The Daily Workshop Report
by Robert Sheard (TMF Sheard)

LEXINGTON, KY. (Apr. 25, 1997)

Scroll to the bottom for year-to-date Growth and Value Screen results.

Technology stocks ran out of gas today, sliding back down the slope. Almost across the board, the tech holdings in the various Workshop screens gave up ground, making a weak start to 1997 a little uglier.

There were some noteworthy items coming from the Value screens today, however. Tobacco stocks dropped after a federal judge ruled that the Food and Drug Administration does have the right to regulate tobacco products. On the other side of the ledger, though, the judge ruled that regulations on advertising being paraded in the press are not allowable.

Needless to say, virtually every ruling will be appealed, regardless of the outcome, until the Supreme Court gets dragged into the fray.

In earnings news, KELLOGG <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: K)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: K)") end if %> proved that the numbers alone aren't the story. After posting lower earnings than last year's equivalent quarter, Kellogg stock rose, in a down market, no less. The conference call, of course, was the real story here. Kellogg management claims that business has picked up and should remain strong in the second quarter. Given that the management predicted a weaker quarter some time ago, today's report was actually read as good news. Good news is bad news and vice versa; welcome to Street-Speak.

For those of you looking for the updates to the Workshop database, check the Foolish Workshop message board later this weekend. A team of readers is cooperating to generate these rankings each weekend and posting the results directly in the Workshop message board folders. The next "official" update we'll post in the Workshop archive comes in the weekend of May 2. Fool on!

Monthly Growth Screens
(Jan. 3 to present)
5.49%  Relative Strength  
2.31%  S&P 500 Index  
-1.25%  Low Price/Sales  
-15.46%  YPEG Potential  
-16.32%  Investing for Growth  
-23.40%  EPS Plus RS  
-24.03%  Unemotional Growth  
-29.77%  Formula 90  

Annual Value Screens
(Jan. 1 to present)
4.51%  Dow Jones Ind Avg  
4.18%  Dogs of the Dow  
1.82%  Beating the S&P  
-3.23%  Unemotional Value  
-3.23%  Beating the Dow  
-4.11%  Dow Combo  
-8.78%  Foolish Four