<FOOLISH FOUR PORTFOLIO>

Winner's Circle
for the Foolish Four Invitational

by Ann Coleman (TMF [email protected])

Reston, VA (June 11, 1999) -- Is everyone feeling a little frivolous? After this blah week for the market, we need a little levity -- which is handy because, good market or bad, today is the day we announce the winners of the First Ever Foolish Four Invitational.

Note, I'm not designating this as an annual event. As much fun as I have had the last three weeks, I find I don't much like being The Judge, even with help from Jennifer Silber (please address your complaints to TMF [email protected]). The responsibility of deciding who celebrates tonight and who spends the evening in their underwear watching reruns of The Nanny and sighing is crushing. When the going gets tough, I wimp out, and picking a winner was really tough. So I didn't. I picked the ones that I just had to share with you all. (Yes, they ALL get hats -- if you see your name below, just send me your address.)

I have to say that there were a lots of others that were very, very close. You guys are a clever bunch (well, most of you). So if you didn't win, please don't jump off of any tall buildings. Losing should not cause anyone more than a week of serious depression. (You can see why I had a hard time with the judging thing.)

First, the ones everyone thought of. These are all good, but I was starting to think I should take points off for anyone who didn't send in:

Merge Xerox and Caterpillar: Copy cat

Merge Eastman Kodak (EK) and GE for the ultimate high tech company: GEEK

Merge Gillette with Gap to produce really sharp clothes.

You could merge Time Warner and Waste Management, but it would be a Waste of Time.

Xerox and Bank One, or BankAmerica, for instant cash.

The multitudinous variations on Fannie Mae, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer were, ummmm, cute, too, but no cigar.

OK, just one: Merge Johnson & Johnson with Pfizer and produce Tyagra. A pill that both of us need to take an hour before we go to bed. -- Pratt5 (86mets)

And now, the Winners. All of them, in no particular order.

Merge Boeing, International Paper, and Xerox for a plane paper copier. -- Philip Bear

Merge AT&T with Lucent and you have: AT&T. -- Bill Cernansky

Merge Compaq with Waste Management and get "Compaqtor." -- Mark, also Calvinator

Merge General Electric and Gap to form Generation Gap. -- Mary Booth

Time Warner merges with Waste Management. They then acquire Bank One. They then decide they don't want to have a banking division but would like an automotive manufacturing division, so they drop Bank One and Pick up Ford. The headline line would read "Time Waste Ford (no One)." -- Chris Walsh, New York

The merger of IBM and Anheuser-Busch would affectionately be called Big Buzz. -- Bill Jamison

You cud merge IBM with 3M and call the new company WeBeM! -- Eric Kulju

Alcoa merges with American Express and markets the first downscale credit card: The Aluminum Card. -- Bill Lane, also Che826

Merge Boeing with Caterpillar and get "Mothra." -- Patricia Catrillo

Merge Pfizer with Goodyear Tire and Rubber to develop "run-flat" condoms. (Give it a minute.) -- Maximum Don

If you merge a Goodyear Tire with a Caterpillar the result is a Flatterpillar. -- Alex M

Exxon merges with Waste Management and opens an Alaska office... just in case. -- Cassandra

Merge Philip Morris with Goodyear: All those lawsuits, Philip Morris needs a Goodyear. -- Robert E. Hinton

Merge Disney and Eli Lilly (makers of Prozac): "The Happiest Place on EarthTM, now in easy chewable tablets." -- A. Arif Husain

Merge Xerox with Gap to form a clothing company that can quickly copy fashion trends. -- Rob Conger, Manhattan

Merge Boeing + Home Depot + Ford to produce Planes, Drains, and Automobiles. -- Kevin Shaum

Merge Intel + 3M => 2.9999M -- Kevin Shaum, also Tim Irvin

What if you merged Pfizer with Caterpillar? You'd get the world's largest... farmaceutical company, of course! -- Ethan Haskel, who obviously has too much time on his hands. (No, you can't have a hat, Ethan. You're an employee.)

Whatever you do, do NOT merge Sears (S) with Union Carbide (UK). That idea does not sell. -- Ron Josephs, also Rob Conger, Manhattan


Today's Stock Lists | 1999 Dow Returns

One of the latest Fool books is the ultimate guide to Dow Investing and some of its best variations -- order The Foolish Four: How to Crush Your Mutual Funds in 15 Minutes a Year.

(c) Copyright 1999, The Motley Fool. All rights reserved. This material is for personal use only. Republication and redissemination, including posting to news groups, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of The Motley Fool.

Today's Stock Lists | 1999 Dow Returns

06/11/99 Close
Stock  Change   Last
--------------------
CAT  -2  7/16  59.44
JPM  -1        126.25
MMM  -1  1/8   85.94
IP   -1  1/2   52.25


                  Day    Month   Year   History
         
    FOOL-4   -2.28%   1.31%  23.01%  24.84%
        DJIA     -1.23%  -0.66%  14.64%  14.19%
        S&P 500  -0.70%  -0.62%   5.57%   5.82%
        NASDAQ   -1.48%  -0.92%  11.64%  13.17%

    Rec'd   #  Security     In At       Now    Change

 12/24/98   24 Caterpillar   43.08     59.44    37.97%
 12/24/98   22 Int'l Paper   43.55     52.25    19.98%
 12/24/98    9 JP Morgan    105.51    126.25    19.66%
 12/24/98   14 3M            73.57     85.94    16.81%


    Rec'd   #  Security     In At     Value    Change

 12/24/98   24 Caterpillar 1034.00   1426.50   $392.50
 12/24/98   22 Int'l Paper  958.12   1149.50   $191.38
 12/24/98    9 JP Morgan    949.62   1136.25   $186.63
 12/24/98   14 3M          1030.00   1203.13   $173.13

              Dividends Received      $49.99
                             Cash     $28.26
                            TOTAL   $4993.63