The Motley Fool: The Foolish Four, Wednesday, January 07, 1998

<THE FOOLISH FOUR>

Foolish Four Report
by Robert Sheard

LEXINGTON, KY. (Jan. 7, 1998) -- It's time for another installment of Dazzling Dow Digits. Every once in a while, I like to look at a variety of statistics for the thirty Dow stocks, not because they necessarily help in any investment decisions, but more or less out of general curiosity about the stocks that comprise this most-watched of all indices. All data are as of 12/30/97.

Average Price/Earnings Ratio: 22.6
Highest: Boeing <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: BA)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: BA)") end if %> 58.3
Lowest: General Motors <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: GM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: GM)") end if %> 9.5

Average Market Capitalization: $64.8 billion
Highest: General Electric <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: GE)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: GE)") end if %> $243.4 billion
Lowest: Union Carbide <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: UK)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: UK)") end if %> $6.0 billion

Average Price/Sales Ratio: 2.1 (excludes financial stocks)
Highest: Coca-Cola <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: KO)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: KO)") end if %> 8.9
Lowest: General Motors <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: GM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: GM)") end if %> 0.3

Average Return for Past 13 Weeks: 0.1%
Highest: AT&T <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: T)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: T)") end if %> 42.3%
Lowest: Sears <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: S)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: S)") end if %> -21.1%

Average Return for Past 26 Weeks: 3.9%
Highest: AT&T <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: T)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: T)") end if %> 74.3%
Lowest: Eastman Kodak <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: EK)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: EK)") end if %> -21.4%

Average Return for Past Year: 24.5%
Highest: International Business Machines <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: IBM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: IBM)") end if %> 71.9%
Lowest: Eastman Kodak <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: EK)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: EK)") end if %> -23.5%

Average Annualized Return for Past 3 years: 31.2%
Highest: Travelers Group <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: TRV)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: TRV)") end if %> 67.6%
Lowest: International Paper <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: IP)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: IP)") end if %> 12.5%

Average Annualized Return for Past 5 years: 22.2%
Highest: Travelers Group <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: TRV)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: TRV)") end if %> 46.1%
Lowest: Wal-Mart <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: WMT)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: WMT)") end if %> 5.2%

Average Annualized Return for Past 10 years: 19.4%
Highest: Travelers Group <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: TRV)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: TRV)") end if %> 32.4%
Lowest: International Business Machines <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: IBM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: IBM)") end if %> 6.8%

Average Letters in Company Name: <just kidding>

Fool on!

TODAY'S NUMBERS

Stock Change Last -------------------- UK - 3/16 43.69 IP - 5/16 46.00 MO + 7/8 46.75 EK + 3/16 64.75

Day Month Year FOOL-4 +0.26% 4.65% 4.65% DJIA -0.05% -0.08% -0.08% S&P 500 -0.27% -0.66% -0.66% NASDAQ -1.17% -0.55% -0.55% Rec'd # Security In At Now Change 12/31/97 206 Eastman Ko 60.56 64.75 6.91% 12/31/97 289 Int'l Pape 43.13 46.00 6.67% 12/31/97 276 Philip Mor 45.25 46.75 3.31% 12/31/97 291 Union Carb 42.94 43.69 1.75% Rec'd # Security In At Value Change 12/31/97 206 Eastman Ko 12475.88 13338.50 $862.63 12/31/97 289 Int'l Pape 12463.13 13294.00 $830.88 12/31/97 276 Philip Mor 12489.00 12903.00 $414.00 12/31/97 291 Union Carb 12494.81 12713.06 $218.25 CASH $77.19 TOTAL $52325.75