The Motley Fool: The Foolish Workshop, Thursday, May 21, 1998

Thursday, May 21, 1998

The Daily Workshop Report
by Robert Sheard (TMF Sheard)

LEXINGTON, KY. (May 21, 1998) -- For the list makers, standings watchers, and trivia junkies out there (count me among you), today we feature Beauties and the Beasts of 1998.

The following two lists feature the twenty stocks with the best returns in 1998 (through May 13) and the twenty stocks with the worst returns. The list was generated using Value Line's database and includes only American stocks (some 1,500) and excludes any stock that carries no timeliness ranking at all.

Value Line typically removes a stock's timeliness ranking when it enters a merger or acquisition agreement, so eliminating stocks without a ranking pulls out stocks that have recently been acquired and whose returns are the result of the acquisition rather than simply an awesome year. For example, DEKALB Genetics 'B' <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: SEEDB)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: SEEDB)") end if %> has the highest return of all American stocks, but it's there because it's being bought out, not because it was on a huge roll like the stocks in this list.

Beauties

      134 Dell Computer <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: DELL)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: DELL)") end if %> 
       132 Apple Computer <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: AAPL)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: AAPL)") end if %> 
       110 Acclaim Entertainment <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: AKLM)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: AKLM)") end if %> 
       105 America Online <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: AOL)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: AOL)") end if %> 
        98 LADD Furniture <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: LADF)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: LADF)") end if %> 
        91 Best Buy Co. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: BBY)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: BBY)") end if %> 
        89 Health Mgmt. Systems <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: HMSY)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: HMSY)") end if %> 
        88 Unisys Corp. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: UIS)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: UIS)") end if %> 
        86 Stone Container <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: STO)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: STO)") end if %> 
        83 Ascend Communic. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: ASND)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: ASND)") end if %> 
        82 Capital One Financial <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: COF)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: COF)") end if %> 
        81 Roberts Pharmac. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: RPC)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: RPC)") end if %> 
        74 Informix Corp. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: IFMX)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: IFMX)") end if %> 
        73 Bethlehem Steel <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: BS)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: BS)") end if %> 
        72 Blair Corp. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: BL)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: BL)") end if %> 
        68 Gateway <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: GTW)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: GTW)") end if %> 
        67 WellPoint Health Networks <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: WLP)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: WLP)") end if %> 
        67 Haverty Furniture <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: HAVT)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: HAVT)") end if %> 
        67 EMC Corp. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: EMC)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: EMC)") end if %> 
        66 Good Guys <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: GGUY)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: GGUY)") end if %>

There are an encouraging number of stocks from the Beauties list that have been featured in our Workshop screens this year. Dell, America Online, Best Buy, Capital One Financial, and EMC Corp. have all shown up during 1998 in some Workshop screen or another.

Unfortunately, a few of the flea-bags are Workshop stocks as well:

Beasts

      -55 MedPartners Inc. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: MDM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: MDM)") end if %> 
       -52 Adaptec Inc. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: ADPT)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: ADPT)") end if %> 
       -42 Cygnus Inc. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: CYGN)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: CYGN)") end if %> 
       -42 CompUSA Inc. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: CPU)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: CPU)") end if %> 
       -40 Iomega Corp. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: IOM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: IOM)") end if %> 
       -40 Zenith Electronics <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: ZE)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: ZE)") end if %> 
       -39 Sunbeam Corp. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: SOC)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: SOC)") end if %> 
       -39 Volt Info. Sciences <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: VOL)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: VOL)") end if %> 
       -39 Dura Pharmac. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: DURA)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: DURA)") end if %> 
       -38 Gymboree Corp. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: GYMB)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: GYMB)") end if %> 
       -38 OEA Inc. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: OEA)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: OEA)") end if %> 
       -38 Sybase Inc. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: SYBS)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: SYBS)") end if %> 
       -36 Broderbund Software <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: BROD)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: BROD)") end if %> 
       -31 Boston Chicken <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: BOST)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: BOST)") end if %> 
       -30 Applied Magnetics <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: APM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: APM)") end if %> 
       -29 Cendant Corp. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: CD)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: CD)") end if %> 
       -28 Tidewater Inc. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: TDW)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: TDW)") end if %> 
       -28 Identix Inc. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: IDX)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: IDX)") end if %> 
       -28 ADC Telecom. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: ADCT)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: ADCT)") end if %> 
       -27 Callaway Golf <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: ELY)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: ELY)") end if %>

Adaptec, Iomega, Cendant, Tidewater, and ADC Telecom are all 1998 Workshop entries. And if you really want to suffer, take a look at the original Investing for Growth model this year. It holds Adaptec, Iomega and ADC Telecom. It's amazing that it's still in positive territory with 30% of its holdings appearing on the Beasts list.

I hope you found your favorites on the right list. Fool on!

Check out the latest file updates for the Workshop:
New Rankings | 1998 Returns | New Database

[Robert Sheard is the author of the The Unemotional Investor (Simon & Schuster, 1998) available now at Amazon.com and your local bookseller.]