Boring Portfolio Report
Wednesday, May 28, 1997
by Greg Markus (TMF
Boring)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (May 28, 1997) -- The Boring Portfolio managed to eke out a 0.16% gain Wednesday in the face of losses in the Dow and S&P 500 and a Nasdaq Composite that closed essentially unchanged (+0.07%).
Only three Boring stocks advanced, but that was sufficient to outpace fractional losses in five other holdings. Our ninth stock, TIDEWATER (NYSE: TDW) held fast at $42. Trading activity in each of the nine holdings was on the light side.
A few short weeks ago, analysts at major brokerages were dissin' networking stocks something awful. Now that many of those stocks have shot up 30, 40, 50 percent or more, those analysts are falling all over themselves to praise the some issues. Today alone, the "pros" at Soundview, Robertson Stephens, PaineWebber, Alex. Brown, Smith Barney, Barney Rubble, Fred Flintstone, and who knows where else upgraded one or more stocks in the group. CISCO SYSTEMS (Nasdaq: CSCO) went along for the ride, tacking on $3/8 to close at a bid of $69. CSCO tested the waters on the far side of the $70 mark earlier in the day, but then tiptoed back.
GREEN TREE FINANCIAL (NYSE: GNT) spurted $7/8, despite a long bond yield that held steady at 7.02%. Just before the Memorial Day week-end, Green Tree auctioned off $327 million of securities backed by home equity loans. The offering was in 11 parts, the vast majority of which garnered AAA ratings from Standard & Poor's. And all 11 parts were rated as "investment grade" securities.
A half-point gain from BORDERS GROUP (NYSE: BGP) also helped keep the Borefolio in positive territory. I notice that Value Line initiated coverage of Borders in its current supplement. Value Line is looking for earnings of $0.90 per share for the current year. That's two pennies shy of the consensus estimate the Borders management has already endorsed, so one might expect to see VL revise its forecast upwards soon.
Speaking of Value Line (which I happen to make good use of, and which you can find at 'most any public library), their weekly "Selection & Opinion" section offered the results of a stock screen they ran to locate equities for "investors seeking the best of both worlds: strong expected stock price performance with a minimum level of ... risk."
The screen began with stocks ranked in VL's top two categories in terms of both "Timeliness" and "Safety," and then retained only those issues with a price stability rating of at least 80 (on a 100-point scale).
Only 29 stocks survived the cut. Among them are such stalwarts as COCA COLA (NYSE: KO), PROCTER & GAMBLE (NYSE: PG) and Warren Buffett's flagship, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY (NYSE: BRKA). One current Boring holding also managed to squeeze into this elite group. Can you guess which one?
None other than CARLISLE COMPANIES (NYSE: CSL). Good on ya', Carlisle!
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Stock Change Bid ATLS - 1/8 27.75 BGP + 1/2 22.00 CSL - 1/8 30.63 CSCO + 3/8 69.00 GNT + 7/8 34.88 ORCL - 1/8 47.13 OXHP - 5/8 64.88 PMSI - 1/2 10.88 TDW --- 42.00
Day Month Year History
BORING +0.16% 9.46% 5.15% 21.00%
S&P: -0.29% 5.72% 14.37% 36.29%
NASDAQ: +0.07% 11.85% 9.23% 35.47%
Rec'd # Security In At Now Change
2/28/96 400 Borders Gr 11.26 22.00 95.45%
5/24/96 100 Oxford Hea 48.02 64.88 35.09%
6/26/96 100 Cisco Syst 53.90 69.00 28.02%
3/5/97 150 Atlas Air 23.06 27.75 20.35%
8/13/96 200 Carlisle C 26.32 30.63 16.33%
2/2/96 200 Green Tree 30.39 34.88 14.77%
3/8/96 400 Prime Medi 10.07 10.88 8.01%
11/21/96 100 Oracle Cor 48.65 47.13 -3.13%
12/23/96 100 Tidewater 46.52 42.00 -9.73%
Rec'd # Security In At Value Change
2/28/96 400 Borders Gr 4502.49 8800.00 $4297.51
5/24/96 100 Oxford Hea 4802.49 6487.50 $1685.01
6/26/96 100 Cisco Syst 5389.99 6900.00 $1510.01
2/2/96 200 Green Tree 6077.49 6975.00 $897.51
8/13/96 200 Carlisle C 5264.99 6125.00 $860.01
3/5/97 150 Atlas Air 3458.74 4162.50 $703.76
3/8/96 400 Prime Medi 4027.49 4350.00 $322.51
11/21/96 100 Oracle Cor 4864.99 4712.50 -$152.49
12/23/96 100 Tidewater 4652.49 4200.00 -$452.49
CASH $7788.54
TOTAL $60501.04
