Boring Portfolio Report
Monday, March 11, 1996

(FOOL GLOBAL WIRE)
by Greg Markus (MF Boring)

WASHINGTON, DC. Mar 11 -- I left the house this morning before the market opened and caught a flight into National Airport--better known as the "Gateway to Fool Global HQ" (which is just a couple of Metro stops away, in Alexandria, VA). This time, alas, duty required that I catch the Blue Line in the opposite direction to spend the day in various meetings, isolated from any and all financial news.

Having gotten my Powerbook mojo all connected here in my hotel just a few minutes ago, I clicked in to discover that--lo!--we did not crash and burn today. Indeed, stocks were snapped up at bargain prices faster than you can say "tech stock rebound."

As I write this, I've gotten news that the, ah, much-awaited semiconductor book-to-bill index has been delayed and will be reported tomorrow. Such delays are quite routine and nothing should be inferred from it one way or the other.

As for the Borefolio, the big winner today was Borders Group, which jumped $2 1/8 to set a new high of $27 5/8. After the bell, Borders reported fourth quarter earnings of $1.33, which bested analysts' recent consensus forecast by a nickel. Over the week-end, Barron's noted that the consensus projection for Borders Group's current FY (as listed in First Call) was raised to $1.13, from $1.05. (By the way, the reason full-year earnings are lower than 4th quarter is that Borders makes its big bucks in the holiday shopping season.)

Three other Boring Stocks regained lost ground today, as well. Lam Research rode the tech-stock resurgence, gaining $1 1/2 to close at a bid of 35 3/4. Well, it's a start. Potash Corp also picked up $1 1/2. Apparently fears of a major melt-down in Russian chicken feed demand have dissipated. Whew! I'm sure we were all worried sick over *that*! (By the way, if you are wondering what the heck this refers to, you can either click back into last week's Borefolio updates or--my recommendation--forget the whole thing and deem yourself fortunate.) Texas Industries rounded out the list of gainers today (no surprise there), rising $ 1/8.

Downside activity in the Borefolio was fairly inconsequential. KLIC drooped (yes, drooped) a quarter-point, and PMSI lost $3/16. The only loss that concerns me somewhat is Green Tree's: it's not so much the amount that matters (- $5/8) as it is that interest-rate sensitive stocks may have suffered less transient damage last Friday. We'll continue to monitor the situation.

Right now, however, dinner beckons. I think I'll head over to Kramerbooks in DuPont Circle--get a bite to eat and check out Borders' competition.

Buenas Tardes.

Today's Moves

BGP   +2  1/8
GNT   -   5/8
KLIC  -   1/4
LRCX  +1  1/2
POT   +1  1/2
PMSI  -   3/16
TXI   +   1/8