Boring Portfolio Report
Wednesday, April 24, 1996
(FOOL GLOBAL
WIRE)
by Greg Markus (MF
Boring)
ANN ARBOR, MI, April 23, 1996 -- The NASDAQ set a new record high for the fourth consecutive trading day, gaining more than 13 points to close at 1,166.76 -- up 1.14%. The S&P 500 rose half that much, percentage-wise. And, yes, the Borefolio pulled up the rear: +0.39%. Patience.
Last night's update noted that Derrill Crowe, MD, had stepped down from the board of Prime Medical Services, partly to gain more flexibility to sell some of his remaining one million shares (give or take a few thousand) of PMSI stock.
This morning, I spoke with the VP for Finance at PMSI, Cheryl McLeod. She told me that in 1992 when PMSI first got into stone-busting, the company purchased the business that Dr. Crowe and Mr. Paul Butrus co-owned. Crowe and Butrus each received a large chunk of PMSI shares in the deal. Crowe is age 60, and he (and Butrus, also) have recently decided to cash in some of their PMSI holdings.
As reported last night, Crowe has already sold over 500,000 shares this year, at various times. How much more stock he or Butrus intends to sell in the future is unknown; but Ms. McLeod said the intention is not at all to dump the shares. Moreover, she continued, Crowe's decision is purely a personal one and has nothing at all to do with the prospects for the business.
After last night's news, some PMSI shareholders apparently decided to lock in their profits and ask questions later. The stock fell more than one point in the first hour of trading this morning. By that time, cooler heads prevailed and the stock recovered virtually all of the lost ground, to close at $14 1/8. (We figure our books Foolishly, however, and therefore use the $13 3/4 bid price in reckoning the Borefolio's current value.)
PMSI has not established a specific date yet for when earnings will be released, but it will be either late this week or the following week. The company has never had a teleconference with analysts, although the V-P mentioned that this is something that perhaps they'll begin doing in the future. You can be sure that either I or one of the other Fools will follow up with the company as soon as the report is issued.
Our other four-letter stocks -- LRCX, LCSI, and SHAW -- all rose nicely today. Lam Research actually crossed the $40 mark late this afternoon, for the first time in a while. And LCSI has now clawed its way back to within the price of a couple of pizzas of our initial cost of $5227.49 (including the broker's commish). LCSI will report in about two weeks.
Lastly, kudos to David and Tom Gardner on their extraordinary accomplishments in the Foolish Portfolio. As I'm sure you all know by now, today's 9.75% gain boosted their PortFoolio over the double-century mark since its inception on August 4, 1994. Tom and David did it in full view of anyone who cared to click in here, and they did it informatively and with a sense of humor. I'm honored to be part of Fooldom, guys.
Transmitted: 4/23/96 7:19 PM
BGP - 1/8 ...GNT + 1/8 ...LRCX +2 1/4 ...LCSI + 3/4
...PMSI - 1/2 ...SHAW + 1/8 ...TXI - 1/8 ...
*Scroll down or expand screen for full portfolio accounting
Day Month Year History
BORING +0.39% 4.57% 2.96% 2.96%
S&P 500 +0.57% 0.94% 4.82% 4.82%
NASDAQ +1.14% 5.93% 12.08% 12.08%
Rec'd # Security In At Now Change
3/8/96 400 Prime Medic 10.07 13.75 36.54%
2/28/96 200 Borders Gro 22.51 30.63 36.05%
1/29/96 100 Texas Indus 54.52 64.13 17.61%
2/2/96 200 Green Tree 30.39 34.75 14.36%
4/12/96 300 The Shaw Gr 18.84 19.50 3.50%
3/25/96 200 LCS Industr 26.14 26.00 -0.54%
2/23/96 100 Lam Researc 48.02 39.75 -17.22%
Rec'd # Security Cost Value Change
2/28/96 200 Borders Gro 4502.49 6125.00 $1622.51
3/8/96 400 Prime Medic 4027.49 5500.00 $1472.51
2/2/96 200 Green Tree 6077.49 6950.00 $872.51
4/12/96 300 The Shaw Gr 5652.49 5850.00 $197.51
3/25/96 200 LCS Industr 5227.49 5200.00 -$27.49
2/23/96 100 Lam Researc 4802.49 3975.00 -$827.49
1/29/96 100 Texas Indus 5449.99 6412.50 $962.51
CASH $11465.11
TOTAL $51477.61
