Fool Portfolio Report
Friday, December 22, 1995
The NASDAQ won the last day before Christmas, posting 0.60% gains versus Foolishness of 0.56%. The S&P 500 cruised in with 0.24% growth on the day. Seems like a relatively nothing day, but heck, if we posted 0.56% gains every day of the year, The Fool Port would rise 306%, and we'd wave a white hanky, abandon the forum, pack the donkeys up, walk them onto lifeboats and head for the Seychelles. Iced in on all sides here, we're dreaming of 250 straight 0.56% days, stacked neatly in a row.
What else should we expect in this season than for America Online to rally $1 1/8 to a bid of $38 3/8. No notable news today; the last item out there came on the 18th, when our Company announced that it would be broadening its partnership with the World Wrestling Federation.
Hmmm. . . ok.
America Online has been an incredible company in 1995. Subscriber growth has far outpaced the world of other media. While paper and printing costs are shooting through the roof, and newspaper and magazine subscriber growth is flat, AOL is tossing up hundreds of thousands of new subscribers each month---too many of whom have never heard of Foolishness, by the way. [Aside: Please feel free to spam-mail potential new Fools at your leisure.]
By the middle of this summer, America Online will probably be 50% larger on the subscriber side than it is today. We continue to like this stock as much as any on the market, and though we've said we plan to take these shares to the grave, we might decide to sell them if Michael Murphy tugs off his bear suit. We might.
Elsewhere in The Fool Port, well, you can't keep a great man down. Jack Welch has done it again in 1995; General Electric has risen nearly 50% since last December 22nd. We're happy to have been in on the last 21.5% of that growth. Kudos get shot out The Fool Canon at Fortune Magazine for piecing together an excellent article and dual interview with Welch and Coca-Cola CEO Roberto C. Goizueta.
I sat down with our 93-year-old grandfather today---a long-, long-, LONG-time GE shareholder, and he offered up as simple and Foolish a thought as any: "As far as profit margins go, cut the losers fast and champion the winners. That's Welch." General Electric rose $7/8 today on news that our grandfather, tucked under a load of comforters this morning, made positive comments about company management.
Iomega fell $1 3/8. No news. And KLA Instruments regained a dollar. And all in all, it was a fine day for Folly.
To close, permit us to celebrate two exciting developments, one mentioned above, the other perhaps one you hadn't yet caught wind of. The first is that Smart Money column, which David and I will be trading off month to month as long as they will have us. Dave penned the first round, a review of guru predictions at the end of 1994, and a comment or three about accountability. The only downside at this point is that there's a pretty grizzly photo of us on zero hours sleep. Sure, we were SmartMoney fans before all this---Walter Mossberg is our hero---but now, holy cow, it's the only financial magazine worth its salt! ;)
The second note is about really a wonderful game that our sports group over in The Fool Dome has thrown together. MFs Fletch and Knave, DomeLord, ChicgoMike and a few others have assembled eight questions on all twenty college bowls over the next dozen days. They're darned comical, and Fools have the opportunity to win a crate of oranges (Orange Bowl), a holiday ham (Holiday Bowl), a couple pounds of pennies (Copper Bowl), a load of roses (Rose Bowl), sunglasses, a steak, a lube job, an American flag.
As always, we aim to entertain, to educate, and to put something up at stake. Everyone can play at:
keyword: foolbowl
And the game is also accessible via the Web for those not yet Foolish to show up on AOL. The URL there is: /fooldome/foolbowl/fbw_mn.htm
Wow, that's definitely one to copy and paste!
Enjoy the vacation and, Fools, if the eggnog is sharp, support the taxi services of America.
Tom Gardner, December 22, 1995
AMER +1 1/8 AMAT --- CHV --- GE + 7/8 GPS --- IOMG -1 3/8 KLAC +1 S ---
Today's Numbers
Day Month Year History FOOL +0.56% -2.19% 68.49% 87.07% S&P 500 +0.24% 1.09% 33.25% 33.50% NASDAQ +0.60% -1.17% 39.22% 45.36% Rec'd # Security In At Now Change 8/5/94 680 AmOnline 7.27 38.38 427.64% 5/17/95 335 Iomega Corp 15.11 44.38 193.61% 8/5/94 165 Sears 28.93 39.38 36.13% 4/20/95 155 The Gap 32.55 43.13 32.49% 8/11/95 95 GenElec 57.91 71.25 23.03% 8/11/95 110 Chevron 49.00 51.88 5.87% 8/24/95 100 AppldMatl 57.52 42.00 -26.99% 8/24/95 130 KLA Instrm 44.71 28.75 -35.70% Rec'd # Security Cost Value Change 8/5/94 680 AmOnline 4945.56 26095.00 $21149.44 5/17/95 335 Iomega Corp 5063.13 14865.63 $9802.50 8/5/94 165 Sears 4772.65 6496.88 $1724.23 4/20/95 155 The Gap 5045.25 6684.38 $1639.13 8/11/95 95 GenElec 5501.87 6768.75 $1266.88 8/11/95 110 Chevron 5389.99 5706.25 $316.26 8/24/95 100 AppldMatl 5752.49 4200.00 -$1552.49 8/24/95130 KLA Instrm 5812.49 3737.50 -$2074.99 CASH $18981.96 TOTAL $93536.34
