<THE FOOLISH FOUR>
Foolish Four Report
by Robert Sheard
LEXINGTON, KY. (May 29, 1998) -- Let's end the week with a Dow Data Day, focusing on the returns for the thirty components over a variety of periods. Every once in a while it helps to stand back and look at everything from the last six months to the past decade to get a sense of how strong (or weak) certain Dow stocks have been.
For example, over the last twelve months, ten stocks have compiled returns of 40% or better (the lists will follow), while the average Dow stock gained 31.6%. Just three of the thirty stocks lost money over the last year, and not entirely by coincidence, all three of them are in this year's Foolish Four model holdings.
Let's look at the best and worst for several periods:
Best Performers, Last Six Months Wal-Mart Stores 36.8 McDonald's Corp. 35.6 Du Pont 33.7 Sears Roebuck 32.3 Amer. Express 30.4 Worst Performers, Last Six Months Philip Morris -13.8 Boeing -9.9 Minnesota Mining 0.4 Chevron Corp. 1.4 Int'l Paper 2.6 Best Performers, 1 Year AT&T Corp. 84.3 Wal-Mart Stores 81.1 Travelers Group 66.8 Amer. Express 57.1 Gen'l Electric 55.9 Worst Performers, 1 Year Eastman Kodak -10.9 Philip Morris -2.2 Union Carbide -1.1 Boeing 2.7 Minnesota Mining 11.8 Best Performers (annualized), 3 years Travelers Group 64.7 Gen'l Electric 48.0 Amer. Express 45.6 Merck & Co. 44.0 United Tech 41.8 Worst Performers (annualized), 3 years Eastman Kodak 10.5 Int'l Paper 13.3 Union Carbide 16.8 Gen'l Motors 17.8 Minnesota Mining 20.3 Best Performers (annualized), 5 years Travelers Group 40.8 Int'l Bus. Mach. 38.6 Amer. Express 35.8 United Tech 35.1 Hewlett-Packard 33.6 Worst Performers (annualized), 5 years AT&T Corp. 12.1 Int'l Paper 12.3 Gen'l Motors 13.3 Wal-Mart Stores 14.4 Minnesota Mining 14.8 Best Performers (annualized), 10 years Coca-Cola 34.0 Travelers Group 32.8 Gen'l Electric 27.2 Procter & Gamble 26.7 Disney (Walt) 24.9 Worst Performers (annualized), 10 years Gen'l Motors 10.3 Int'l Bus. Mach. 10.7 Goodyear Tire 11.2 Int'l Paper 12.1 Eastman Kodak 12.4
If you'd like to run your own comparisons, the following table includes all the returns and periods for each of the thirty Dow stocks. Enjoy playing with the numbers and have a Foolish weekend!
6 Mo. 1 Yr. 3 Yr. 5 Yr. 10 Yr. Company Name
8.8 22.9 32.3 23.9 22.3 AlliedSignal Inc. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: ALD)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: ALD)") end if %>
6.6 12.2 22.1 20.8 16.4 Aluminum Co. of Amer. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: AA)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: AA)") end if %>
30.4 57.1 45.6 35.8 20.5 Amer. Express <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: AXP)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: AXP)") end if %>
9.3 84.3 23.0 12.1 16.1 AT&T Corp. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: T)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: T)") end if %>
-9.9 2.7 23.8 23.5 19.1 Boeing <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: BA)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: BA)") end if %>
21.1 30.4 27.5 29.0 15.8 Caterpillar Inc. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: CAT)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: CAT)") end if %>
1.4 24.4 24.9 18.4 18.1 Chevron Corp. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: CHV)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: CHV)") end if %>
25.7 20.3 39.1 32.7 34.0 Coca-Cola <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: KO)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: KO)") end if %>
21.5 53.5 32.0 25.9 24.9 Disney (Walt) <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: DIS)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: DIS)") end if %>
33.7 40.1 33.6 26.4 21.8 Du Pont <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: DD)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: DD)") end if %>
17.1 -10.9 10.5 16.4 12.4 Eastman Kodak <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: EK)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: EK)") end if %>
16.4 32.6 32.6 21.9 17.6 Exxon Corp. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: XON)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: XON)") end if %>
15.0 55.9 48.0 33.5 27.2 Gen'l Electric <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: GE)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: GE)") end if %>
24.0 20.2 17.8 13.3 10.3 Gen'l Motors <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: GM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: GM)") end if %>
11.8 35.5 25.2 15.7 11.2 Goodyear Tire <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: GT)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: GT)") end if %>
8.3 44.9 32.9 33.6 18.5 Hewlett-Packard <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: HWP)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: HWP)") end if %>
10.0 45.6 36.1 38.6 10.7 Int'l Business Mach. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: IBM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: IBM)") end if %>
2.6 26.1 13.3 12.3 12.1 Int'l Paper <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: IP)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: IP)") end if %>
11.5 18.2 31.9 29.1 24.8 Johnson & Johnson <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: JNJ)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: JNJ)") end if %>
35.6 16.4 21.7 21.7 20.2 McDonald's Corp. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: MCD)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: MCD)") end if %>
27.3 35.7 44.0 29.9 24.3 Merck & Co. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: MRK)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: MRK)") end if %>
0.4 11.8 20.3 14.8 16.1 Minnesota Mining <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: MMM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: MMM)") end if %>
12.0 32.9 30.6 18.8 20.1 Morgan (J.P.) & Co <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: JPM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: JPM)") end if %>
-13.8 -2.2 23.0 24.5 22.2 Philip Morris <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: MO)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: MO)") end if %>
10.1 32.4 35.3 29.8 26.7 Procter & Gamble <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: PG)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: PG)") end if %>
32.3 25.8 30.9 26.1 19.7 Sears Roebuck <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: S)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: S)") end if %>
24.2 66.8 64.7 40.8 32.8 Travelers Group <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: TRV)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: TRV)") end if %>
16.0 -1.1 16.8 22.8 19.5 Union Carbide <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: UK)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: UK)") end if %>
25.5 32.2 41.8 35.1 21.2 United Technologies <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: UTX)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: UTX)") end if %>
36.8 81.1 29.7 14.4 22.7 Wal-Mart Stores <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: WMT)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: WMT)") end if %>
Current Dow Order | 1998 Dow Returns
[Robert Sheard is the author of the The Unemotional Investor (Simon & Schuster, 1998) available now at Amazon.com and your local bookseller.]
TODAY'S
NUMBERS
Stock Change Last -------------------- UK - 7/16 49.94 IP - 15/16 46.00 MO + 1/16 37.38 EK + 11/16 71.38 |
Day Month Year
FOOL-4 -0.45% -2.81% 6.52%
DJIA -0.78% -1.80% 12.54%
S&P 500 -0.62% -1.88% 12.41%
NASDAQ -0.88% -4.79% 13.28%
Rec'd # Security In At Now Change
12/31/97 206 Eastman Ko 60.56 71.38 17.85%
12/31/97 291 Union Carb 42.94 49.94 16.30%
12/31/97 289 Int'l Pape 43.13 46.00 6.67%
12/31/97 276 Philip Mor 45.25 37.38 -17.40%
Rec'd # Security In At Value Change
12/31/97 206 Eastman Ko 12475.88 14703.25 $2227.38
12/31/97 291 Union Carb 12494.81 14531.81 $2037.00
12/31/97 289 Int'l Pape 12463.13 13294.00 $830.88
12/31/97 276 Philip Mor 12489.00 10315.50 -$2173.50
CASH $415.96
TOTAL $53260.52
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