Boring Portfolio

Boring Portfolio Report
Friday, October 10, 1997
by Greg Markus (TMF [email protected])

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Oct. 10, 1997) -- What Alan Greenspan couldn't accomplish Wednesday, a stronger than expected increase in producer prices managed to do Friday: after a run of six consecutive record highs, the Nasdaq finally gave up 7 points (-0.39%). Daily losses for the S&P 500 and the Boring Portfolio were of the same magnitude.

For the week, however, the Borefolio's 2.72% increase easily surpassed the Nasdaq's 1.35% gain and the S&P 500's rise of 0.20%. The Borefolio established record highs on Tuesday and Thursday, before slipping back a bit today.

Shares of ATLAS AIR (Nasdaq: ATLS) soared $1 to $27 3/4 after the company announced this morning that it's hauling its stock over to the Big Board, where it will begin trading on Nov. 11. In a press release, Atlas's founder, president, CEO, and (whew!) board chairman Michael Chowdry said, "We believe the New York Stock Exchange will provide Atlas with a high profile venue for the trading of our shares. Our shareholders should also benefit from the efficient trading characteristics of the NYSE, which should alleviate some of the volatility our stock has experienced."

Quite so. But some of the stock volatility might also have been alleviated had not Atlas saddled itself with those five flying lemons from FedEx. Happily, it's sayonara, aloha, auf wiedersehen, arrivederci, and adios to those moneysuckers come January.

If you want low volatility in a stock -- along with steady gains, you could hardly have done better than CARLISLE COMPANIES (NYSE: CSL) over the past few years. CSL gained $7/8 ahead of the company's report of third quarter results this coming Wednesday morning.

Also reporting Wednesday morning is GREEN TREE FINANCIAL (NYSE: GNT). Despite a weak bond market Friday, the Tree grew $3/16 to just a shade under $50.

After the close of trading Thursday, ORACLE (Nasdaq: ORCL) issued a press release announcing that the company had revised its fiscal first report (issued last month) to reflect a change in the way it would account for the acquisition of Treasury Services Corp. For reasons too complicated to go into here, Oracle concluded it would receive a more favorable tax treatment by treating the deal as a "cash for stock" transaction rather than as an "asset purchase" transaction. The effect was to widen the one-time charge for the acquisition by three cents, to $.09.

All of that, of course, had no effect whatsoever on the statement of operating earnings, which is all that really matters in the scheme of things. An impromptu conference call with analysts last night lasted all of about ten minutes as the analysts asked, in effect, "Thanks for clearing that up, but who cares?"

I guess someone may not have gotten the word, though, as ORCL lost $1 in moderate trading.

Also on the downside was OXFORD HEALTH PLANS (Nasdaq: OXHP) which fell $2 3/4 following a drop on Thursday. The company was subject to what can fairly be called a hack job in Thursday's "Heard on the Street Column," in the Wall Street Journal.

But we'll speak no more of that. After all, the Borefolio had a great week. As Cosmo Kramer would say, "Serenity NOW!!!!"

Drip Portfolio -- Randy on KSU, Part 2.
The Fool Portfolio -- Bill Clinton, Saddam and scuds.
Fool Message Boards -- Speak your mind!
Evening News -- All the news, early.
Daily Double -- HumanScan.
Daily Trouble -- Seachange.
Fool Four -- 23% annualized historically

TODAY'S NUMBERS
Stock  Change    Bid
ATLS  +1       27.25
BGP     ---    26.94
CSL   +  7/8   46.00
CSCO  -  1/2   81.38
GNT   +  3/16  49.69
ORCL  -1       36.13
OXHP  -2 3/4   73.75
PMSI  -  3/8   14.31
TDW   -  1/16  65.88

                   Day   Month    Year  History
        BORING   -0.36%   2.96%  30.83%  50.54%
        S&P:     -0.38%   2.08%  30.54%  55.56%
        NASDAQ:  -0.39%   3.17%  34.70%  67.06%

    Rec'd   #  Security     In At       Now    Change
  2/28/96  400 Borders Gr    11.26     26.94   139.31%
  8/13/96  200 Carlisle C    26.32     46.00    74.74%
   2/2/96  200 Green Tree    30.39     49.69    63.51%
  5/24/96  100 Oxford Hea    48.02     73.75    53.57%
  6/26/96  100 Cisco Syst    53.90     81.38    50.97%
   3/8/96  400 Prime Medi    10.07     14.31    42.15%
 12/23/96  100 Tidewater     46.52     65.88    41.59%
   3/5/97  150 Atlas Air     23.06     27.25    18.18%
 11/21/96  150 Oracle Cor    32.43     36.13    11.38%

    Rec'd   #  Security     In At     Value    Change
  2/28/96  400 Borders Gr  4502.49  10775.00  $6272.51
  8/13/96  200 Carlisle C  5264.99   9200.00  $3935.01
   2/2/96  200 Green Tree  6077.49   9937.50  $3860.01
  6/26/96  100 Cisco Syst  5389.99   8137.50  $2747.51
  5/24/96  100 Oxford Hea  4802.49   7375.00  $2572.51
 12/23/96  100 Tidewater   4652.49   6587.50  $1935.01
   3/8/96  400 Prime Medi  4027.49   5725.00  $1697.51
   3/5/97  150 Atlas Air   3458.74   4087.50   $628.76
 11/21/96  150 Oracle Cor  4864.99   5418.75   $553.76

                             CASH   $8028.59
                            TOTAL  $75272.34