Boring Portfolio Report
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Dec. 13) -- The Dow managed to gain but a single point today
and the S&P 500 closed lower by a fraction of a point -- and that's the
*good* news on this Friday the 13th. The Nasdaq Index fell 13 points (-1.03%),
hurt by a $3 1/4 drop in Boring holding Oracle Corp. Over 25 million ORCL
shares crossed the Naz wires today, easily making it the the most heavily
traded issue on the Nasdaq.
For the week, benchmark market averages and the Borefolio net value all took
it in the ear, with the Borefolio taking the worst hit. The S&P lost
0.21%, that Nasdaq fell 1.49%, and the Borefolio (despite its defensive posture)
dropped 2.94%.
Oracle's loss certainly didn't help. Shares of the world's largest supplier
of information management software slumped following a quarterly earnings
report late Thursday that missed analysts' consensus expectation by a penny.
As noted here last night (see my Oracle conference call report, elsewhere
in the Boring Portfolio section of The Motley Fool), weak European sales
cut into profits. A gradual movement from higher-margin UNIX-based products
to lower-margin Microsoft NT-based products presents some challenges (which
is to say, opportunities), as well.
It's not as if the quarter was a disaster. Oracle posted a 31% gain in earnings
on a 35% gain in revenue, and sales of applications software rose an impressive
77% as compared with the comparable quarter last year. "Most analysts say
Oracle's franchise remains secure and its fundamentals solid," according
to a story in today's Wall Street Journal.
Still, a penny is a penny, and Cowen and Company today cut its rating on
ORCL to "buy" from "strong buy." On the other hand, Alex. Brown reiterated
its "strong buy" on the stock, and Goldman Sachs reiterated its "buy" and
kept ORCL on its recommended list. Smith Barney maintained its "buy" rating,
as well, but moved its "risk" level from medium to high. Whatever.
In other Oracle-related news today, Belgian telco Belgacom SA signed an agreement
with Sun Micro and Oracle to develop the network computer idea in Belgium.
According to a wire story, Belgacom hopes to make the "thin client" boxes
accessible by high-speed ADSL or ISDN lines. Details, as they say, remain
to be worked out.
Shares of the other technology gorilla in the Borefolio, Cisco Systems, fell
a dollar today. Cisco and Interlink Services Inc. announced that they had
formed a strategic alliance to develop and market software to extend
multiprotocol networking for MVS mainframes (whatever they are; sorry, but
I wasn't able to get a clarification prior to my deadline). As part of the
agreement, Cisco used 622,000 newly issued shares to acquire a 9% stake in
Interlink. Cisco also purchased product licenses for its Interlink's TCPaccess.
Speaking of Cisco, I was delighted to learn that in only five months, the
company has racked up $75 million in sales via Internet transactions from
its business-to-business mall, Cisco Connection Online, and is aiming for
more than $1 billion by the end of its fiscal year, according to a report
in CommunicationsWeek. That would constitute 30% of Cisco's projected
total sales for the fiscal year ending next July. Wow.
According to the report, these figures establish Cisco as the numero uno
revenue generator on the Web today. Market researcher International Data
Corp. predicts that Internet transactions will reach $5.4 billion in 1996;
should Cisco meet its goal, the company would account for nearly 20% of the
total.
Shares of Prime Medical Services lost $ 7/8 today. I'd be more concerned
about that were it not for the fact that volume was a modest 70,300 shares.
I wouldn't exactly call that a major sell-off.
Not everything fell in Boringville today. Shares of Borders Group managed
a $ 1/8 gain today. Also, as the yield on the 30-year Treasury declined to
6.56% on Friday, that helped financial services stocks, including Green Tree
Financial. GNT arrested its week-long fall to end Friday unchanged at $37
5/8.
Tonight is Fool holiday party night, and it couldn't come at a better time
as far as I'm concerned. Have a great week-end folks. See you on Monday.
Friday, December 13, 1996
Stock Change Bid
--------------------
BGP + 1/8 33.13
CSL - 5/8 57.38
CSCO -1 64.75
GNT --- 37.63
ORCL -3 1/4 44.00
OXHP - 5/8 56.00
PMSI - 7/8 11.75
SLR - 3/8 58.13
Day Month Year History
BORING -1.56% -3.92% 15.05% 15.05%
S&P 500 -0.10% -3.75% 17.21% 17.21%
NASDAQ -1.03% -0.59% 23.44% 23.44%
Rec'd # Security In At Now Change
2/28/96 200 Borders Gr 22.51 33.13 47.14%
2/2/96 200 Green Tree 30.39 37.63 23.82%
6/26/96 100 Cisco Syst 53.90 64.75 20.13%
3/8/96 400 Prime Medi 10.07 11.75 16.70%
5/24/96 100 Oxford Hea 48.02 56.00 16.61%
8/13/96 100 Carlisle C 52.65 57.38 8.97%
10/15/96 100 Solectron 54.52 58.13 6.60%
11/21/96 100 Oracle Cor 48.65 44.00 -9.56%
Rec'd # Security In At Value Change
2/28/96 200 Borders Gr 4502.49 6625.00 $2122.51
2/2/96 200 Green Tree 6077.49 7525.00 $1447.51
6/26/96 100 Cisco Syst 5389.99 6475.00 $1085.01
5/24/96 100 Oxford Hea 4802.49 5600.00 $797.51
3/8/96 400 Prime Medi 4027.49 4700.00 $672.51
8/13/96 100 Carlisle C 5264.99 5737.50 $472.51
10/15/96 100 Solectron 5452.49 5812.50 $360.01
11/21/96 100 Oracle Cor 4864.99 4400.00 -$464.99
CASH $10651.57
TOTAL $57526.57
Transmitted: 12/13/96