A. Stocks

     You are to do a feature story on a club in Freeport that buys stocks. The members, 10 women who have been investing together for seven years, include four homemakers, two teachers, the manager of a local drugstore, a hairdresser and two secretaries. The club has invested about $100,000 to date, and its stocks have a market value of $162,000. All dividends have been put back into stock purchases. The women say their plan is to sell all the stock and divide the revenue in three years. Each member puts up $1,500 a year.
     "This was a 10-year plan," says Mrs. Arlene Robbins, who acts as secretary of the group. "We've lost on some stocks and done well on others. We meet monthly at one of the member's homes and make a decision on buying and selling. The next meeting is Thursday at my place." You go to 65 Bismark St. to attend the meeting.
     Seven of the women are there. One is ill and two are working late. The discussion is about whether to sell 1,000 shares of Goodyear and whether to buy 100 shares of Motorola, 100 shares of Gannett, 1,000 of J.C. Penney, and 100 of Texas Instruments.
     The club makes its own decisions on buying and selling. Five of the women were assigned to study the stocks considered for purchase and the two others were asked to examine the merits of selling Goodyear and to report next month.
     "We are doing well this year," says Mrs. Robbins. "But I am not so sure that we shouldn't consider looking at bonds as well as stocks. Let's think about that."
     Mildred Bannister, 15 Hawthorne Drive, says that had the group gone into the bond market several years ago it would have done well. "The bonds were paying high interest rates to attract capital in a high-interest market situation," she said.
     Alice Thomas, 56 Western Ave., cautions the women doing the checking on buying and selling to watch the yield- and price-to-earnings ratio and to report on them. She adds, "I wonder if the survivors of the dot-com shakeout are worth investigating."
     You tell the city editor what you have and he suggests that you do some checking yourself so that you can give the current closing prices of the stocks they discussed. He adds, "Make sure you explain all the terms they used. Let's make this an educational feature. Add background about the clubs. I understand there are thousands of them in the country."
     He tells you to write 350 to 500 words.

B. Occupancy

     The Freeport Chamber of Commerce secretary, Fred Graham, tells you that the hotel occupancy rate is down. Last month, he says, 64 percent of all hotel rooms in the metropolitan area were occupied, compared with 67 percent a year ago and 82 percent three years ago, the best tourist year in the past decade.
     Last month 50,300 rooms were filled. That's up slightly from last year's 49,100 but, because of the increase in the number of units available as the result of new construction, the percentage is down.
     "Clearly, the people who are in the hotel business are not discouraged," Graham says. "A new hotel is going up downtown and another is in the planning stage."
     You ask why present occupancy is so far down from the 82 percent. "First place, tourists aren't coming in the numbers they used to," he answers. "Also, the economy was better. Firms were out looking for business, and salesmen were on the go. Also, the area attracted a number of large conventions and annual meetings. Now, companies are not sending out the waves of salespeople they used to, and conventions are being held closer to the home office, or there are regional meetings." He adds, "We are optimistic. I predict that next year our occupancy rate will be in the 70s. You watch for it."
     Write 150 words.

C. Reorganized

     Atlas Equipment Associates of Freeport filed for bankruptcy a year ago. Today, it released a statement saying its board has given approval to a reorganization plan. Creditors have tentatively accepted the plan.
     Under the plan, the company will be recapitalized with 45 percent of new stock going to National Corporation, which lent the company $1.5 million 10 months ago. The company has applied for a favorable tax ruling, and the plan depends on such a ruling. Other stock will be distributed: 5 percent to existing common shareholders, 7.5 percent to existing preferred stockholders, and 42.5 percent to the creditors. Atlas manufactures road-building equipment.
     Write 125 words.

D. Annual

     The Baldwin Protection Systems Co., a Freeport industry that manufactures burglar alarms for vehicles, homes and industry, announced its earnings for last year:

	Last Year	Previous Year
Revenue	$4,073,421.00	$3,467,656.00
Net income	282,382.00	137,935.00
Share earns	.83	.34
Shares outstanding	340,422	400,070

     Company president Felix Parrington—who founded the company 10 years ago after tinkering with alarms in his garage with a borrowed set of tools—said that the increase in income was the result of "a new sales force that is expanding our contacts with retail outlets." Baldwin products are sold over a four-state area. Parrington, who lives at 76 Roth Road, said he plans to have his alarm system sold nationally "within three years."
     You check with local brokers and find that the stock is traded in the over-the-counter market and that the price per share has been around $10. The company has been conservative in its policies and has put most of its earnings back into the business. Last year, it paid a 20-cent dividend. The previous year, it was 10 cents. The broker said that the "increase in crime has been good for Baldwin. Parrington has some excellent patents, and the company clearly is a growth operation."
     Write 200 words.

E. Digital

     The Digital Equipment Corporation of Freeport issued its earnings report for the first fiscal quarter of the year. You know that there has been increased competition in the computer industry, which could explain the decline in Digital's earnings. You ask for some comments from business analysts and they say they think Digital did better than they had expected. "We were expecting a per-share income of 90 cents to $1 a share," said Paul Olsen, office equipment analyst at Burns & Allen Investment, Inc. Digital is the world's leading manufacturer of networked computer systems, those that can communicate with each other and share workloads and common databases. Write 150 words.

	Last Year	Previous Year
Revenue	$1,323,927,000	1,515,263,000
Net income	72,325,000	144,216,000
Share earns	1.13	2.44
Shares outstanding	63,927,102	59,164,197