Updating the Dozens

by David Forrest ([email protected])

Venice Beach, CA. (Oct. 2, 1998) -- Greetings, you Database Fools! Another week has flown by and we'll have fresh database numbers for you by 7:00 p.m. tonight. I want to make a few comments about last week's database. Many of you helped me out by pointing to an inconsistency with how I did one of the screens. I've corrected it in this week's database and all is well in the Workshop world.

One thing that everyone needs to understand is that there are significant differences between the print edition of Value Line and the electronic edition. The print edition is based on data that's 9 days old. The electronic (which we use for the numbers each week) is only 2 days old. Value Line compiles their data on Wednesday night and prepares it for delivery. Because of delivery times, print subscribers get older data than electronic subscribers.

One final note about last week's database was the seemingly strange disappearance of Arterial Vascular <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: AVEI)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: AVEI)") end if %>. According to Value Line, AVEI is in the database as a # 1 stock, even though it's not showing up in our software here at the Fool. I've included it, along with all of the relevant information for the stock in this week's database. Value Line is rushing us another disk so we have the best software for next week.

Moving on to new business, it was a pretty nasty week for the various models. As of last night's close, only 2 of the 8 models we've been following are positive territory. Here are the numbers:

 
 Keystone                   +21.42% 
 Relative Strength-IBD      +11.44% 
 S&P 500                     +2.81% 
 Formula 90                  -0.24% 
 Investing for Growth-RS     -1.43% 
 Relative Strength-26 Week   -7.56% 
 Investing for Growth-Classc -8.43% 
 Unemotional Growth         -12.81% 
 Low Price/Sales            -23.68% 
 

If you're new to the Fool and don't know how these screens are done, please check out our Workshop Screen Explanation page.

Dozens Update -- It's time to add a new stock to our Dozens Portfolios. Below are the stocks we'll be adding to the mock portfolios, using this week's Value Line data and tonight's closing prices.

Keystone
-- Warner Lambert <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: WLA)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: WLA)") end if %> -- 14 shares @ $72.75
RS-26 Week
-- Symbol Tech <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: SBL)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: SBL)") end if %> -- 22 shares @ $45.38
Formula 90
-- Lexmark Intl. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: LXK)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: LXK)") end if %> -- 14 shares @ $70.19
Low PSR
-- Tech Data <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: TECD)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: TECD)") end if %> -- 23 shares @ $42.82

You may notice here that I didn't update the Dow Dozens or Dow Racers. Last week I mentioned that I thought the whole notion of a Dow Dozens or Dow Racers portfolio was a silly idea because you end up owning, by default, almost half the index at the end of the 12 month anyway. In e-mail and on the board, there was support to my idea. So, I decided to not continue updating the Dow Dozens. If this is a big problem for folks, I will keep at it, but I'd prefer to let those two go. Is that okay with everyone?

Finally, here are the returns so far for the four Dozens portfolios you see above. They don't include the most recent stocks, of course.

 
 Keystone Dozens   +14.74% 
 RS - 26 Week       +1.56% 
 Formula 90         -1.28% 
 S&P 500            -5.50% 
 Low PSR           -16.85% 
 

Next week, we'll introduce the Spark5 Dozens into the fray. Have a great weekend and be sure to let me know if there are any questions about the numbers!

Best,
Bogey

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

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