Shares of Pfizer (PFE: sentiment, chart, options) are among the elite Dow components trading in the black today. The pharmaceutical giant lifted its sector after announcing it settled a patent dispute with India's Ranbaxy's Laboratories over cholesterol drug Lipitor. Generics of the drug are now delayed until November 30, 2011; some analysts thought generics would hit the market as early as March 2010. As a result of the news, Goldman Sachs analyst James Kelly lifted his 2011 profit prediction to $2.44 per share from $2.09, boosting his 2012 profit projection to $1.96 per share from $1.88.

From a technical standpoint, the shares of PFE could use a boost. Since falling off support near the 24 neighborhood in October 2007, the stock has lost more than 25%, led lower on double-barreled resistance from its 10-week and 32-week moving averages. The shares hit a new annual low of $17.50 just last week, but today's news has helped them pare some of those losses to trade near the 18 level.

In parity with PFE's woes on the charts is the sentiment surrounding the equity on the Street. Zacks reports that 6 out of 10 ranking analysts rate the stock a "hold' or worse. Meanwhile, the stock's SOIR of 0.76 indicates that short-term option traders have been more bearishly aligned only 37% of the time during the past 52 weeks.