Myogen's Myopic Fans

Change of Heart

While sticking by Myogen, as well, Fein has now changed his mind about Encysive twice.

Fein initiated coverage on Encysive in February with a buy recommendation when the stock fetched around $9 a share. He then downgraded Encysive to underperform the following month when a regulatory setback cut the stock in half. He reversed course this month, recommending the stock anew after the company overcame that setback and saw its shares climb back to the $7 level. The stock, while up 1.8% to $6.83 on Thursday, has lost a bit of ground since that upgrade.

For the most part, it seems, Fein has recommending buying Encysive before it falls and selling it before it climbs. Meanwhile, he continues to recommend Myogen -- without any change of heart -- as it loses ground.

Lawton faults him for the latter.

"Analysts have to take a stand, and sometimes they're wrong," acknowledges Lawton, who has gone against Wall Street recommendations with his short position in Myogen and long bet on Encysive. "But they need to step up and say something when they make a mistake. They need to downgrade the stock, comment on it -- at least do something. But where are all of these analysts right now?"