Team Fool Wins
Michael, Scottie & DuPont (?) star
by Jeff Fischer
([email protected])
ALEXANDRIA, VA (Aug. 20, 1998) -- Again the Fool Port was able to shatter the proverbial backboard, gaining 0.71% while the S&P lost 0.59%. Team Fool advanced on the sweat of our two stars, Michael Jordan (AOL) and Scottie Pippen (AMZN). Michael was hot early on, cooled mid-game, but ended the day gaining 1 5/8 points. Scottie was up a fraction.
Helping in the backcourt was an older player by the name of DuPont (NYSE: DD). DuPont has been on a hot streak on word that it might sell is Conoco division for $24 billion. The volatile stock has traded between $68 and $52 in the past month, bouncing this week following a recent tumble on news of a slow third quarter.
Pitching in on the frontcourt was 3Com (Nasdaq: COMS), up $5/8 to continue an advance that began at $24 this month. Yep, the stock has gained 29% since August 1. It trades at 24 times May of 1999 earnings estimates of $1.29 per share.
Trump Hotels (NYSE: DJT) helped as well. The short position (Trump is on the other team) flubbed shots, tripped repeatedly, and threw the ball to Team Fool several times -- in general, it was a sad display that worked in our favor. The stock closed at its all-time low, $4 3/4, down 6% today.
It ends there. Little else worked for us. Tired from its recent beating, Starbucks (Nasdaq; SBUX) lost $1. Our other holdings declined with the stock market as well. Yet, the Fool was still able to pull a big "W" from its pocket and wave its winning trophy to the cheering crowd at the end of the day. Why? Thanks to Jordan and Pippen.
Simple as that. Winners lead. Losers fade.
As we move into the second half of the 1998 season (we're nearly two months into it already), should we consider trading some of our lesser players? Give them the heave-ho? Replace them with the next emerging star? You bet. And you know that we're looking. On Tuesday we completed our review of every Fool stock on the team. (Please see the archives for the various reports.) There are several players (KLA-Tencor, Innovex and 3Com to name three) that we'll consider trading if and when we find something that we like better.
Our initial review over, it serves to remind that we'll specifically review each Fool Port holding every quarter after earnings are announced, while on a daily basis we'll of course continue to write about our investments in this column, as well as discuss Foolish investment strategies and more.
But not today. Today there's too much Foolishness taking place elsewhere. So let's take a look at the "Theater of Foolishness" and see what's playing...
Related to the Fool Port, Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) announced that it will bring its barnesandnoble.com business public as a separate entity. (This was discussed as "news" two weeks ago on the Motley Fool's Amazon.com message board.) Today the Fool's Lunchtime News explains why Barnes & Noble is dividing the businesses and bringing its online division public.
In the Hall of Portfolios, the Boring Port discusses the book business war as well. The fight is heating up between Borders, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.
In big Fool news, Cash-King announced a new buy tonight (be sure to check it out!) while the Cash-King column discusses the latest growing software craze, Linux -- why might Microsoft worry?
Next, the Drip Port has all but narrowed its list of financial finalists down to Mellon Bank, Norwest, and U.S. Bancorp. Today U.S. Bancorp is discussed. Which of the three will be bought? Even Drip Port doesn't know -- it does its thinking and analysis in the daily columns, always in full-view of the Fool community. There are no surprises in the end. And finally, the Foolish Four column is on keeping the market-crushing approach simple.
Amen.
Keeping tonight simple, be Foolish! Enjoy visiting the other shows in the Theater of Foolishness.
WE
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Today's FoolWatch: all the latest in Fooldom.
Day Month Year History Annualized FOOL +0.71% 3.69% 52.50% 411.80% 49.79% S&P: -0.59% -2.59% 12.49% 138.13% 23.95% NASDAQ: -0.56% -2.13% 16.69% 154.44% 26.00% Rec'd # Security In At Now Change 8/5/94 710 AmOnline 3.64 112.94 3005.72% 9/9/97 580 Amazon.com 19.11 129.13 575.67% 5/17/95 1960 Iomega Cor 1.28 4.94 285.62% 10/1/96 84 LucentTech 23.81 88.25 270.67% 4/30/97 -1170*Trump* 8.47 4.75 43.91% 8/12/96 130 AT&T 39.58 56.31 42.28% 2/20/98 200 Exxon 64.09 71.31 11.27% 2/20/98 215 DuPont 59.83 58.50 -2.23% 2/20/98 270 Int'l Pape 47.69 42.38 -11.15% 7/2/98 235 Starbucks 55.91 41.75 -25.33% 8/13/96 250 3Com Corp. 46.86 31.38 -33.05% 8/24/95 130 KLA-Tencor 44.71 29.44 -34.16% 1/8/98 425 3Dfx 25.67 13.50 -47.40% 6/26/97 325 Innovex 27.71 14.13 -49.02% Rec'd # Security In At Value Change 8/5/94 710 AmOnline 2581.87 80185.63 $77603.76 9/9/97 580 Amazon.com 11084.24 74892.50 $63808.26 5/17/95 1960 Iomega Cor 2509.60 9677.50 $7167.90 10/1/96 84 LucentTech 1999.88 7413.00 $5413.12 4/30/97 -1170*Trump* -9908.50 -5557.50 $4351.00 8/12/96 130 AT&T 5145.11 7320.63 $2175.52 2/20/98 200 Exxon 12818.00 14262.50 $1444.50 2/20/98 215 DuPont 12864.25 12577.50 -$286.75 2/20/98 270 Int'l Pape 12876.75 11441.25 -$1435.50 8/24/95 130 KLA-Tencor 5812.49 3826.88 -$1985.62 7/2/98 235 Starbucks 13138.63 9811.25 -$3327.38 8/13/96 250 3Com Corp. 11715.99 7843.75 -$3872.24 6/26/97 325 Innovex 9005.62 4590.63 -$4415.00 1/8/98 425 3Dfx 10908.63 5737.50 -$5171.13 CASH $11876.47 TOTAL $255899.47
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