<FOOLISH WORKSHOP>

New Screens?

by David Forrest ([email protected])

Paradise Island, Bahamas (December 11, 1998) -- We are rapidly coming upon 1999, and this means that we'll be following a whole new grouping of stocks for each screen. For the benefit of new readers, at the end of December last year, we picked the 10 top stocks from each of the following screens, which we have been following all year:

Keystone, IFG Classic, IFG Relative Strength, Formula 90, Unemotional Growth, Low PSR, Relative Strength-IBD, Relative Strength-26 Wk Return.

Our intent was to see how each of these models would do on an annual basis. To see how they are doing so far, check out the 1998 returns. I've heard from many people that they wouldn't like it if we "officially" followed a screen that hasn't been backtested. Personally, the idea doesn't bother me so much because of the experimental nature of the Workshop. My proposal would be to add Spark 5, PEG5, and the Beta models for us to follow in the year ahead. If anyone has an opinion, please drop a note on the board.

Also, as a housekeeping note, please remember that both Christmas and New Year's Day fall on Fridays. I don't know exactly what Value Line will be doing with their data, but I'll find out in the next week and report back to you. I'm guessing that they'll deliver the info on Thursday with Tuesday's closing prices.

Finally, allow me to pose a somewhat provocative question. The best performing stock that we've followed in the Workshop this year has been Dell Computer <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: DELL)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: DELL)") end if %>, up 224% to date. Now, if you look at the eight screens we follow, Dell shows up in 6 of them. That's amazing. I'm just wondering if it's coincidence that the best performing stock showed up on the most screens. Suffice to say I'll be looking to see if any stock has such prominence in the screens for 1999. If so, it'll be fun to follow it and see how well it performs.

Take care.

Bogey

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