Boring Portfolio Report
Wednesday, March 20, 1996

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

(ANN ARBOR, Mar 20) -- At last: the first day of spring, the Vernal Equinox, when all things begin to bloom anew--including the Borefolio, which managed to post a decent gain today after a string of losses recently.

Of the five stocks currently in the portfolio, four are solidly in the black. Only Lam Research, my remaining bit of exposure to the volatile semiconductor industry, is showing a loss. And no small loss it is: minus 27%. Ouch! Despite that rough start, I have no plans to cast Lam from the fold, and here's why.

I am under no illusions about the near-term prospects of the semiconductor industry--or more precisely, the *stocks* of semiconductor industry companies. Those stocks have been under relentless pressure for six months now, as one disappointing piece of news after another hits the Street--the most recent being cautions from DEC about softening sales and a Dataquest report indicating that the growth rate for home PC sales will likely moderate this year and, possibly, beyond.

What's interesting is that through all of that news, Lam Research has continued to post some of the strongest earnings of any company in America, and it has done so quarter upon quarter. Could Lam lose its footing in the near future? Of course it could. On balance, however, my judgment is that some exposure to the hugely important and *global* semiconductor industry is valuable in even the most Boring portfolio. So Lam stays, quite intentionally.

This stance is really not nearly as daring or risky (or dumb?) as it may appear. Note that the value of the Borefolio's LRCX holdings amounts to only about 7% of the total port. So even if Lam were lopped in half tomorrow (perish the thought!), this would drop the portfolio only a few percentage points. I can sleep quite peacefully knowing that risk exists.

Now quickly to a few other items, as the deadline for tonight's update draws nigh:

First, what about the Borefolio buy that was supposed to be announced tonight. Well, it's not here. I had all my "due diligence" done and a buy write-up all ready to post tonight for a stock of a nice, Boring basic materials company. So what happens today? The blankety-blank stock shot up TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT in the course of a few hours today, settling back down (if that's the right phrase) to a "mere" 17% gain for the day. Now I have to revisit all my original research and see if it's still valid. I may still buy, but not tomorrow.

No, I'm not going to name the stock, although you can probably figure it out with little trouble. (Hint: It was on a list of possible buys I posted in the "Boring Stocks folder last night.)

Second, what about the conference call with TXI today? I was in on it, even got to ask a couple of questions. I'll post a full report in the Texas Industries stock folder later tonight, but the quick answer is that all is just fine at TXI. The stock dropped a bit today, but the volume was nominal. The easy money's probably been made on TXI for now, but there's still a good deal of upside remaining. Don't let the slow Texas drawl of those folks at TXI fool you: I'm quickly learning that these are real smart folks there. Anyhow, more on that later in the TXI folder.

Finally, I'm pleased to see that last night's Borefolio update managed to settle shareholder concerns about Green Tree Financial. The stock popped $1 3/8 on this generally down day, and quite appropriately. After all, what else should a Green Tree do on the first day of spring?