Boring Portfolio

Boring Portfolio Report
Monday, April 15, 1996

(FOOL GLOBAL WIRE)
by Greg Markus (MF Boring)

ANN ARBOR, MI, April 15, 1996 -- The market did its part to help brighten up Tax Day for investors, with all major averages up sharply. The Borefolio did even better yet, gaining 1.74% on the day.

Six of the seven current holdings gained ground, the only exception being long-time portfolio stalwart Texas Industries. TXI has drifted downward a bit recently, on light volume. There's really no news or change in the company's basic story.

As for winning six, it went as follows. Borders continued its move into record territory, closing at $30 7/8. Green Tree shot up $1 5/8 on the eve of what looks to be a solid quarterly report tomorrow. Lam Research, which also reports tomorrow, picked up one quarter, possibly benefitting from KLA Instrument's Street-beating quarterly report today. (KLAC is, of course, a holding of the Foolish Portfolio.)

LCS Industries continued its rebound from a bit of weakness recently, gaining $1 1/4 on the bid side to close at $23. Prime Medical rebounded similarly, up one quarter.

Lastly, the newest member of the Borefolio, Shaw Group, tacked on a half-buck today to close at $19 and move into the black for us. A total of 161,000 shares of SHAW electrons crossed the NASDAQ computers today, more than double its average daily volume.

There was no specific news on any of the Borefolio holdings that I could locate today. I did notice that Green Tree filed its shareholder proxy report (Def 14-A) on EDGAR, though. The report (which you can access on the Web) describes the details of CEO Coss's new compensation package.

Recall that Mr. Coss pulled in something in excess of $60 million in performance-based bonuses this year, as part of a plan that expires on December 31. Under the new plan, Coss's annual salary will increase by 50% (to $600,000), but his bonus will be based on company net income (rather than pre-tax income, as if presently the case), and it will kick in only when the company's return on equity exceeds 12%. If that plan had been in effect this year, Coss would have earned $5.2 million in bonus rather than the $60-plus million.

That's it for tonight. I'll be resting up, getting ready for tomorrow's earnings report and post-report news from Lam and Green Tree!

Transmitted: 4/15/96 7:00 PM

TODAY'S NUMBERS
BGP + 3/8 ...GNT +1 5/8 ...LRCX + 1/4 ...LCSI +1 1/4
...PMSI + 1/4 ...SHAW + 1/2 ...TXI - 3/4 ...
                   Day   Month    Year  History
        BORING   +1.74%   1.19%  -0.37%  -0.37%
        S&P 500  +0.91%  -0.47%   3.36%   3.36%
        NASDAQ   +0.86%   0.82%   6.67%   6.67%
    Rec'd  #   Security     In At       Now    Change
  2/28/96 200 Borders Gro    22.51     30.88    37.16%
   3/8/96 400 Prime Medic    10.07     13.25    31.58%
  1/29/96 100 Texas Indus    54.52     62.50    14.63%
   2/2/96 200 Green Tree     30.39     33.88    11.48%
  4/12/96 300 The Shaw Gr    18.84     19.00     0.85%
  3/25/96 200 LCS Industr    26.14     23.00   -12.01%
  2/23/96 100 Lam Researc    48.02     35.50   -26.07%
    Rec'd  #   Security      Cost     Value    Change
  2/28/96 200 Borders Gro  4502.49   6175.00  $1672.51
   3/8/96 400 Prime Medic  4027.49   5300.00  $1272.51
   2/2/96 200 Green Tree   6077.49   6775.00   $697.51
  4/12/96 300 The Shaw Gr  5652.49   5700.00    $47.51
  3/25/96 200 LCS Industr  5227.49   4600.00  -$627.49
  2/23/96 100 Lam Researc  4802.49   3550.00 -$1252.49
  1/29/96 100 Texas Indus  5449.99   6250.00   $800.01
                             CASH  $11465.11
                            TOTAL  $49815.11