The Daily Workshop Report
by Robert Sheard (TMF Sheard)

LEXINGTON, KY. (Apr. 21, 1997)

Ah, allergy season in the Bluegrass. Kind of goes hand in hand with the sneezing fits the market keeps having of late. So, it's hard to tell these whether I'm seeing things straight or not. Is that Intel at $140 or $1400?

So, between sneezing and honking attacks, here are some thoughts on the status of the market and growth-stock investing in general. This morning, two Morgan Stanley gooroos both proclaimed the bull market fully intact. This, of course, being somewhat of a contrarian when it comes to gooroos, scares me witless.

It's not surprising, though, to see the market drop after such a bullish call by two big names. Ultimately, though, no one knows whether they're right or wrong and trying to call these things may make you famous, but probably won't make you a better investor. I have yet to see any documented record of all trades and costs by a market timer that has surpassed the simple Dow Approach.

If one's out there, by all means, let's hear from you. No one claims that the Dow Approach is the epitome of investment approaches, but we do know it works and works wonderfully over long stretches of time. It's always a great benchmark against which to test all other strategies.

As I mentioned last week, too, if long-term tax rates come down, it'll be even harder to beat such an approach which generates only long-term gains.

Despite a decent day (all things considered) for technology giants INTEL <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: INTC)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: INTC)") end if %> and MICROSOFT <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: MSFT)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: MSFT)") end if %>, the Nasdaq still took it on the chin, dropping the equivalent of almost 100 Dow points today.

With all of these things on my mind, however, the crucial next question isn't whether to be in or out of the market, whether to time or not time, but rather what allergy drug will let me breathe again. If I live, I'll be with you again tomorrow. Sneeze on, Fools!

Monthly Growth Screens
(Jan. 3 to present)
  8.62%  Relative Strength  
  1.64%  S&P 500 Index  
 -3.75%  Low Price/Sales  
 -8.06%  YPEG Potential  
-16.59%  Investing for Growth  
-23.60%  EPS Plus RS  
-26.71%  Unemotional Growth  
-29.96%  Formula 90  

Annual Value Screens
(Jan. 1 to present)
 6.07%  Dogs of the Dow  
 3.29%  Dow Jones Ind Avg  
 2.30%  Beating the S&P  
-2.51%  Unemotional Value  
-2.51%  Beating the Dow  
-2.98%  Dow Combo  
-7.22%  Foolish Four