A Bus to Bayonne?
Monday, April 6, 1998
by Greg Markus (TMF Boring)

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (April 6, 1998) -- As you've probably heard 9,000 times by now, the Dow pushed past another millennial milepost today, thanks to nothing less than news of the largest proposed corporate merger in the history of the known universe.

Below the headlines, however, the situation was decidedly less upbeat. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both lost ground, with the Nasdaq thudding 1.42%. As for the Boring Portfolio, it fared even worse, losing 1.88% with not a single winner among the Boring sextet.

Let's see now... I take a vacation for a few days and the Borefolio soars. I come home and it flops. Sounds to me like I should catch a ketch back to Kauai. Or jump a jet to Jamaica.

Or even book a bus to Bayonne.

There was precious little news on any Boring stocks today, and certainly nothing negative.

Cisco Systems <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: CSCO)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: CSCO)") end if %> announced the availability of Netsys Baseliner Version 4.0 for Windows NT. This software -- a result of Cisco's October 1996 acquisition of Netsys Technologies -- enables network administrators to display, debug, and validate network configurations and test them offline before committing them to the live network. MSRP: $6,995.

Cisco stock skidded $1 11/16 to $69.

Shares of Borders <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: BGP)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: BGP)") end if %> fell by a like amount. Before heading home from Kauai on Saturday, I stopped at the Borders superstore in Lihue to pick up some reading matter for the long flight. The place was packed: locals, tourists, old folks, kids ("keiki," in Hawaii).

I haven't checked out the new Borders on the Big Island yet. Sounds like a perfectly good excuse for another trip, no? Maybe I can get convince the folks at Fool HQ that its essential investment research -- you know, like Phil Fisher and Peter Lynch recommend?

Hey, it's worth a try.

FoolWatch -- It's what's going on at the Fool today.

Stock  Change    Bid 
 ANDW  -  1/16  19.75 
 CGO   -  3/16  32.94 
 BGP   -1 11/16 32.19 
 CSL   -  13/16 48.63 
 CSCO  -1 11/16 69.00 
 FCH   -  3/8   36.94 
 

                   Day   Month    Year  History 
         BORING   -1.88%  -1.16%  -0.10%  25.71% 
         S&P:     -0.12%   1.78%  15.56%  80.40% 
         NASDAQ:  -1.42%  -0.36%  16.48%  75.72% 
  
     Rec'd   #  Security     In At       Now    Change 
   2/28/96  400 Borders Gr    11.26     32.19   185.95% 
   6/26/96  150 Cisco Syst    35.93     69.00    92.02% 
   8/13/96  200 Carlisle C    26.32     48.63    84.71% 
    3/5/97  150 Atlas Air     23.06     32.94    42.84% 
   11/6/97  200 FelCor Sui    37.59     36.94    -1.74% 
   1/21/98  200 Andrew Cor    26.09     19.75   -24.30% 
  
  
     Rec'd   #  Security     In At     Value    Change 
   2/28/96  400 Borders Gr  4502.49  12875.00  $8372.51 
   6/26/96  150 Cisco Syst  5389.99  10350.00  $4960.01 
   8/13/96  200 Carlisle C  5264.99   9725.00  $4460.01 
    3/5/97  150 Atlas Air   3458.74   4940.63  $1481.89 
   11/6/97  200 FelCor Sui  7518.00   7387.50  -$130.50 
   1/21/98  200 Andrew Cor  5218.00   3950.00 -$1268.00 
  
                              CASH  $13625.51 
                             TOTAL  $62853.64