The Boring Portfolio

ANN ARBOR, MI, June 27, 1996 -- The NASDAQ index rebounded 1.11% on Thursday, beating out the Borefolio by a few hundredths of a percentage point: the difference was less than the $27.49 brokerage commission it cost me to unload 200 shares of LCSI this morning, at a price of $12 1/4. The S&P 500 also advanced on the session, although the Dow-Jones index fell five points.

Unlike what has occurred at some times in the past when either the Boring Portfolio or the Foolish Portfolio announced an intention to sell, LCSI opened this morning right where it left off the night before. The stock soon started heading south, though, so I sold the Borefolio's stake.

Looks like it may have been a good thing, too. By day's end, the bid on LCSI was only $10 1/4 -- a loss of over 21% for the day. Although volume was heavy (for LCSI), at 133,400 shares, I'm told that there were no block trades today. All individual investors, apparently.

I've been getting some mail already about LCSI. It tends to fall into two bins. Bin #1 is labeled: "Hey, you caused a big sell-off in LCSI!" Bin #2 is labeled: "Hey, Boring! You're selling at the exact bottom!"

To the first group of campers, all I can say is that, short of a survey of sellers, there's no real way of knowing why folks who sold today did so. If some of them sold because they reasoned through my argument yesterday and reached the same conclusion I did, then that's just fine with me. More likely, though, is that more than a few LCSI shareholders who have never heard of MF Boring independently decided that yesterday was the last straw for them.

As for the second camp, I think it's quite possible that they're right. Indeed, at a price under $11, a bunch of Fools could almost band together and buy up a pretty good chunk of LCS Industries on their own. And I suspect I'm not the only person who's reached that conclusion.

In that regard, a contributor to the LCSI stock folder in The Motley Fool on AOL has indicated that a good-sized financial institution may have been on the receiving end of those recent block trades; and that institution may initiate coverage of LCSI fairly soon. After all, the folks who sold 350K shares yesterday at five minutes to closing time didn't just "decide" to do it right then. Presumably, there was an arrangement of some kind.

Hey, if LCSI should soon get an official blessing in the form of a "buy" or "attractive" or "accumulate" or "short-term accumulate, long-term fold it in thirds and bake at 200 degrees for 15 minutes," or whatever, then that should be terrific for the remaining LCSI shareholder. And as I said yesterday, they will certainly deserve it. I simply choose not to participate, for reasons I detailed last night. And that's about all I have to say on the matter, I think.

Let's close out tonight with a quick hello to Cisco Systems, which gained $1 1/8 today to move into the profit column for us. Cheers, too, to Green Tree Financial, which blossomed $1 1/2. The yield on the benchmark 30-year Treasury dipped under the magic 7% number today, which helped GNT and related financial-sector stocks. Oxford Health Plans is recovering nicely, also. OXHP also rose $1 1/2. And SHAW was up a dollar. And TXI was up a tick, too. Hooray!

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Transmitted: 6/27/96