The Motley Fool: The Boring Portfolio

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Sept. 11) -- Today's Federal Reserve report on the state of the U.S. economy pretty much matched the color of its cover: beige. Some wages up, a few prices up, but over all the very model of a modern major 'conomy.

The Dow picked up 28 points to close at 5,755 -- a mere 23 points away from its all-time high. The S&P 500 rose 3.5 points, or 0.52%, while the Nasdaq gained 4.5 points, or 0.40%. As for the Boring Portfolio, it popped for a fine 1.72% advance on the session, with seven holdings up, one (Cisco) unchanged, and one (TXI) down fractionally.

There was no news on any Borefolio stocks today. Also, I'm composing tonight's Borefolio recap to the accompaniment of some pretty impressive thunder and lightning, so we'll make this one brief.

The Street appears to have gotten the message that Oxford Health Plans won't be hurt by the new Medicare rate announcements from HCFA. OXHP zoomed $3 1/8 on above-average volume of 1.7 million shares today. (I covered this saga in some detail the past couple of days, so please click into the Borefolio archives if you care to get the background.)

Prime Medical Services continued on the road to recovery, as well, picking up another half-point, to close at $12 5/8 (bid).

Carlisle added to yesterday's strong showing, gaining another $ 3/4 following Tuesday's news that the company would be acquiring Zanesville, Ohio-based Hartstone, Inc. Hartstone, you may recall, makes ceramic tableware, cookware and decorative kitchenware. It's a perfect mate to Carlisle's existing Grainware division, which makes plastic utensils and storage containers. Hey, it's boring, but it makes money.

Shaw Group recovered $1 1/8 on good volume of 190,400 shares. SHAW dropped $2 yesterday, possibly in reaction to a Wall Street Journal story entitled "Power Projects in India Hit New Snags." As Shaw Group's investor relations director, Laurie Schultz, said to me this afternoon, "Any time there's a story with the words 'power projects' and 'snags' in the headline, it's likely to upset some traders.

As it is, Shaw Group is participating in a project led by Enron Corp. in Dabhol, India. But that project represents only $3.5 million of Shaw Group's $151 million backlog, or 2.3%. Moreover, Ms. Schultz informed me that Shaw was given the go-ahead to purchase materials and is going forward with their part of the project.

Borders Group continued its recent string of gains on good volume. Another day, another dollar -- and on triple the stock's average daily volume.

Green Tree grew another quarter-point, the Spiders kept up a few notches -- all in all, just a really nice day. Except for all this lightning.

I'd better get outta here. This is Boring, signing off, until tomor@#$FDaSAF#$^%

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TODAY'S NUMBERS

BGP +1...CSL + 3/4 ...CSCO ---...GNT + 1/4 ...OXHP +3 1/8 ...
PMSI + 1/2 ...SHAW +1 1/8 ...SPY +25/64...TXI - 5/8 ...

*Scroll down or expand screen for full portfolio accounting

                   Day   Month    Year  History
        BORING   +1.72%   1.67%   9.69%   9.69%
        S&P 500  +0.52%   2.35%   7.35%   7.35%
        NASDAQ   +0.40%   1.09%  10.85%  10.85%


    Rec'd  #   Security     In At       Now    Change

  4/12/96 100 The Shaw Gr    18.84     29.50    56.57%
  2/28/96 200 Borders Gro    22.51     34.25    52.14%
   3/8/96 400 Prime Medic    10.07     12.63    25.39%
   2/2/96 200 Green Tree     30.39     35.88    18.06%
  1/29/96 100 Texas Indus    54.50     63.63    16.74%
  7/23/96 100 S&P Deposit    64.15     67.06     4.54%
  8/13/96 100 Carlisle Co    52.65     54.75     3.99%
  6/26/96 100 Cisco Syste    53.90     54.25     0.65%
  5/24/96 100 Oxford Heal    48.02     44.25    -7.86%

    Rec'd  #   Security      Cost     Value    Change

  2/28/96 200 Borders Gro  4502.49   6850.00  $2347.51
   2/2/96 200 Green Tree   6077.49   7175.00  $1097.51
  4/12/96 100 The Shaw Gr  1884.16   2950.00  $1065.84
   3/8/96 400 Prime Medic  4027.49   5050.00  $1022.51
  1/29/96 100 Texas Indus  5449.99   6362.50   $912.51
  7/23/96 100 S&P Deposit  6414.99   6706.25   $291.26
  8/13/96 100 Carlisle Co  5264.99   5475.00   $210.01
  6/26/96 100 Cisco Syste  5389.99   5425.00    $35.01
  5/24/96 100 Oxford Heal  4802.49   4425.00  -$377.49

                             CASH   $4428.44
                            TOTAL  $54847.19