IRIS

[Ramsburg]

Profile:
IRIS International, Inc. engages in the design, development, manufacture, and marketing of in vitro diagnostics (IVD) systems, consumables, and supplies for urinalysis and body fluids testing. It primarily offers diagnostics products, including iQ200 and iQ200 sprint automated urine microscopy analyzers; urine chemistry strips products for instruments and visual read strips; and workstations that perform microscopy and chemistry testing. The company provides consumables, including urine and body fluids reagents; calibrators and controls for its microscopy systems; and test strips, calibrators, controls, and other solutions for the urine chemistry analyzers. IRIS International also offers centrifuges, semiautomated DNA processing workstations, and blood analysis products. In addition, it conducts government-sponsored research and development in medical imaging and software, as well as pursues contract research for corporate clients.
Website: http://www.proiris.com

Trading Idea:
IRIS came up on our filters 2 days ago, showing a good relative strength against a falling market. Today, IRIS was on our filters again, closing above an important resistance level: $15.00 (which acted as a support level in March and as a resistance with 3 contacts during May).

This stock had a horrible sell off from March to early May, and started what seems to be an inversion move with interesting potential.
We can also draw an ascending triangle pattern, with a base near $13.50 (acting as a support for short term purposes) and $15.00 as a top / trigger level.
This stock has a considerable level of short interest (8.8% of Float), therefore a surge from these levels can also create some short covering buying pressure.

We are going to Buy IRIS today at or near the open for the 3SOF Portfolio.

Best regards,

[la-onda]

IRIS: Craig-Hallum Starts @ Buy; Sets Tgt @ $20; Analyst Notes
Tuesday , May 16, 2006 10:07 ET
Issuer: IRIS International, Inc. (NasdaqNM: IRIS)
Analyst Firm:  Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC
Ratings Action: INITIATE
Current Rating: Buy
Target Price Action: INITIATE
Target Price: $20.00

Analyst Comments: The firm based their rating on valuation and they see several potential catalysts in the near-tern that could help shares.

[Ramsburg]

IRIS: Craig-Hallum Starts @ Buy; Sets Tgt @ $20; Analyst Notes
Tuesday , May 16, 2006 10:07 ET
Issuer: IRIS International, Inc. (NasdaqNM: IRIS)
Analyst Firm:  Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC
Ratings Action: INITIATE
Current Rating: Buy
Target Price Action: INITIATE
Target Price: $20.00

Analyst Comments: The firm based their rating on valuation and they see several potential catalysts in the near-tern that could help shares.

Thanks La-Onda, even on a TA approach, that price target makes sense, taking in consideration the descending resistance at $19 and the potential of a definitive breakout of the $15 barrier (the target of this breakout on a simple amplitude projection is also $19).

IRIS stepped back last Friday, having some difficulties to trade above the $15 resistance while the whole market was not helping either

Our Trading Plan:
Hold IRIS with a stop @ $13.10

Best regards,

[Ramsburg]

Following the big sell off on the markets, IRIS had a quick drop this week, approaching the short term ascending support line (a few ticks below yesterday's close). We're expecting a positive reaction; otherwise if IRIS breaks the support level we have our stop in place.

Trading Plan:
Hold IRIS with a stop @ $13.10

Best regards,

[Ramsburg]

IRIS had a positive reaction at the ascending support line but volume was below average.
We need it to hold this support in order to hold this position; the current technical pattern is an ascending triangle formation with the ascending support as a base and the $15 resistance as a top.

Trading Plan:
Hold IRIS with a stop @ $13.10

Best regards,

[Loffigus]

News Released:
IRIS Receives FDA 510(K) Clearance for New Urine Chemistry Analyzer; Product Launch Targeting International Markets Anticipated For July
Business Wire - June 15, 2006 15:32

CHATSWORTH, Calif., Jun 15, 2006 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- IRIS INTERNATIONAL, INC. (NASDAQ: IRIS), a manufacturer and marketer of automated IVD urinalysis systems and medical devices used in hospitals and clinical reference laboratories worldwide, today announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its new iChem(TM)100 Urine Chemistry Analyzer. The iChem 100 is a benchtop instrument designed for small public and private hospital labs, outpatient clinics, reference laboratories and large physician office labs testing up to 50 urine samples a day. The Company will also initiate shipments of its new vChem(TM) line of visual-read test strips designed for lower volume physician office laboratories.

"The release of the iChem100 and vChem are significant milestones for IRIS as they enable the Company to better penetrate the urine chemistry market with a proprietary brand of urine chemistry analyzers and test strips," stated President and Chief Executive Officer Cesar Garcia. "The iChem100 is the most productive semi-automated urine chemistry analyzer available on the market today. It fills a gap for us in the international market and enhances our portfolio of urinalysis instruments."

"The iChem100 addresses a significant portion of the urine chemistry market, which we estimate to be about 8,000 sites globally, while the vChem line can be used in most physicians' offices." Mr. Garcia noted. "We are also continuing to develop a fully automated urine chemistry analyzer, which is scheduled for release during the second half of 2007, that will give us an even more comprehensive product line for the international automated urine chemistry market and enable IRIS to become a full-line player in addressing a $350 million total market opportunity."

IRIS plans to launch the iChem100 analyzer and related iChem test strips, as well as the vChem Urine Chemistry Strips in July to the international market through its overseas distribution network, except in Japan. As part of an existing distribution agreement with Arkray, Inc., IRIS will continue to market the Japan-based company's chemistry analyzer in the U.S and Arkray will also continue to market IRIS' microscopy analyzers in Japan.

The Iris Diagnostics Division's flagship product line, the iQ(R)200 Automated Urine Microscopy Analyzers and Systems, were launched in August 2003. The original iQ200 performs up to 60 analyses per hour and meets the needs of the mid-sized laboratory market doing more than 45 urinalysis tests per day. The iQ(R)200 Sprint(TM), a high-speed analyzer launched in March 2005, processes 101 tests an hour and is the fastest device of its type on the market. The Sprint addresses the high specimen throughput requirements of clinical reference and high volume hospital laboratories.



** So -- any ideas what this should mean for our position?

[Ramsburg]

Something strange about IRIS behaviour today...
Today's news was great:
- IRIS Receives FDA 510(K) Clearance for New Urine Chemistry Analyzer

And for some reason after the fast intraday move from 13.20 to 14.24, IRIS started to sell off back to where it came from... Big volatility and volume during that move up and down...

I can't quite explain what could have happened, but whoever sold IRIS was not selling because of the news I guess, probably some big seller in need for a good buying force to meet his size, and that rally was the right time to do it... The thing is that all of this, the news the rally and the sell off, all of this happened on the last hour of session, leaving no time for any technical adjustments, and creating some reservations among traders.

With this, IRIS broke its support and almost touched our stop level. We expect IRIS to have a positive reaction tomorrow, but at the same time we didn't enjoy this strange issue, so we are going to keep our stop in place for protection.

Trading Plan:
Hold IRIS with a stop @ $13.10

Best regards,

[basonista]

IRIS broke through a descending trendline today and closed above the 200ma on this news:

IRIS Receives Major Order for Its iQ(R)200 Systems and Other Instruments

This order was already factored into company guidance for 2006 but I suspect analysts will have to do some adjusting to their numbers although they may have this factored into their 41% eps increase for 2007.