Boring Portfolio Report
Monday, September 22, 1997
by Greg Markus
(TMFBoring)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Sept. 22, 1997) - The Dow took another stab at closing above 8000 Monday but backed off from its intraday high to close at 7996, up 80 (+1.00%). The S&P 500 gained 5 (+0.52%) and the Nasdaq, 9 (+0.54%) to extend its push into record territory...
... as did the Boring Portfolio. The Borefolio rose 0.84% to a net asset value of $74,446. Six holdings advanced, two declined, and ATLAS AIR (Nasdaq: ATLS) cruised steadily at an altitude of $26 3/8.
I gave up counting the press releases from ORACLE (Nasdaq: ORCL) after the first dozen today. The company's OpenWorld '97 conference unfolds this week at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and Oracle is pulling out all the stops to highlight various partnerships with DELL (Nasdaq: DELL), COMPAQ (NYSE: CPQ), SUN MICROSYSTEMS (Nasdaq: SUNW), NETWORK APPLIANCE (Nasdaq: NTAP), and pretty much anyone else who makes anything that uses software.
Oracle's PR office also noted that CEO Lawrence J. ("Call me Larry, honey") Ellison met with US of A CEO William J. ("Call me Bill, darlin'") Clinton to mark the occasion of a gift of network computers from Ellison to a middle school in South-Central LA.
Clinton was in Southern California after dropping off the First Kid at Stanford and meeting with CISCO SYSTEMS (Nasdaq: CSCO) CEO John Chambers and other Silicon Valley brass at a Democratic Party fund-raiser in San Francisco this past weekend. The topic du soir was reportedly policies on data encryption. No news on whether Chambers was invited to a sleep-over in the Lincoln bedroom.
Back to Oracle: rumors are circulating that the company will unveil at OpenWorld a new software development tool to pair with Oracle8. Oracle could certainly use a new offering in that department, especially since the on-again off-again "Sedona" project was recently offed permanently.
Still on Oracle, rival INFORMIX (Nasdaq: IFMXE) added an "E" to its symbol today and subtracted 22% from its market capitalization after Informix announced that the audit of its books for questionable revenue recognition had expanded and the Nasdaq initiated action to de-list the company.
With all this going on, you'd think that Oracle's stock would get some kind of lift. Nuh-uh. ORCL slipped $5/16 in thoroughly unremarkable trading.
Cisco's shares gained $1 15/16, thanks in part perhaps to a better-than-expected earnings report from CABLETRON (NYSE: CS) this morning that buoyed most networking stocks.
Cisco wasn't just coasting on Cabletron's news, however. Not bothering to wait for the upcoming NetWorld+Interop show in Atlanta, Cisco launched the second phase of its fall offensive today by announcing availability of its much-anticipated next-generation universal access server, the AS 5300. Cisco also heralded a batch of additional new hardware and software aimed at the Internet Service Provider and enterprise intranet markets.
All of this comes on the heels of the recent, underappreciated news that SPRINT (NYSE: FON) is deploying Cisco's Gigabit Switch-Router (GSR) in its WAN backbone and that additional GSR early-adopters will be announced soon.
Cisco was undeniably late in offering competitive gear for the fast-developing ISP market, but the 800-pound gorilla appears now to have more than closed the gap. Fresh data from industry analysts show that Cisco is capturing share in the ISP market from the likes of ASCEND COMMUNICATIONS (Nasdaq: ASND) and 3COM (Nasdaq: COMS).
Even a favorable story in Investor's Business Daily couldn't help TIDEWATER (NYSE: TDW) break through the blockade at the $60 mark. TDW did move ahead $1/8 to $58 3/8, however. As noted in the story -- and as pointed out here recently -- Tidewater is looking to sell off its gas compression equipment business, presumably to put the capital to better use in paying down debt or possibly expanding its global navy even further.
Finally, BORDERS GROUP (NYSE: BGP) gained $1/2 to establish a new closing high of $24 1/8. CARLISLE COMPANIES (NYSE: CSL) did likewise, rising $13/16 to $46 7/8.
Drip Portfolio --
Start one for your kids!
The Fool Portfolio
-- Fool Port getting closer.
Fool Message
Boards -- Speak your mind!
Evening News
-- All the news,
early.
Daily Double -- Doubled. Why? Learn.
Daily Trouble -- Slammed.
A value?
Fool Four -- 23% annualized
historically
Stock Change Bid ATLS --- 26.38 BGP + 1/2 28.13 CSL + 13/16 46.88 CSCO +115/16 75.13 GNT - 5/16 47.63 ORCL - 5/16 37.13 OXHP +1 3/8 77.81 PMSI + 1/16 14.38 TDW + 1/8 58.38
Day Month Year History
BORING +0.84% 6.40% 29.39% 48.89%
S&P: +0.52% 6.22% 28.98% 53.70%
NASDAQ: +0.54% 6.43% 30.86% 62.30%
Rec'd # Security In At Now Change
2/28/96 400 Borders Gr 11.26 28.13 149.86%
8/13/96 200 Carlisle C 26.32 46.88 78.06%
5/24/96 100 Oxford Hea 48.02 77.81 62.03%
2/2/96 200 Green Tree 30.39 47.63 56.73%
3/8/96 400 Prime Medi 10.07 14.38 42.77%
6/26/96 100 Cisco Syst 53.90 75.13 39.38%
12/23/96 100 Tidewater 46.52 58.38 25.47%
11/21/96 150 Oracle Cor 32.43 37.13 14.47%
3/5/97 150 Atlas Air 23.06 26.38 14.38%
Rec'd # Security In At Value Change
2/28/96 400 Borders Gr 4502.49 11250.00 $6747.51
8/13/96 200 Carlisle C 5264.99 9375.00 $4110.01
2/2/96 200 Green Tree 6077.49 9525.00 $3447.51
5/24/96 100 Oxford Hea 4802.49 7781.25 $2978.76
6/26/96 100 Cisco Syst 5389.99 7512.50 $2122.51
3/8/96 400 Prime Medi 4027.49 5750.00 $1722.51
12/23/96 100 Tidewater 4652.49 5837.50 $1185.01
11/21/96 150 Oracle Cor 4864.99 5568.75 $703.76
3/5/97 150 Atlas Air 3458.74 3956.25 $497.51
CASH $7890.00
TOTAL $74446.25
