Fool Portfolio Report
Tuesday, September 23, 1997
by Jeff Fischer
([email protected])
ALEXANDRIA, VA (Sept. 23, 1997) -- Already spanning from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to the wooded parks of Maine, Foolishness has now -- like a giant slinky -- stepped across the Atlantic and landed on England.
Though the Fool has been "international" since the day it was launched online, and we receive email and message board posts from Fools in Japan, Australia, the Czech Republic, India, and South Africa (to name a few), for the first time the Fool has thrown a belled cap over another country with the sole aim of helping its people learn how to invest Foolishly on their own soil. In this case, the air over that soil is foggy because information on public companies is difficult to obtain, the Wise manage the peoples' money and charge high fees for underperformance, and the government is implementing laws that will make it more difficult for the people of Britain to save and invest.
Today, though, the bells were ringing more loudly around Trafalgar Square, pigeons stepped with more bounce through Camden market, and a couple of Fools in England's countryside breathed a sigh of relief after much hard work leading to the launch of The Fool UK. Of course, the Foolishness has only just begun.
Like most of the world -- if not all of the world -- England's schools don't teach investing as they should, most people don't save enough money, and when they do save they don't know how to invest, or they invest and lose to the market consistently.
The Motley Fool UK has very much the same mission as The Fool here... the Fool US... Fool America... (ugh... what the heck do we call the Fool here for the rest of our lives? Geesh...). Yes, the Fool UK has the same mission in England that The Fool has here: to inform, educate, and amuse investors. (And perhaps -- just perhaps -- they can get a smile from the Queen.)
Pour me a pint. This next paragraph is going to be a mess.
The Fool UK is available on America Online's UK service and on the U.S. service as well. The press release shares that in order to access the Fool UK, AOL users in the U.S. need only type Keyword: UK, and then click the "Finance" button. AOL UK users simply type Keyword: Fool UK. The new site is currently available only on AOL. (Web users, perhaps this is incentive to join AOL, eh? Give up the ghost!)
The often humorous and always Foolish daily content at Fool UK began today. This evening, good Fools, after criticizing the parliament with your friends at the pub while chomping on fish and chips, draw yourself a hot bath, roll up the computer, and get Foolish with England! If you have questions or wish to welcome our new Foolish Friends across the pond, drop a note to the staff, or post on the Fool UK message boards. If you become acquainted with the Founding English Fools, Dave Berger and Bruce Jackson, perhaps on your next trip to England you'll have a free place to stay!
(See. We're always thinking of how better to serve you, our American readers. Oh. And there are other benefits for Americans arising from the launch of Fool UK. For one, you can buy shares of English stock while living in America, if you wish. See the main page of The Fool UK for more.)
If David Gardner -- largely responsible for this Foolish leap into England -- wrote tonight, he'd probably very rightly sum things up with this:
Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun; it shines everywhere.
--Shakespeare
THE STOCKS: The Fool Port powered ahead 1.63% while the S&P lost 0.37% today. AMAZON.COM (Nasdaq: AMZN) moved up $1 7/16 to a new high, even though the stock was downgraded by Alex Brown from Strong Buy to Buy, on a price basis. Amazon today announced its new 1-Click ordering service -- a proprietary technology that allows users to order product without having to enter information more than once in their lifetime (or close to it). Amazon is pioneering electronic commerce -- colonizing it -- and today added more personalized features offered by no others, as explained in the press release. The Amazon Web site has a new look, too.
TRUMP HOTELS (NYSE: DJT) rose sharply yesterday only to fall back today. At least two analysts covered the stock with Buy ratings on Monday based on rumors that the Trump Plaza was close to selling for $1 billion. Bear Stearns said yesterday that they were skeptical of the rumors, and believed that Trump Plaza was only worth between $550 million and $650 million. Today, Tuesday, DLJ Securities downgraded the stock to Market Perform from Buy, and earnings estimates were cut. Poor gaming wins and lost market share in Indiana are probably responsible.
3COM (Nasdaq: COMS) announced record earnings after the bell that were in line with estimates of forty-eight cents per share. Sales rose 28% to $1.6 billion. The company states that the merger with U.S. Robotics is "off to a tremendous start." We'll have Foolish coverage of the earnings and the conference call tomorrow.
Cheers to all! Fool on!
--Jeff Fischer
ATTENTION D.C. FOOLS:
A Foolish
Gathering, for the good of all.
Or, hey, do you like to play games?
Drip Portfolio --
Drip on!
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Fool Four Portfolio -- 23%
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Market News
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Port
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Daily Double -- Good
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in half! A good deal?
Fribble -- A fun lesson
from readers.
Stock Change Bid ---------------- AMZN +1 7/16 55.50 AOL + 3/8 75.75 T -1 7/16 44.56 ATCT + 1/8 5.56 CHV + 9/32 85.44 DJT - 7/8 11.25 GM -1 3/32 66.50 INVX + 13/16 33.56 IOM + 7/16 27.44 KLAC +2 1/2 72.63 LU --- 82.50 MMM +1 1/8 88.06 COMS +1 5/8 51.94Day Month Year History FOOL +1.63% 9.91% 28.27% 242.34% S&P: -0.37% 5.83% 28.51% 107.66% NASDAQ: +0.47% 6.93% 31.47% 135.69% Rec'd # Security In At Now Change 5/17/95 980 Iomega Cor 2.52 27.44 988.79% 8/5/94 355 AmOnline 7.27 75.75 941.54% 10/1/96 42 LucentTech 47.62 82.50 73.26% 8/11/95 125 Chevron 50.28 85.44 69.91% 8/24/95 130 KLA-Tencor 44.71 72.63 62.43% 9/9/97 290 Amazon.com 38.22 55.50 45.21% 8/12/96 110 Minn M&M 65.68 88.06 34.08% 8/12/96 280 Gen'l Moto 51.97 66.50 27.95% 6/26/97 325 Innovex 27.71 33.56 21.12% 8/12/96 130 AT&T 39.58 44.56 12.59% 8/13/96 250 3Com Corp. 46.86 51.94 10.84% 4/30/97 -1170 *Trump* 8.47 11.25 -32.84% 10/22/96 600 ATC Comm. 22.94 5.56 -75.75% Rec'd # Security In At Value Change 8/5/94 355 AmOnline 2581.87 26891.25 $24309.38 5/17/95 980 Iomega Cor 2594.53 26888.75 $24294.22 9/9/97 290 Amazon.com 11084.24 16095.00 $5010.76 8/11/95 125 Chevron 6285.61 10679.69 $4394.08 8/12/96 280 Gen'l Moto 14552.49 18620.00 $4067.51 8/24/95 130 KLA-Tencor 5812.49 9441.25 $3628.76 8/12/96 110 Minn M&M 7224.44 9686.88 $2462.44 6/26/97 325 Innovex 9005.62 10907.81 $1902.19 10/1/96 42 LucentTech 1999.88 3465.00 $1465.12 8/13/96 250 3Com Corp. 11714.99 12984.38 $1269.39 8/12/96 130 AT&T 5145.11 5793.13 $648.02 4/30/97 -1170*Trump* -9908.50 -13162.50 -$3254.00 10/22/96 600 ATC Comm. 13761.50 3337.50-$10424.00 CASH $29541.35 TOTAL $171169.48
