The Daily Workshop Report
by Robert Sheard (TMF Sheard)

LEXINGTON, KY. (June 24, 1997) -- It's time again to update Tom Gardner's Cash-King Portfolio. In July 1995, Tom picked a portfolio for a decade, ten stocks that were sitting on mounds of cash, had little or no debt, and were recognized leaders in their fields (all but one stock in technology).

Tom's point was that this is the kind of portfolio you could buy and forget for a full decade and probably do tremendously well. (I think there was some swagger involved, including a challenge that he's shave his head if it didn't beat the S&P 500.)

Roughly two years into Tom's decade challenge, Tom's barber still has openings in his appointment book. Here's how the ten stocks have done since July 1995:

Dell Computer (DELL) 662%
Sun Microsystems (SUNW) 198%
Microsoft (MSFT) 174%
Cisco Systems (CSCO) 156%
America Online (AOL) 120%
The Gap (GPS) 118%
Intel (INTC) 116%
Hewlett-Packard (HWP) 39%
Texas Instruments (TXN) 25%
Silicon Graphics (SGI) -63%

Average 154%
S&P 500 61%

Year-to-date in 1997, the portfolio is doing quite nicely as well. With the market up roughly 21%, Tom's Cash-King Ten are up 37%. If you're interested in more details on the approach, check out Tom's last write-up on the strategy, and his newest MoneyHeavy Portfolio.

Monthly Growth Screens
(Jan. 3 to present)
36.02%  Relative Strength  
19.82%  S&P 500 Index  
12.73%  Low Price/Sales  
 2.50%  Unemotional Growth  
 2.03%  Investing for Growth  
-2.93%  YPEG Potential  
-8.42%  EPS Plus RS  
-19.05%  Formula 90  

Annual Value Screens
(Jan. 1 to present)
20.31%  Dow Jones Ind Avg  
18.46%  Dogs of the Dow  
13.76%  Beating the S&P  
11.37%  Unemotional Value  
11.37%  Beating the Dow  
 9.53%  Dow Combo  
 3.85%  Foolish Four