The Boring Portfolio

Boring Portfolio Report
Tuesday, April 30, 1996

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

ANN ARBOR, MI, April 30, 1996 -- Will children born and raised in this digital age understand what the term "clock-wise" means? And how about "He sounds like a broken record?" Will we have to explain the origin of that simile to them?

Well, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I note that the NASDAQ index reached its ninth consecutive new high on Tuesday, and the Boring Portfolio extended its string of winning sessions to seventeen.

For the month of April, the Borefolio gained 7.51%, not counting accumulated interest and dividends (which the folks in Foolish Accounting assure me will get tallied up, just as soon as the replacement beads for their abacus arrive in the mail). That monthly percentage gain easily topped that of the S&P 500 and nearly matched the furious pace of the NASDAQ.

Our big mover today was Zytec, which announced a twofer stock split after the market closed yesterday. ZTEC surged past its old record high, set earlier this month, and closed at a bid of $30 1/2 on volume of nearly a half-million shares. In its two-day stay in the Borefolio, ZTEC has already risen over 13%, figured Foolishly.

Reverberations continued today from last Friday's news that Prime Medical Services would acquire Lithotripters, Inc. This morning, PMSI announced that Dr. Joseph Jenkins would become the company's new President and CEO, replacing Jackie Majors, who has retired. Jenkins has been the president of Lithotripters, Inc. since 1992. In addition, Jenkins and Dr. Bill Jordan have joined PMSI's board of directors. Jordan was the chairman and CEO of Lithotripters, Inc., the company he founded in 1987.

Prime Medical's new CEO received undergraduate, medical, and law degrees from the University of North Carolina. He was among the earliest physicians trained in lithotripsy, completing his training in 1985 in Germany. Dr. Jenkins is the immediate past president of the American Lithotripsy Society, as well as past president of the North Carolina Urological Association.

Dr. William Jordan also received his undergraduate and medical degrees from UNC. He has served on the executive committee of the American Lithotripsy Society and currently serves as vice chairman of the board of trustees of the University of North Carolina. In addition, Jordan is the CEO of Global Lithotripsy, Inc., a company recently formed to provide lithotripsy services primarily in Asia.

With this latest acquisition, Prime Medical becomes the largest operator of lithotripters in the U.S., with 54 lithotripters in 31 states and contracts with approximately 400 hospitals and 225 managed care companies. Awesome!

I spoke briefly today with Bharat Pandya, an analyst at Southcoast Capital who had issued an excellent study of Prime Medical earlier this year. Dr. Pandya has not yet finished revising his earnings projections for the newly transformed PMSI, but he regards the merger as "an extremely positive development." Furthermore, he thinks the newly announced changes in PMSI's management and board will help smooth the integration of the two companies as well as lend PMSI additional professional clout as it extends its contracts with hospitals and health care providers nationally.

And, yes, LCS Industries strong showing today, as its scheduled earnings release next week approaches, did not escape my notice.

That's about it for tonight -- and for this month. Onward into May!