Boring Portfolio Report
Wednesday, July 31, 1996

by Greg Markus (MF Boring)

ANN ARBOR, MI (July 31) -- Last night, I wrote: "There's just one more day left in July for the Borefolio to erase its 1.7% decline for the month. Hey, it's possible."

Today, that possibility became reality, as the Boring portfolio gained over $1,100, or +2.18%, on the day and +0.45% for the month of July.

Despite good showings today for big board and NASDAQ stocks alike, the S&P 500 index finished the month 4.58% lower in value than it began, while the NASDAQ shed nearly twice that amount percentage-wise in July: -8.82%.

Since the Boring Portfolio opened for business on January 29, 1996, it has appreciated 4.75% in net asset value, as compared with 3.80% for the NASDAQ and 2.95% for the S&P 500 index.

Looking at individual Borefolio stocks, Prime Medical Services soared more than 11%, to $13 5/8, on good volume of 120,400 shares. Even with that gain, the market is still valuing the new, improved PMSI at a substantial discount to what it traded at prior to the merger with Lithotripters, Inc. The market is efficient, eventually; but with the lesser-known issues, sometimes it takes a while. All the better for folks who bought our stonebuster stock on the dip, I suppose. The 10-Q for the quarter just ended should be available shortly, and I'll post the highlights here, ASAP.

Shaw Group continued its winning ways, as well. The stock rose $1 1/2 on the bid side, while the final quote crossed the $27 mark, to establish a new 52-week high -- and on impressive volume of over 200,000 shares, no less.

The new data from First Call show that all three analysts following SHAW continue to rate it a "strong buy," and one of them just upped his EPS forecast for FY97 (which ends in August of that year). With $0.95 per share expected for the FY ending next month and $1.46 forecast for FY97, SHAW is trading at 18-times FY97 EPS, as compared with a projected three-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 43%.

Cisco Systems and Texas Industries -- a pair of stocks that I suspect are to be found together in no other portfolio on earth -- both pulled their weight today. CSCO added $ 3/4, while TXI tacked on $1 1/8. Cisco will be reporting quarterly and fiscal year earnings in about two weeks. Analysts are looking for per-share earnings of $1.40, as compared with last year's $0.87.

Green Tree Financial also sprouted on Wednesday, up $ 5/8, as the yield on the long bond dipped below the mystical 7% mark. The Borefolio's Spiders plumped up a bit during the day, too.

The only Borefolio stocks closing lower today were Borders Group, which slipped fifty cents, and Oxford Health Plans, on continued weakness among HMO stocks. Oxford will be reporting its quarterly earnings on August 6 prior to the market open, while Borders will be reporting the week after that. As usual, you'll find coverage of those reports right here, as well as in the stocks folders in The Motley Fool on AOL.

Now back to the Games.

(c) Copyright 1996, The Motley Fool. All rights reserved. This material is for personal use only. Republication and redissemination, including posting to news groups, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of The Motley Fool.

Transmitted: 7/31/96