The Motley Fool: The Boring Portfolio

ANN ARBOR, MI (July 18) -- Thursday was another good day for the market, encouraged by whatever it was that Alan Greenspan said to Congress. I'm sure it was profound and insightful, if not entirely comprehensible.

In any event, the S&P 500 rose an impressive 1.5% in value. The NASDAQ did even better, gaining over two percent, while the Boring blend of stocks tacked on 1.8% to its net value. Six Borefolio stocks rose, and only one (yes, Oxford) slipped.

There's relatively little news to report on Borefolio stocks tonight -- almost none, in fact.

Green Tree Financial shot up $1 3/4, encouraged by moderating interest rates and a report that Smith-Barney initiated coverage with a "buy" rating.

In the late afternoon, a story by Mark Boslet appeared on the Dow Jones wire -- a backgrounder entitled "Networking Industry To Show Continued Strong Growth." The story noted that although the bigger names in the industry should continue to do just fine, "the strong fundamentals may not have spilled over to every company targeting the market, ... as customers continued to favor the convenience of one-stop shopping."

The king of one-stop shopping in the biz -- the veritable Wal-Mart of internetworking world -- is, of course, Cisco Systems. The Dow Jones story noted that "industry leader Cisco Systems ... is expected to post strong numbers when it reports its fourth quarter Aug. 15. 'We don't see any weakness in the quarter,' said Peter D. Swartz, an analyst at Salomon Brothers."

Prime Medical added an eighth, and SHAW rose *another* quarter, despite news that a vice president had registered some shares for sale.

I close tonight by announcing of my intention to make a new purchase for the Borefolio: Spiders. Pretty creepy, huh? Read all about it in the listbox to the right.

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TODAY'S NUMBERS

BGP +1 1/2 ...CSCO + 3/8 ...GNT +1 3/4 ...OXHP - 1/2
 ...PMSI + 1/8 ...SHAW + 1/4 ...TXI +1 1/2 ...
*Scroll down or expand screen for full portfolio accounting
                   Day   Month    Year  History
        BORING   +1.80%  -1.25%   2.99%   2.99%
        S&P 500  +1.50%  -4.03%   3.53%   3.53%
        NASDAQ   +2.13%  -6.35%   6.61%   6.61%
    Rec'd  #   Security     In At       Now    Change
   3/8/96 400 Prime Medic    10.07     14.88    47.73%
  2/28/96 200 Borders Gro    22.51     31.88    41.59%
  4/12/96 300 The Shaw Gr    18.84     23.38    24.06%
  1/29/96 100 Texas Indus    54.50     65.88    20.87%
   2/2/96 200 Green Tree     30.39     32.75     7.77%
  6/26/96 100 Cisco Syste    53.90     53.75    -0.28%
  5/24/96 100 Oxford Heal    48.02     33.13   -31.03%
    Rec'd  #   Security      Cost     Value    Change
   3/8/96 400 Prime Medic  4027.49   5950.00  $1922.51
  2/28/96 200 Borders Gro  4502.49   6375.00  $1872.51
  4/12/96 300 The Shaw Gr  5652.49   7012.50  $1360.01
  1/29/96 100 Texas Indus  5449.99   6587.50  $1137.51
   2/2/96 200 Green Tree   6077.49   6550.00   $472.51
  6/26/96 100 Cisco Syste  5389.99   5375.00   -$14.99
  5/24/96 100 Oxford Heal  4802.49   3312.50 -$1489.99
                             CASH  $10332.04
                            TOTAL  $51494.54