Boring Portfolio Report
Tuesday, March 26, 1996
(FOOL GLOBAL WIRE)
by Greg Markus (MF Boring)
ANN ARBOR, MI, March 26, 1996 -- Well, it's about time. After a fairly bleah couple of weeks (that's a technical term), the Boring Portfolio exhibited some definite signs of life today. Four of the six holdings posted gains--and nice ones, too.
LCSI demonstrated its pleasure at joining the Borefolio by leaping 2 1/8 (on the bid side) to hit a new high of $27 3/8. Other than the fact that the stock was added to the Boring Portfolio on Monday, there was no news to account for this gain. Hey, if LCSI keeps this up, I may actually chuckle the next time some telemarketer interrupts dinner at Chez Boring.
By the way, in my update on LCSI yesterday, I mis-stated the Borefolio's initial loss on the stock arising from the bid/ask spread and brokerage fees. No matter, because today's gains wiped out that loss and then some: after two days, LCSI is up nearly $250, figured Foolishly. With that gain, five of the six Borefolio holdings are now in the black.
Lam Research continued its "Look, it's down! Look, it's up!" routine, rising $1 1/4 today. Perhaps these semiconductor thingies (another technical term) might not be just a passing fad after all? I sure hope so, because it will take two more weeks of similar gains from LRCX for the stock to get back to where I bought it, barely a month ago.
Borders Group rose $1 1/4 today, no news. Green Tree Financial grew by $1 1/8, also. Recent reports indicate that new home purchasing is surprisingly strong in many regions of the country, perhaps as bargain hunters hurry to buy in anticipation of rising mortgage rates later in the year. Of course, even if rates do rise (which is by no means a sure thing), Green Tree would still do just peachy, as manufactured homes would become even more attractive price-wise as compared with "stick-built" alternatives.
As for the other stocks in the Borefolio, Prime Medical dipped $1/2 on the bid side today, and Texas Industries shed $1/8.
Please note: I've still got over $17,000 in cash sitting on the sidelines. If you've got some nice Boring ideas about how to invest some of it, I'd like to hear from you. Just click that "Talk to Boring" button on the Boring Portfolio main screen, or drop by the "Boring Stocks" folder inside "Investment Approaches" in The Motley Fool.
BGP +1 1/4 ...GNT +1 1/8 ...LRCX +1 1/4 ...LCSI +2 1/8
...PMSI - 1/2 ...TXI - 1/8 ...
Day Month Year History
BORING +1.66% 1.56% -0.46% -0.46%
S&P 500 +0.45% 1.96% 5.04% 5.04%
NASDAQ +0.11% -1.07% 4.55% 4.55%
Rec'd # Security In At Now Change
2/28/96 200 Borders Gro 22.51 28.00 24.39%
1/29/96 100 Texas Indus 54.52 63.50 16.46%
3/8/96 400 Prime Medic 10.07 11.63 15.44%
2/2/96 200 Green Tree 30.39 34.75 14.36%
3/25/96 200 LCS Industr 26.14 27.38 4.72%
2/23/96 100 Lam Researc 48.02 36.25 -24.51%
Rec'd # Security Cost Value Change
2/28/96 200 Borders Gro 4502.49 5600.00 $1097.51
2/2/96 200 Green Tree 6077.49 6950.00 $872.51
3/25/96 200 LCS Industr 5227.49 5475.00 $247.51
2/23/96 100 Lam Researc 4802.49 3625.00 -$1177.49
3/8/96 400 Prime Medic 4027.49 4650.00 $622.51
1/29/96 100 Texas Indus 5449.99 6350.00 $900.01
CASH $17117.60
TOTAL $49767.60
