The Daily Workshop Report
by Robert Sheard (TMF Sheard)

LEXINGTON, KY. (Mar. 13, 1997)

The last two times I've taken a vacation, at least one day during each holiday the Dow dipped 100 points or more. It jumped the gun a bit this time. I leave for vacation tomorrow and the Dow beat me to the punch with emphasis.

This 100% time-proven indicator, of course, is about as useful as other completely illogical indicators, but there it is. I'll make sure to announce all future vacations far in advance so you can short the market.

Seriously, though, there was quite a bit of news today. In addition to the shakeup in the Dow Industrial components (see tonight's Foolish Four report), a number of Workshop stocks were getting pushed around. PHILIP MORRIS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: MO)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: MO)") end if %> plunged $11 a share today on a Wall Street Journal article which expressed more doubt about tobacco companies having an easy go of settling the endless litigation facing the industry. The tobacco stocks were also hurt by news this afternoon that a legal challenge in Mississippi brought by the governor, challenging the right of the state's Attorney General to bring suit against the industry, was shot down. The decision, however, was not a ruling on the actual litigation against the tobacco industry itself.

Joining big Mo among the most hammered today is APPLIED MAGNETICS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: APM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: APM)") end if %>, down sharply after Montgomery slashed revenue estimates for the disk-drive recording-head maker. Applied Magnetics is one of our ongoing test cases using sell-stops. It would have been stopped out recently at $44.25, today's continuing troubles making the stop look like a good decision.

Believe it or not, with the market off 160 points, there was some positive news floating around. QUANTUM CORP <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: QNTM)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: QNTM)") end if %> continued its recent advance after a series of positive analyst reports. Stocks like Quantum helped ease the pain for the Nasdaq today, which only slid the equivalent of 55 Dow points. But a "minor" loss isn't a great deal of consolation, I know.

On an administrative note, I'll be on vacation through next week. In my absence, MF Tools and MF Miel will be sitting in for the nightly reports, and as always, MF Tools will be fielding questions in the Workshop folder on our AOL site. The daily returns won't be updated in the Workshop in my absence, but the weekend updates of the rankings will maintain their usual schedule. Hang in there, Fools, and I'll be back with you on Monday, March 24.

Monthly Growth Screens
     (Jan. 3 to present)
  12.06%  Relative Strength  
   5.55%  S&P 500 Index  
   4.85%  Low Price/Sales  
   3.97%  YPEG Potential  
  -4.73%  Investing for Growth  
 -13.05%  EPS Plus RS  
 -19.13%  Formula 90  
 -19.46%  Unemotional Growth  

Annual Value Screens
     (Jan. 1 to present)
   6.68%  Dow Jones Ind Avg  
   6.27%  Dogs of the Dow  
   3.31%  Beating the S&P  
   1.37%  Dow Combo  
   1.20%  Unemotional Value  
   1.20%  Beating the Dow  
  -2.85%  Foolish Four