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Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tomas who wrote (32857)	12/15/1998 1:36:00 PM
From: kumar L chalasani	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

FOCUS ON FILINGS: Following The Money By John Curran A Dow Jones Newswire Column WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--What does the money manager crowd on Wall Street know about stock picking that you don't? Unless you happen to manage stock portfolios on a full-time basis, probably quite a bit. But that doesn't mean it has to be difficult to view the fruits of their labor on a regular basis and review which stocks managers have been buying and selling. Along with holding public companies to a rigorous degree of disclosure about operational performance and prospects, the Securities and Exchange Commission serves a similar function for many money managers who specialize in equity securities. The primary vehicle for disclosure is known as a Schedule 13F filing, which is required on a quarterly basis from managers owning more than $100 million of equity securities. These reports are due to be filed with the SEC within 45 days after the close of each calendar quarter, and provide a snapshot view of where stock portfolios stood as of the last day of the quarter. Though it's likely that some managers will always succumb to the temptation of a bit of end-of-quarter window-dressing - buying a few better-performing stocks and jettisoning some dogs prior to the end of the quarter - the stories told in 13F reports shed a lot of light on thematic preferences of managers and stocks that have become compelling to them. A look inside a few portfolios of well-known managers as reported over the past few weeks by Federal Filings Business News. Investors should note that the positions were held as of Sept. 30, and may not remain the same today. Before leaving his post as head of Franklin Mutual Advisers on Nov. 1, famed money manager Michael Price went out with a bang in the financial services and oilfield sectors. Aside from what appeared to be a busy risk arbitrage quarter involving AMP Inc. and Nationsbank among others, Franklin Mutual's two largest new positions for the quarter were a 3.3 million share position in Lehman Brothers Holdings (LEH), and a 3.32 million share stake in Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (BCM). Both Lehman and Canadian Imperial stocks were savaged during the August-October market turmoil, the former falling from 85 in July to 28 by quarter's end and selling today for about 41, while the latter reached 33 in July, swooned to 18 at Sept. 30 and now trades at 22. Similarly, Franklin Mutual put down some big bets on cut-rate stocks in the depressed oilfield services and equipment sectors with a 4.3 million share position in Weatherford International (WFT) and a 1.1 million share stake in Baker Hughes (BHI). If it still holds the stocks today, Franklin continues to await a significant payoff, as Weatherford declined from 39 in July to 15 in August, and has improved only to the current quote of about 18. Baker Hughes has done even worse, falling from 34 in July to a quarter-low of 18 in August, and has continued the slide to today's price of just 16. Tweedy Browne Co., known for its attraction to value-priced equities, loaded up on Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group during the third quarter, reporting a new 1.5 million share position in the company's common stock when the shares traded in a range of 10 to 16. The stock now goes for about 11 per share. The manager's larger new positions also included more than a half million shares of credit-card company Metris Corp. (MTRS) and a 1.6 million share stake in Wisconsin Central Transportation Corp. (WCLX). A continuing investment in the former company would be still be under water, as the stock only trades at 40 today versus its third-quarter range of 46 to 80. Wisconsin Central has fared better, now trading at 18 compared to the third quarter's high/low of 23 to 12 1/2. Leon Cooperman, who runs the Omega Advisors hedge fund, also allocated considerable capital to transportation-related stocks during the third quarter, piling up new a new 2.4 million share position in Ryder System Inc. (R), nearly 700,000 shares of General Motors (GM), and 2.3 million shares of Republic Industries (RII), whose businesses include National Car Rental, Alamo Rent-A-Car, and the Autonation USA chain of used car dealerships. Of the bunch, GM has outperformed to date, trading now at about 66 versus a third quarter range of 55 to 74 per share. Ryder shares at about 25 today sit toward the middle of their third-quarter range of 20 to 31, while Republic Industries has fallen to a current quote of about 13 1/2, compared to a third-quarter trading range of 14 to 26. -By John Curran; 201-938-5099