Fool Portfolio Report
Friday, October 13, 1995
Friday's market featured the closest finish EVER between our three rival racers. The S&P 500 finished up .24%, a nose behind the FOOL (up .26%), which itself was a hair behind the NASDAQ (up .27%). Overall, it was a week of recovery for The Fool Portfolio, as we rebounded 2.23%, vs. gains of .34% and .62% for the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ, respectively.
The week featured an estimate-beating earnings report from Iomega, a stock split for Applied Materials, new annual highs for The Gap, and an increasing return to prominence of AMER stock.
How did those things play out? Well, after the smoke had cleared, Iomega ended up only $1/8 this week, after bouncing between $18 3/4 and $23 1/2! To reiterate, Iomega reported a pure profit of 10 cents per share on record quarterly revenues of $84.7 million. These estimates exceeded Wall Street's expectations, sending the stock up into the mid-$20's on excitement. However, on Friday Iomega gave back $1 1/4 on no news. These shares remain highly volatile and not for the faint of heart. But we're holding straight through the downs and ups, and expect a superb 1996.
Applied Materials was up a split-adjusted $5/8 for the week. At market close Thursday, AMAT split 2-for-1, so when you saw this stock open at $51 Friday, we hope your eyes didn't pop out of your skull. Would that Applied had managed to stay at that lofty level, but instead it was off $1 1/2 on Friday, keeping us from thwacking the market.
The Gap was a strong stock this week, as it seems to move ever higher in anticipation of a stronger Christmas in 1995. The comparisons with last year's Yuletide shopping season should prove no problem for our behemoth retailer, because last Christmas was not a good one. The Gap closed Friday down $1/8, but was up $3/4 on the week to $38 5/8, and hit a new 52-week high. The stock is now up 19% since purchase, and moves ever nearer toward a fairer, fuller valuation. It's nice to see a non-Dow NYSE heavy doing itself proud in The Foolfolio.
America Online was the main reason behind our Friday rise, as AMER vaulted $2 3/8. Merrill Lynch initiated coverage of the online services company with intermediate-term "above average" and long-term "buy" ratings. The stock has settled down over the past 10 weeks, with weekly closes between $62 and $73. That may seem volatile, but it's a swing of only 8% either way from the $67 1/2 midpoint. Long-time readers will know very well that that observation should not in any way be confused with technical analysis. Rather, it's just an observation about how the once highly volatile America Online stock has settled down somewhat in recent weeks. AMER was up $2 on the week.
We'd like to make a final mention of our Stock of the Week, Ride Incorporated. RIDE rose $1 7/8 to a closing Friday bid of $20 3/4 (up $1/8 Friday). The stock has risen 109% since our purchase in May. That's right: May, the time when people ARE NOT using Ride snowboards. In fact, we must Foolishly note that in relative terms, very few people have glided down ANY slope on a Ride board in the 5 months we've held this stock to a double. That seems a worthwhile lesson to dwell on this weekend, on its own. Stay Foolish!
---David Gardner, October 13, 1995
Today's Moves
AMER +2 3/8 AMAT -1 1/2 CHV - 1/8 GE + 1/4 GPS - 1/8 IOMG -1 1/4 KLAC +1 RIDE + 1/8 S -1 SNIC - 1/8
Today's Numbers
Day Month Year History FOOL +0.26% -3.14% 47.37% 63.63% S&P 500 +0.24% 0.01% 27.27% 27.51% NASDAQ +0.27% -2.41% 35.43% 41.40% Rec'd # Security In At Now Change 8/5/94 340 AmOnline 14.55 65.25 348.58% 5/23/95 510 Ride Inc. 9.91 20.75 109.45% 5/17/95 335 Iomega Corp 15.11 19.88 31.50% 8/5/94 165 Sears 28.93 35.38 22.30% 4/20/95 155 The Gap 32.55 38.63 18.66% 8/11/95 95 GenElec 57.91 63.00 8.78% 8/11/95 110 Chevron 49.00 48.88 -0.25% 8/24/95 130 KLA Instrm 44.71 39.75 -11.10% 8/24/95 100 AppldMatl 57.52 47.50 -17.43% 12/23/94 340 SonicSol 14.48 9.75 -32.68% Rec'd # Security Cost Value Change 8/5/94 340 AmOnline 4945.56 22185.00 $17239.44 5/23/95 510 Ride Inc. 5052.44 10582.50 $5530.06 5/17/95 335 Iomega Corp 5063.13 6658.13 $1595.00 8/5/94 165 Sears 4772.65 5836.88 $1064.23 4/20/95 155 The Gap 5045.25 5986.88 $941.63 8/11/95 95 GenElec 5501.87 5985.00 $483.13 8/11/95 110 Chevron 5389.99 5376.25 -$13.74 8/24/95130 KLA Instrm 5812.49 5167.50 -$644.99 8/24/95 100 AppldMatl 5752.49 4750.00 -$1002.49 12/23/94 340 SonicSol 4924.18 3315.00 -$1609.18 CASH $5969.86 TOTAL $81812.99 Transmitted: 8/11/95
