prospective buys, and then tracking the price for a decent entry point. That entry point is never the low, as only fools think they know the answer to "how low is low?" Stay tuned.

The Market Pro - June 8, 1998