The Daily Dow
Wednesday, July 16, 1997
by Robert Sheard

LEXINGTON, KY. (July 16, 1997) -- Earnings reports dominated news for the Dow stocks today. As the Dow closed above 8,000 for the first time, EASTMAN KODAK <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: EK)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: EK)") end if %> did its part to prevent it from happening.

Second-quarter net income for Kodak dropped 16% while revenue fell more than 7%. The company recorded $1.12 per share for the quarter, but the consensus estimate from First Call was $1.39. It's not typical for a Dow company to miss the consensus estimates quite so dramatically, and the stock was brutalized on the news, losing more than 10% as the market opened.

Kodak appears to be continuing to lose market share to Fuji and the costs associated with launching the Advantix photo system and a strong dollar overseas combined to take a bite out of Kodak's earnings.

Surprising the Street in the other direction today was GENERAL MOTORS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: GM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: GM)") end if %>. Consensus estimates for the nation's largest auto maker were $2.10 per share. GM, though, recorded earnings of $2.63 a share, an impressive 25% surprise.

The company's not out of the labor-force woods quite yet, however. In addition to the current battles GM is waging with workers, the United Auto Workers (UAW) threatened to strike at two more GM parts factories.

The UAW set a strike deadline of next Tuesday night for plants in Michigan and Indiana if there's no contract agreement. Some analysts see these potential strikes as leverage by the UAW to prompt General Motors to settle the strike at the Pontiac, Michigan plant. If the two proposed strikes come about, it could put a real crimp in GM's operations at a number of North American plants which require parts produced at the Indiana and Michigan operations.

General Motors says the new threatened strikes will not affect their negotiations with the workers at the Pontiac plant.

(c) Copyright 1997, 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. ________________________________


1997 Foolish Four Model
Stock  Change   Last
--------------------
T    +1  1/4   36.25
GM   +   1/8   54.38
CHV  +1        77.56
MMM  -   1/2   102.00

          Day   Month    Year
        FOOL-4   +1.39%   1.74%   3.94%
        DJIA     +0.79%   4.66%  24.67%
        S&P 500  +1.16%   5.81%  26.44%
        NASDAQ   +2.50%   9.61%  22.43%

    Rec'd   #  Security     In At       Now    Change
   1/2/97  120 3M            83.00    102.00    22.89%
   1/2/97  153 Chevron       65.00     77.56    19.33%
   1/2/97  179 Gen. Motor    55.75     54.38    -2.47%
   1/2/97  479 AT&T          41.75     36.25   -13.17%


    Rec'd   #  Security     In At     Value    Change
   1/2/97  120 3M          9960.00  12240.00  $2280.00
   1/2/97  153 Chevron     9945.00  11867.06  $1922.06
   1/2/97  179 Gen. Motor  9979.25   9733.13  -$246.13
   1/2/97  479 AT&T       19998.25  17363.75 -$2634.50


                             CASH    $767.60
                            TOTAL  $51971.54