CONFERENCE CALLS

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FOOL PLATE SPECIAL

The Dow Transportation index got a lift today when one of its components, trucker CONSOLIDATED FREIGHTWAYS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: CNF)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: CNF)") end if %>, announced what is becoming a favorite Wall Street cure for an ailing stock price -- a spin-off. Shares of Consolidated surged $2 to $23 7/8 after the company said it would spin off a number of its units, including CF MotorFreight. The long-haul, less-than-truckload unit accounted for $2.1 billion of Consolidated's $5.7 billion in annual revenues, meaning this move is a pretty significant break-up of the consolidated trucking firm.

Consolidated is going to let go of its Canadian operations (Canadian Freightways Ltd.), Epic Express, Milne & Craighead, Canadian Sufferance Warehouses and other related businesses. The current chairman, president and chief executive of Consolidated Freightways, Donald Moffitt, will continue in those positions in what remains of Consolidated Freightways, now dubbed CNF Transportation. Roger Curry, the current president and chief executive of CF MotorFreight, will take up those jobs for the spin-off, which is going to be called Consolidated Freightways Corp. The spin-off will have a debt-free balance sheet and will hopefully be a little more focused on their own individual business needs.

Shifts in the trucking markets have been pounding shares of these companies for the last year or two as many truckers have used extra capacity to begin devastating price wars with their competitors. Ironically, Consolidated has been sucked into this miasma to the point that its regional trucking units are competing with its own national trucking units for business -- not really a bright idea. Although operating air, ocean and trucking freight companies under the same roof as trailer manufacturers, logistics management firms and retail truck part distributors may have made sense in the hey-dey of the '70's merger boom, today it is not hard to see that each of these units might better plot a strategy on their own. The company plans to complete its break-up by the fourth quarter of this year and believes that shareholder value is going to be unlocked as a result of it.

UPS

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OLYMPIC FINANCIAL <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: OLM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: OLM)") end if %> continued to rise today, up another $1 3/4 to $25 3/4 after the non-prime auto financier received some unsolicited takeover offers. Rumors put the price in the high $20s to low $30s. For more details, check yesterday's Evening News.

Shares of ONYX ACCEPTANCE CORP. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: ONYX)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: ONYX)") end if %> drove ahead $1 5/8 to $14 1/8, apparently in sympathy with the Olympic Financial news. The firm purchases and services retail-installment contracts for automobile dealerships in California.

ADC TELECOMM <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: ADCT)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: ADCT)") end if %> popped up $3 1/2 to $51 3/4 after the company posted earnings of $0.36 EPS versus only $0.26 EPS last year, two cents above expectations. Both Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch hiked their numbers for the rest of the year.

A deal with the Brazilian Soccer Federation to operate video gaming systems has shares of SODAK GAMING <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: SODK)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: SODK)") end if %> booming $2 5/8 to $43 1/2 this morning. The South Dakota-based company distributes slot machines and video gaming machines.

HBO & CO. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: HBOC)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: HBOC)") end if %> received a delicate boost from none other than Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette today, notching the stock up $2 1/2 to $57 1/4. The brokerage raised its rating on the healthcare informatics concern from "market perform" to "outperform."

Wall Street is totally pumped up about the prospects for BELCO OIL & GAS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: BOG)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: BOG)") end if %> after news broke that the company had completed two wells in Louisiana. Shares jumped $1 1/8 to $26 after the firm detailed the amount of oil and gas the wells produced.

INTERMEDIA COMMUNICATIONS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: ICIX)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: ICIX)") end if %> rose $1 7/8 to $30 3/4 after reporting that it was partnering with British telecommunications concern CABLE & WIRELESS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: CWP)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: CWP)") end if %> to provide network, local and long distance services to U.S. customers.

Private education companies have been hot in recent months, with none hotter than COMPUTER LEARNING CENTERS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: CLCX)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: CLCX)") end if %>. Reporting $0.27 EPS versus estimates of $0.22 EPS, shares rose $1 1/4 to $25 1/4. The stock has tripled since the April initial public offering (IPO) at $8 a share.

VIRCO MANUFACTURING <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(AMEX: VIR)") else Response.Write("(AMEX: VIR)") end if %> climbed $1 5/8 to $11 5/8 this morning after reporting earnings of $0.56 EPS, compared to only $0.29 EPS a year ago. The office furniture manufacture issued a 10% stock dividend as well.

Reporting earnings of a dime per share versus expectations of only $0.03 EPS, CENTIGRAM COMMUNICATIONS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: CGRM)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: CGRM)") end if %> jumped ahead $2 1/4 to $16 3/4. The company manufacturers telecommunications systems and software.

DOWNS

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UNIVERSAL ELECTRONICS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: UEIC)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: UEIC)") end if %> was crushed this morning after pre-announcing a bad quarter, sliding $3/4 to $6 1/8. The manufacturer of remote controls will only report $0.25 EPS to $0.35 EPS versus current expectations of $0.65 EPS.

CITATION COMPUTER SYSTEMS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: CITA)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: CITA)") end if %> dropped $1 to $14 1/4 after the company announced it would take a $1.2 million charge to restructure its U.K. operations, a move that will decrease second quarter earnings by about $0.19 EPS.

Institutions continued to dump shares of WORLDCOM <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: WCOM)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: WCOM)") end if %> on news of its multi-billion merger with MFS TELECOMM <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: MFST)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: MFST)") end if %>, dropping the long distance provider $7/8 to $21 5/8. Local loop manager MFS slipped $2 5/16 to $42 1/2 in tandem.

ALTERNATIVE RESOURCES <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: ALRC)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: ALRC)") end if %> got clocked by EVEREN Securities when it slashed its rating on the stock from "outperform" to "market perform." The temporary employee services firm dropped $3/4 to $ 33 1/4 on the news.

Capital equipment manufacturer ESTERLINE <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: ESL)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: ESL)") end if %> dropped $1 1/8 to $21 3/4 this morning after it reported earnings of $0.58 EPS, two cents below expectations. Sales of the company's equipment for manufacturing printer circuit boards has slowed considerably.

JMC GROUP <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: JMCG)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: JMCG)") end if %> was waxed for $1 3/8 to $1 5/8 this morning after the firm terminated a merger agreement with USBA Holdings Ltd. JMC Group sells annuities and mutual fund products to customers of banks and other institutions.

An incomplete audit has delayed a second quarter earnings release from BABY SUPERSTORES <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: BSST)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: BSST)") end if %>, causing the shares to wilt $2 3/8 to $13 5/8 today under heavy pressure. The once high-flying retailer has had hard times since the first quarter

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Transmitted: 8/27/96

Randy Befumo (MF Templar), a Fool

Selena Maranjian (MF Selena) another Fool