Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 18

COURIER-POST JWUDfl lessens fenee: YOUR MONEY AND YOU MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1984 8B Two agencies will wed resources for export ventures government efforts taken to encourage small businesses to get into exporting. SMALL BUSINESS ufacturing the goods and to develop marketing programs. INTEREST RATES on the loans would be no higher than 2.25percentabovetheU.S.primerate.(Tlieprimerate,now 13 percent, is what commercial banks are said to charge their best customers on short-term loans.) TheSBAhasbeenofferingguaranteesonloansforexports with a limit of $500,000. So far this year, it closed on loans with a value of only 11 .1 million a minuscule fraction ol the nation's trade deficit To learn more about the program, contact the local SBA office. 1800 Davis Camden, N.J.

08104. Mark Watson is Haddonfield attorney and adviser to small businesses. He invites your questions. Write him at the Courier-Post, P.O Box 5300, Cherry Hilt, N.J. 08034 assistance, market research and information on brokerage and insurance services and on customs laws.

BIT MANY small-business owners don't think they have the resources to handle international markets. Some are intimidated by the prospectsof doing business world wide with itsattendantunfamiliarshippingandcollection procedures. Few of them seem to be aware of the several federal programs designed to help them compete in foreign markets. As a result, large corporations do most of our international trade. Eighty percent of exports come from only 1 percent of the exporting firms.

Under the new program, the loans will not just be for the actual exporting process. They can be used to purchase goods to ship overseas, to pay for material and labor in man- Two federal agencies announced last month they would pool their resources to guarantee bank loans lor the export projects of small American firms. The Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Export-Import Bank said they would guarantee up to $1 million for each loan. (The Export-Import Bank makes loans and guarantees to facilitate American exports). William H.

Draper III, president of the Bank, says he holds high hopes for the new arrangement "(It) will enable us to reach small businesses and their bankers through the existing network of 1 17 SB A ieldof ices, Draper says. He added that small businesses are 'the greatest source of new growth, of increased exports and of new employment for our country." THE PROGRAM represents yet another in a long line of Ironically, the announcement came just a day after the government reported a record $141 billion monthly international trade deficit for July. Deficits are created when a country's exports lag behind its imports. They weaken its currency in foreign markets. Government has been frustrated in the attempt to get the vast muscle of American small business to put a dent in the international shortfall.

It currently offers small companies expert Mark Watson Hershey rolls on the road to sweet success Influential broker says buy, buy, buy 1 "tk not runvtiufc mi irt 4 lVV 1 '1 fit A The new American Express platinum card (above) will allow the holder superior credit and entertainment 1 ft options than available with the company's formally elite gold card or its most recognizable green card (right). STOCK OF THE WEEK Hershey Foods (New York Stock Exchange; Friday's closing price, 32 H) is known throughout the world for its chocolate products. Management has introduced several new candy products recently and sales are brisk. The Friendly restaurant chain, owned by Hershey, is expanding operations successfully. 1 Earnings per share are advancing MARK FT smoothy: 1981' 1982, 1983, mMrc 3 20-The 1984 eslimate te 3 50 Her PICKS shey this year has increased its dividend from $1.15 to $1.26 per share.

Hershey 's ret urn on equity is about 17 percent, well above average. Hershey Foods represents a conservative growth investment. We look for the stock to approach $50. Other recommended stocks Dreyfus Corp. (New York Stock Exchange; Friday'sclos-ing price, 3 14 is an investment company.

Dreyfus has kept pace with changes in money management through the introduction of special funds such as Dreyfus Liquid Assets, Dreyfus New York Tax Exempt Bond Fund and the Dreyfus Dollar International Fund. Per share earnings of this very well known money manager have, in general, been rising since 1974. For example: 1981. 1982, 1983, $3.03. For 1984, we estimate $3.90 per share.

Dreyfus probably will get into banking in a few years. In the meantime, the company should do very well in this bull market. Our target price is $45. The Dreyfus Corp. dividend yield is about 4 percent.

Brown and Sharpe (New York Stock Exchange; Friday's closing price, 1 6 V4 manufactures machine tools and measuring devices. The company has just begun to make money after three years of losses. The capital goods market that Brown and Sharpe serves typically is the last to recover from an economic recession. However, the company has purchased new facilities which have made the firm more efficient. The bottom line has shown: 1981, $1.93 earnings per share; 1982, $3.84 loss; 1983, $2.53 loss.

The 1984 estimate is for a 1 5-cent loss. In 1 985, Brown and Sharpe is predicted to earn 75 cents with $2 to $3 per share possible in 1986 and 1987. We predict that Brown and Sharpe will sell for $18 per share long-term. The company pays a dividend of five cents per share. Insilco (New York Stock Exchange; Friday's closing price, 16) is a diversified firm.

Its businesses include prefabricated houses, paint, electrical devices, auto parts and cable television. EarningsareimprovinginallareasHowever.salesfrom the cable television unit have been weak. New cost-cutting equipment is helping improve profits. Past earnings per share have been: 1981, 1982, 1983, $1.67. Our estimate for 1984 is $2.10 per share with $2.35 an early estimate for 1985.

Insilco is selling at 10 times earnings and paying about percent in dividends. Our target price is $23. These stock recommendations, prepared for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate by Securities and Commodities Corp. of Northport, N.Y do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Courier Post. W- iiiti American Express hopes card gives classy touch By DAN DORFMAN Nearly 700 of the country's top money managers have gathered in San Francisco for the 14th annual four-day conference of Montgomery Securities.

Montgomery, one of the West Coast's hottest brokerage firms, is bullish. At the conference, which started yesterday, the firm is telling institutional biggies: Don't be a mouse. The market environment is positive; stock prices are headed higher so buy. LAST YEAR, Montgomery was bearish. With the Dow in the low its two top fellas, Will Weinstein and Tom Weiscl, urged institutions to go easy on stocks, warning of prospects of a sharp market decline.

It turned out they were right on the money. The market was a dog for the next 1 1 months. The Dow tumbled to around 1,080 before rebounding in August to the Officials will be spelling out their reasoning at the conference to money managers from big funds (like T. Rowe Price and Fidelity), major banks (such as Citibank and Bank of America) and corporate giants (like International Business Machines (IBM) and General Electric). All told, the audience represents investment assets of more than 500 billion.

SPECIAL EMPHASIS will be on presentations by 81 big and small publicly owned companies. Such presentations positive or negative have had quick, significant impact on the stocks of the participating companies in the past. At one conference, for example, Tandy shot up more than $14 and Digital Equipment jumped $9 in response to favorable presentations. Among companies itching this year for those institutional dollars: IBM, American Telephone Telegraph, Coca-Cola, Transamerica, Gerber Scientific, Circle-K, Ponderosa Systems, Integrated Device Technology, Micron Technology and Texas Instruments. Weinstein and Weisel offer what they believe are legitimate reasons for a constructive outlook.

WEINSTEIN SEES fiscal responsibility evolving into an even stronger political issue because of prospects of a closer than expected election due to large projected voter turnout, especially among Democratic women and blacks. Anticipating renewed fiscal responsibility regardless of who wins, the market will react positively. Montgomery also sees interest rates not coming down much, but neither should they go up. Another plus: A much-improved supply-demand balance in stocks. Montgomery estimates that since early 1983, some $140 billion worth of stocks has been taken out of the market through corporate mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and corporate repurchases of their own companies' shares.

AND BECAUSE of poor market conditions, Weinstein notes, new stock issues in 1984 first eight months were valued at less than $5 billion, compared with more than $26 billion in the same period last year. Weinstein does cite one potential negative: Rising inflation. His reasoning: Greater labor militancy in the face of sharply rising often record corporate profits following big union give-ups in wages and benefits during the recent recession. "We see a lot of labor unrest, many strikes, and we'd avoid labor-intensive businesses like autos and steel," Weinstein says. Still, he feels the stock market may be one of the best hedges against inflation because, unlike gold, art and real estate which have risen far more than the stock market over the last 15 years, stocks are pretty cheap.

Montgomery's best bets, according to Weisel, are the consumer group (such as Ponderosa and Telecredit), the medical area (namely Hospital Corp. of America and Becton, Dickinson) and selected technology stocks (like Gerber Scientific and Western Digital). Chicago Tribunt Co. In addition, since it is largely aimed at the traveler, the cardholder will have 24-hour-a-day access to travel and hotel accommodations worldwide. AND MEMBERS will have entree to 25 private domestic and international clubs.

That alone should make the new card worth its fee, says Gerstner. But it will only be offered to current American Expresscustomers -in good standing who charge at least $10,000 a year. How was platinum chosen: "Not a great deal of brilliant Insight went into this decision," concedes Gerstner. Platinum was the code name for the project, he says, not so much because the precious metal these days is more pricey than gold, but because market tests showed a consumer perception that platinum is "little-known, but highly valuable." That perception is carried through in the personally addressed mail solicitation, which looks and feels more like an invitation to a Fifth Avenue wedding. Philip Steel it on vacation.

Hit Tax Tipt column will rttumo when returns. pared to $50 for the current top-of-the-line gold card and $35 for the original green card. But Gerstner bristles at the suggestion that the platinum card is an appeal to the upwardly mobile status seeker and is merely "just another credit card" with a higher fee. Yet there is no denying it is an appeal to customers' desire for service and prestige. "People like to associate themselves with things that reinforce their own well-being or sense of worth that's part of life," Gerstner says.

And the platinum card, joining the green and gold, is to be part of that. CREDIT, certainly, is a major specialty of American Express; it has more than 19 million cards in force worldwide, billing members in 26 currencies. Both MasterCard and Visa, licensing through banks, claim more than 142 million cards in the United Slates and Canada. They offer maximum credit lines of $5,000. But the platinum card, to its more select members, will offer check cashing of up to 1 0,000 a week at any American Express travel office worldwide and up to 1 ,000 in cash on the spot from automatic teller machines at participating financial institutions.

By CHRISTOPHER LINDSAY Associated Press NEW YORK The last thing American Express wants is for its most exclusive customers to get the brushoff, so the giant financial services company has just finished contacting the 1 million places around the world that are its agents. The reason for the campaign is the company's new, ultra-exclusive platinum card, the nation's latest and toniest credit device. American Express doesn't want the agents to be surprised when a customer hands over one of the new cards. The nightmare was that one of American Express' "service establishments," would take one look at the brushed-silver colored card and think: "This must be a fraud," says Lou Gerstner.chairmanof American Express Travel Related Services Co. Inc.

AMERICAN EXPRESS, which has been a credit-card pioneer in a business widely embraced by banks and other financial institutions, has just begun offering applications for the platinum card to about 500,000 of its first platinum card will actually be issued this month, according to the company It will cost $250 a year com ETM.G (JtmA Week ending Sep. 7 a Redeeming no-load stock shares need not be a hassle Mtrktt pries to dsilert for gold and lihw. (Domestic marksti srs Handy Htrmtn prices.) GOLD City Aug. 31 Sep. 7 Change New York $348.40 $335.50 on $12.90 London $347.50 $336.00 off $11.50 SILVER New York $7450 $7.07 off $.380 London $7,445 $7.16 off 285 Authorities recommend you ask these questions before investing in commodities: Is the dealer registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, National Futures Association or any other regulatory agency? Does the firm have literature or written materials explaining the transactions or a risk disclosure statement? Docs the dealer have, or will it obtain, the commodity bought? What percentage of the investment will go for fees, commissions or other costs? Kow long has the company been in business, and who are its principals and officers? Will the company provide a copy of its financial statement? Where will the investment funds be held? Can independent referenrfi be obtained? Gannett News Service Ma ny shareholders in no-load stock and bond funds forget an important detail when they try to redeem their shares by mail Funds often require that your signatureon your letter be guaranteed by a bank or broker, according to NoLoad Fundi AS)X, a mutual fund newsletter based in San Francisco.

The guarantee simply assures the fund that you are who you say you are. A notary public's guarantee isn't acceptable. The Securities and Exchange Commission is to decide soon whthT stnrk tranfT can refuse to accept signature guarantees from savings and loans or credit unions. You can avoid the hassle of mail redemption, the newsletter suggests, by opening a money market account in the same family of funds as yeur stock or bond fund. You can transfer funds by phone from a stock or bond fund to the money market fund, then write a check on the money fund to get immediate access to the cash.

Fraudulent commodities sales people bilk the public out i of more than $100 million each year, I tje according to Investor Alert, published TAi sr by lhe Council of Bcltcr Busincss TALK Bureaus and the North American Administrators Association. Among the red flags to tip you off to a commodity fraud, the magazine cautions: Unsolicited, high-pressure phone claims of inside information; you must act at once warnings; claims of large and rapid profits; claims of virtually no risk, and contracts with such names as "deferred delivery," "fixed maturity" or "cash forward," which are not contracts traded through regulated commodities exchanges. For individual cotieclors and investors, these are the most popular means ol buying gold or silver, tubiect to dealer markup or markdown: South African krugerrsnd (most common is one ounce). Imiicw owd pwo imost common one ounce). Canadian gold maple leaf (one troy ounce).

Citibank certificate (bullion kept in storage). U.S. tttver coins (minted before 1964). Cold and silver bars (varying weights). tevrct Prtrtmh SkIi cr IK.