Drip
Portfolio Report
Friday, May 22, 1998
by Jeff Fischer ([email protected])
Alexandria, VA (May 22, 1998) ---- On a percentage basis, Intel killed us this past week. But on an absolute dollar basis, we haven't even lost a good dinner. Owning nine shares of Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), as of Thursday we were only down (on paper) about $60 on the investment. The current Intel story is old by now, but we have over 19 years for the company to actually make us money, so even mentioning it isn't necessary or Foolish. Yet, it's not fun to watch your investments decline, so if you own Intel, be patient. As long as you believe in the long-term prospects for the company, there's nothing to do but buy more when you wish to.
Speaking of that, merely for reasons of "balance" we're not sending any money to buy Intel next month. Probably a majority of readers are, but the Drip Port -- with only $100 to allocate per month -- is looking to even out its three positions. Currently Intel is still 60% of the portfolio's investments, so today I'm sending $70 to our new holding, Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB), and $30 to Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), bypassing our Nasdaq friend for the first time since last fall. We'll have plenty of chances to buy more Intel at various prices. Maybe even lower prices than today. I guess I should be hoping for that, eh?
Intel's stock declined this week on analyst remarks about the second quarter, though the company already stated a month ago that things would be slower until the second half of this year. Another analyst also stated that Intel is too efficient at making chips, more or less. Earlier this week the Cash-King column covered this topic well.
Overall, maybe it's a case of "How slow can ya go?" in regards to the business slowdown, with the answer being, "Slower than was expected." But we'll see. DRP investors are probably in the sweetest spot when it comes to Intel or any declining stock that represents a solid, leading company, over the long term.
So, the $100 is being sent today as mentioned above. Bon voyage $100 -- for at least 20 years. Make us proud. Go out there and replicate.
Past Week. On Monday Dale wrote an interesting column about bank deposits, explaining the importance of the difference between interest-bearing deposits and non-interest bearing deposits. Obviously, we want our banks to bring in money for which it needn't pay interest. Dale listed the non-interest bearing deposits as a percentage of all deposits for the several companies under consideration. City National Corp. and Wells Fargo head the pack. Give the list a study in Monday's column, then check out Tuesday's column where Dale went into more detail on deposits.
With Dale off to Boulder, Colorado, for vacation, Wednesday's column reviewed what we're doing here and what we'll be doing in the future -- mentioning a few of the next industries that we'll consider. The column is an overall review and has some reference points for new Drippers.
Finally, on Thursdaywe discussed Campbell Soup's earnings, which were announced on Tuesday. We also provided a link to the Fool's conference call summary for the company. After that, we reviewed our companies' valuations to earnings estimates and we talked about Intel briefly.
Have a very Foolish three-day weekend. See you Tuesday -- and hope to see you on the message boards.
Fool on!
-Jeff Fischer
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