Boring Portfolio Report
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Nov. 4) -- The Dow rose 20 points today on somewhat muted
volume of 391 million shares ahead of Tuesday's national elections. The S&P
500 gained 3 points (+0.42%), but the Nasdaq closed slightly lower (-0.11%).
The Boring Portfolio ended the session lower as well: -0.12%. The decline
would have been somewhat larger were it not for the addition into the account
today of $183.07 in dividends and accumulated interest on the Borefolio's
cash balance.
The only significant move among Borefolio stocks today was Prime Medical's
$7/8 loss (on the bid side), on above-average volume of 138,700 shares. There
was no relevant news that I could locate.
On Friday, PMSI filed its 10-Q with the SEC. That statement provided some
additional financial detail that was unavailable when the company recently
reported analyst-topping 3Q96 earnings of $0.21 per share.
There's certainly nothing that I see in the 10-Q that might be cause for
concern. Relative to the preceding quarter, PMSI's short-term liabilities
were up slightly (to $19.3 million vs. $18.6 million in 2Q96), but long-term
debt and total liabilities were lower: through September 30, 1996, long-term
debt stood at $71.5 million and total liabilities at $96.2 million. With
a capitalization of approximately $234 million, those numbers are unremarkable.
In terms of cash flow, by my calculations PMSI added $1.28 million to its
cash balance in 3Q96, putting cash and cash equivalents at $10.5 million
through three quarters of 1996. The company started the year with $4.7 million
in cash and equivalents. So there's plenty of cash there to make additional
lithotripter acquisitions and/or increase PMSI's interest in the former Litho,
Inc. stone-buster facilities.
Along with shares of Carlisle Companies and Solectron, Green Tree Financial
was unchanged on Monday. Green Tree has filed with the SEC to offer up to
$1 billion in asset-backed securities for sale. When combined with a previous
registration, Green Tree will have a total offering of $1.2 billion in
securities, the company said. According to a press release, the company plans
to offer securities backed by recreation equipment and consumer loans.
In the plus column today, Borders Group gained $ 3/8 following Alex. Brown's
addition of the stock to its "recommended" list.
Cisco rose $ 3/8, as well, in advance of its quarterly earning report, scheduled
for tomorrow after the market closes. Analysts are looking for EPS of $0.46,
net of any exceptional charges associated with recent acquisitions.
In a press release today, ten companies announced plans to work with Cisco
to develop Tag Switching as an open set of standards for Internet and intranet
use. The companies, along with users and service providers, will meet on
Nov. 6 in Cambridge, Mass. The companies include switch vendors Optical Data
Systems and Whitetree; ATM network interface card manufacturers Adaptec,
Efficient Networks and Olicom; network management and analysis tools vendors
Net2Net, Network General and Radcom; and video interconnection equipment
providers AG Communication Systems and NUKO Information Systems.
As Cisco followers may recall, Tag Switching is a new multilayer switching
technology for scaling all aspects of corporate and service provider networks.
The technology enables routers to support the advanced traffic management
capabilities currently offered only by switched networks, while allowing
switched networks to scale in the same manner as today's global router backbones.
Shares of Oxford Health Plans were lower by $1/8 today. Oxford reports quarterly
earnings on Wednesday (Nov. 6), in the morning. The Motley Fool will be covering
Oxford's conference call with analysts, as we will Cisco's teleconference
on Tuesday.
Tuesday is, of course, Election Day. I'll spare you the lecture about citizen
duty, civic responsibility, and such. Suffice it to say: if you don't vote,
then don't complain.
Monday, November 4, 1996
Stock Change Bid
-------------------
BGP + 3/8 34.13
CSL --- 56.13
CSCO + 3/8 60.63
GNT --- 39.38
OXHP - 1/8 46.63
PMSI - 7/8 11.38
SLR --- 53.50
Day Month Year History
BORING -0.12% 0.42% 12.75% 12.75%
S&P 500 +0.42% 0.21% 13.69% 13.69%
NASDAQ -0.11% -0.08% 17.25% 17.25%
Rec'd # Security In At Now Change
2/28/96 200 Borders Gr 22.51 34.13 51.58%
2/2/96 200 Green Tree 30.39 39.38 29.58%
3/8/96 400 Prime Medi 10.07 11.38 12.97%
6/26/96 100 Cisco Syst 53.90 60.63 12.48%
8/13/96 100 Carlisle C 52.65 56.13 6.60%
10/15/96 100 Solectron 54.52 53.50 -1.88%
5/24/96 100 Oxford Hea 48.02 46.63 -2.91%
Rec'd # Security In At Value Change
2/28/96 200 Borders Gr 4502.49 6825.00 $2322.51
2/2/96 200 Green Tree 6077.49 7875.00 $1797.51
6/26/96 100 Cisco Syst 5389.99 6062.50 $672.51
3/8/96 400 Prime Medi 4027.49 4550.00 $522.51
8/13/96 100 Carlisle C 5264.99 5612.50 $347.51
10/15/96 100 Solectron 5452.49 5350.00 -$102.49
5/24/96 100 Oxford Hea 4802.49 4662.50 -$139.99
CASH $15435.93
TOTAL $56373.43
Transmitted: 11/4/96