Drip
Portfolio Report
Touchstone Friday
by Jeff Fischer ([email protected])
Alexandria, VA (June 19, 1998) --Being the clean-up batter for Dale, I have the easy work. As happens every Friday, we review the week gone by in the Drip Port and we try not to sob about the inevitable passing of time. Dale laments time's passing, which is why he can't write this Friday column without breaking down. On Friday we also touch on any relevant news regarding our holdings (we save in-depth looks for other time periods) and we update everyone on our investments.
We'll begin with the last issue. This week ye old Drip Port received an Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) account statement showing that we had dividends reinvested in stock on June 1. We received $0.27 in dividends and it was used to buy .0039 shares of Intel. Add nineteen years to that and perhaps it'll become half a share worth $35. We also bought $30 worth of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) at around $71, I believe, a few weeks ago (lovely nonchalant long-term attitude, no?). After I receive our J&J statement I'll update the numbers.
Hey -- June is zipping by and I hope that you're enjoying some time outdoors. If you're coming to visit the D.C. area anytime soon, you should drop by Fool HQ. Anyway, it's already almost time to send our money for next month's investments. The Drip Port's humble $100 is going to all three holdings this time (we like that), with $25 going to Intel, $35 to Johnson & Johnson, and $40 to Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB). The different amounts, again, are done in order to work toward balancing the positions. We don't want to be ruled by one stock.
So, I'm writing and mailing three checks in the next few days -- $25, $35, and $40. (It'll be nice to before long simply complete these transactions on the Internet, or at least automatically through the bank after the portfolio is built. But there's no rush. I'm enjoying the journey as much as I will the destination, surely.)
NEWS. In the past five days, J&J rose $2 5/8, Intel rose $1 1/2, and Campbell Soup fell $1 3/4. It is more difficult to buy anything related to "soup" when it's hot outside, I'll admit.
There was plenty of news on Intel. The company won awards for videoconferencing products and its LANDesk virus protection software. It also shipped an industry changing CardBus mobile adapter for mobile computing. The stock was momentarily flustered by an analyst lowering earnings estimates mid-week, but the numbers weren't new. We won't discuss any Department of Justice actions against Intel regarding "monopolies" until they develop further, if they do. It was interesting to read that the Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, all but criticized such investigations, without mentioning names.
Next up, Campbell Soup released its latest quarterly 10-Q report. For everything that you could ever want to know about the company's recent operations and more, check it out on the Web. Finally, for a giant Dow company, Johnson & Johnson can be sleepy in the news department. J&J has dozens of small biotech firms that it owns or partially owns working on breakthroughs, but no breakthroughs this week, apparently.
THE PAST WEEK. Dale spent three of the past four days covering one of my favorite banking companies, Norwest Corp. (NYSE: NOB). On Monday, the numbers were presented for your comparison with other banks. On Tuesday, Dale explained how Norwest thinks of itself as a retail service with customers (maybe that's partially why I like it). Tuesday is a great column that explains why Dale likes Norwest as well, as does the final Wednesday column on the company, when Dale talks about the pending merger of Norwest with Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC).
On Thursday Dale introduced the numbers for the worldwide behemoth named Citicorp (NYSE: CCI). Although the company is merging with Travelers Group (NYSE: TRV), Dale wants to begin considering it now for the Drip Port. I personally love the idea of owning these two great companies (they're both so strong on their own) in one Drip stock, assuming that the companies can merge with continued success. Dale will dive into Citicorp next week. Better him than you or I. We just get to read about what he finds in that sea of information.
Have a Foolish weekend!
--Jeff Fischer
FoolWatch -- It's what's going on at the Fool today.
6/19 Close
|