DIC Minutes
for July 12, 2003
Meeting convened at 9:06 AM, St. Thomas Parlor.
Present in
person: John, Michael, Keith, Bob,
Present by
proxy (proxy holder): DJS (Michael), Scott (Michael)
Not
represented: Clark, DCS, Larry
Financial reports for June were approved. As of today: $6990.88 available in cash.
Minutes of
the June meeting as posted on the WWW were approved.
|
Aflac |
In
June named by Fortune as one of the 50 best companies for minorities to work.
Stock is trading in the $31 to $33 range since April |
fl=23 ceil=48 |
|
Cisco |
Posted
best close in more than a year at $18.80 on 7/9. Many analysts are moving to
hold Stock price has remained above its 200 day moving average since
mid-March. |
fl=10 ceil=22 |
|
Equity |
Stock
price has remained above its 200 day moving average since mid-April.
Substantial selling of the stock
by senior executives in 23 of 33 REITs.
– is it time to sell? Price fluctuating in the $25-$28 range.
Second quarter dividends of $.4325/share. |
fl=22 ceil=?? |
|
GE |
Closed
at 28.12 on 7/11 (down a little). Schwab rating is C. Seems to be related to
some problems with meting their earnings expectations |
fl=20 ceil=46 |
|
Heinz |
Business
Week predicts that HNZ is an attractive take-over target. Nestle is rumored
to be interested. Schwab rating is B. Debt rating lowered due to lower
operating margins. Analysts ratings unchanged |
fl=30 ceil=74 |
|
Intel |
Recent
$100 million investment in Dram chips in Japan. Closed at 23.34 (up 2 f orm
last month) PE=48.7. |
fl=13.7 ceil=27.5 |
|
IPG |
Schwab
rating is F |
|
|
Lincoln
National |
Closed
at 37.10. Schwab rating of D recently raised to C. No other report. |
fl=28 ceil=42 |
|
MDC |
Schwab
rating of C. Closed at 50.45. No report |
fl=33 ceil=94 |
|
MHP |
No
report. Scwab rating of B. Closed at 62.15 |
fl=52 ceil=70 |
|
Nokia |
Stock
is trading in the $16 to $18 range (closed at 17.77). New deals announced in Europe
and Asia. Second quarter revenues are forecast to be up but profits will be
down somewhat from the same quarter last year. |
fl=8 ceil=42 |
|
Target |
Sales
are up 7.9%. Mervyn’s continues to under-perform. Target and Marshall
Fields stores are meeting expectations. Closed at 38.95 on 7/9. |
fl=30 ceil=60 |
If you
recall, several meetings ago (and at today's meeting for those who were there)
John talked about a book called "The Intelligent Investor" (1949)
written by Benjamin Graham in 1949. It is worth noting that Graham was Warren
Buffet's mentor. This book was revised by Graham in 1972
The current
issue of TIME magazine (July 14) has an article reviewing that book. In this
newest update of the book, MONEY magazine senior writer Jason Zweig has
annotated the text and added extensive commentaries for each chapter. It is
probably worth a read.
We
continued the discussion of the investment watch list begun last month covering
the area of healthcare. We revisited Aetna (AET) , Apria healthcare (AHG) and
Omnicare (OCR). Added to the list were IDEXX Laboratories, Advanced
Neuromodulation, Pacificare Health, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), PracticeWorks
Inc (PRWK) and Matria Healthcare (MATR).
After much
discussion, John moved that we spend $3500 at market on Johnson & Johnson.
Seconded by Bob, and passed unanimously.
The charge
to members for the August meeting is to continue looking at the areas within
healthcare, such as service delivery and bill processing.
Question
for discussion next month: Should we return to utilities?
Adjourned
at 10.05 AM.
|
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