======================== THE MOTLEY FOOL ========================
                   B R E A K F A S T   N E W S
                    Tuesday, October 2, 2001
benjamin.rogers@enron.com
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IN THIS ISSUE
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- TOP STORY: Trash Compaq-ter
  http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=508214

- NEWS TO GO: McGraw Hill, Wal-Mart, and Topps
  http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=508215

- POST OF THE DAY: Historical Perspective of the Market
  http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=508216

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"There was a time when a fool and his money were soon parted,
but now it happens to everybody." -- Adlai Stevenson

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TOP STORY
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TRASH COMPAQ-TER
You can restart your Compaq desktop, but can you restart Compaq
Computer (NYSE: CPQ)? The PC industry was struggling well before
last month's terrorist attacks, but now demand has come to a
screeching halt.

>>FULL STORY:
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=508218

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NEWS TO GO
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Home is where the VCR is. Video rental chain Hollywood
Entertainment (Nasdaq: HLYW) is raising its third-quarter profit
projections after homebody consumers contributed to a stunning
11% uptick in same store sales. Second only to Blockbuster
(NYSE: BBI) in size with 1800 locations, Hollywood is now
expecting to earn between $0.15 and $0.17 a share, seven cents
above earlier estimates.

Publisher McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP) was supposed to be a textbook
case of down market resiliency given its steady scholastic
endeavors. However, as a magazine and trade journal maker, the
company has its work cut out for it in this lax advertising
climate. After growing revenue by 11% through the first half of
the year, the McGraw Hill is looking at sales growth in the high
single digits for the latter part of the year. With many of its
properties like BusinessWeek and the Standard & Poor's debt
rating service in the financial information field, market apathy
has also hit the company hard.

Always low prices. Always moving forward, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT)
announced that it would be accelerating its Supercenter
expansion plans. The leading retailer, which yesterday
reiterated its 4% same store sales gain targets for the month of
September, plans to open or relocate 235 outlets in fiscal 2002.
It's a move that would grow the discount department store and
wholesale club chains by 9% for the year.

I choose not to, Pikachu! Given the lack of kiddies no longer
interested in exchanging Charmander trading cards for Bulbasaurs
and Meowths, Topps (Nasdaq: TOPP) reported sales of $81.7
million for the quarter, well behind last year's $141.7 million
sum. Once better known for its sport cards franchises, if you
want to know how big Pokemon once was, consider that non-Pokemon
sales actually increased during the period. Earnings came in at
$0.20 a share, off last year's $0.68 a share showing but
actually a penny ahead of Wall Street's prediction. On deck for
Topps? Lord of the Rings and Monsters, Inc. trading cards, to
coincide with the highly anticipated theatrical releases later
this year.

Hardly news anymore, but somebody else is now suing Microsoft
(Nasdaq: MSFT). This time it is the once mighty network maven
Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL). The company is taking Microsoft to court
on the grounds of false advertising after the company shipped
marketing material to Novell customers in the form of cereal
boxes. Microsoft Server Crunch, seemingly the breakfast of
software champions, stated that Novell was moving out of
software development -- a claim Novell says is not true. I
wonder if there was a toy surprise inside?

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POST OF THE DAY
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE MARKET
"...my grandmother was the daughter of the principle lab
assistant who helped Guglielmo Marconi, Nobel Prize winner in
physics in 1909, invent the radio. When Marconi was broke my
great grandfather, who was Marconi's only helper at the time,
gave his life savings to him in exchange for then worthless
Marconi stock. 1000s of shares were sold to him by Marconi for
25c/each and these shares were eventually to be worth $260 each
when Marconi became an international sensation."

>>FULL POST:
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=508219

=================================================================

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