Six Month Update July 4, 1999. It is always good practice to make a mid-year report of your finances. It is a good way of finding out where you are and where you'll be going for the rest of the year. What I want to do here is give you readers my half time results to see how I have done for the first six months on my featured articles. Article Date Stock Price Price 6/30/99 Increase 12/5/98 American Home Products (AHP) $52.50 $54.625 + 4.04%   World Com (WCOM) $61.81 $87.18 + 41.05%   Bank One (ONE) $54.38 $57.6875 + 6.07%   WalMart (WMT) adj. 2-1 split $36.59 $46.08 + 25.93%   Bell South (BLS) adj. 2-1 split $44.41 $44.00 - 0.92% 3/7/99  ICOS (ICOS)  $25.75 $29.00 + 12.62%   ISIS (ISIS) $16.625 $16.75 + 0.75 %   Vertex (VRTX) $25.625 $27.13 + 5.87%   Microcide (MCDE) $4.375 $4.63 +5.83% 3/14/99 Merck (MRK)  $ 83.88  $71.75  - 14.46%  3/21/99  Cisco (CSCO) adj. 2-1 split $51.63  $65.31  + 26.49  5/2/99  Citigroup (C) adj. 1.5-1 split $50.00  $45.50  - 9%  5/16/99 Broadcom (BRCM) $93.56 $126.50 + 35.20% 5/30/99 Elan (ELN) $27.03 $28.06 + 3.81% 6/6/99 Priceline.com (PCLN) $90.31 $115.54 + 27.93% Total on all issues since the inception of this financial page (December 1998) is +11.42%. Not bad, considering the way the market has performed in the last several months. I said from the very beginning that you have to be a long term investor to be a winner. When I pick a stock for the long haul, it means that I probably will hold onto it for 2-5 years, or longer, if it is still performing well and management is still doing its job. When earnings are still on the up side you do not sell the stock. When earnings fall three consecutive quarters, then it is a good time to give a good hard look at management. I was a little disappointed in the bio tech stocks, but at least I came away unscathed. I would still hold them for the next two or three years. It seems when something like bio tech does not move according to the overall market, that is when they start to move. Hold onto them, they will be the next superstars! Of all the issues that were featured in the past six months I would not sell any of them. They all have a big future and good sound earnings will take care of the stock prices. Next week's article is going to be my best picks for the aggressive investor for the remainder of the year. So, stay tuned if you have a good stomach and want to reap some healthy gains. George

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