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National Indexes Up, Hawaiian Industrial Average So-So

The volatile activity for the month of March was nowhere near reflected in the relatively unchanged aspects of the financial indexes. All three, Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and the Hawaiian Industrial Average, showed slight moves to the upside. The reality was that the Dow traded in a one thousand point range, dropping as low as approximately 7,500 just prior to the beginning of the Iraq War, shooting up to approximately 8,500 in just over a week after the start and losing ground back to the 8,000 level as it became quite evident that the War will be a much more drawn out affair than first anticipated by investors. The positive move on the Hawaiian Industrial Average is not so clear as the effects of the War on the airline industry hit Hawaii with Hawaiian Airlines filing for protection under Chapter Eleven of the Bankruptcy Code. Hawaiian's shares stopped trading just prior to the announcement on March 21st and have not traded since. The American Stock Exchange wants to review their annual 10-k filing prior to resuming trading in their shares, which is scheduled for release on April 15th.

Hawaii had a couple of bright spots during March, continued upward movement in CB Bancshares and a sharp increase in Tesoro's share price.

CB Bancshares, the holding company for City Bank has been moving up steadily since November 2002 when the share price was trading around $35 per share. A dramatic improvement in earnings, up over 100 percent in 2002 from 2001 and up over 300 percent in the fourth quarter from fourth quarter 2001 has been fueling the share price increase, now up over 35 percent since November 2002. The small amount of shares outstanding, less than four million, also contributes to the rise as any buying pressure exasperates the price.

Tesoro's shares were the most impressive with an almost forty percent gain in March alone. The rise in fuel prices have slowed sales at the pump but increased margins are considered to off set that to the positive. Tesoro also has been quite diligent in decreasing it s debt over the past year. These are some of the factors that led Lehman Brothers to upgrade their opinion on the shares March 10th to "overweight" from "underweight". Also on March 12th Reuters reported that Hawaii's Gas Cap Legislation was in trouble since the cap is based on California gas prices which are at all time record levels and a recent Legislative study indicated that it would not solve Hawaii's high cost of fuel.

Ticker
Symbol
Company Exchange Price
2/28/03
Price
3/31/03
Change
in Period
Percent
Change
in Period
Earnings
Last
12 mos.
Dividends Yield High
12 mos.
Low
12 mos.
P/E
Ratio
ALEX Alexander & Baldwin OTC 24.82 24.86 0.04 0.16 1.42 0.90 3.62 29.25 20.50 17.51
BOH Bank of Hawaii NYSE 31.10 30.80 -0.30 -0.96 1.70 0.76 2.47 31.50 22.79 18.12
BRN Barnwell Industires ASE 22.35 22.40 0.05 0.22 0.56 0.60 3.0 22.80 19.40 40.00
CBBI CB Bancshares OTC 45.15 48.78 3.63 8.04 3.43 0.64 1.0 50.50 33.05 14.22
CEAH CEATECH USA OTC 0.17 0.17 0.00 0.00 0.00 -- -- 0.80 0.15 --
CPF CPB, Inc. NYSE 28.60 25.45 -3.15 -11.01 2.04 0.44 1.60 31.24 13.82 12.48
CYAN Cyanotech OTC 0.51 0.48 -0.03 -5.88 -0.13 -- -- 1.20 0.25 -3.69
DOL Dole Foods NYSE 32.80 33.48 0.68 2.07 2.76 0.60 1.79 33.99 24.14 12.13
HA Hawaiian Airlines ASE 1.40 1.50 0.10 7.14 -1.44 -- -- 4.00 1.01 -1.04
HE Hawaiian Electric NYSE 39.80 40.76 0.96 2.41 3.24 2.48 6.08 49.00 34.55 12.58
MRPI Mera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. OTC 0.05 0.03 -0.02 -33.33 NA -- -- 0.16 0.03 --
MLP Maui Land & Pine ASE 18.51 19.65 1.14 6.16 -0.79 0.00 0.00 22.75 13.75 -24.87
NUT Mauna Loa Mac NYSE 3.30 3.24 -0.06 -1.82 -0.06 0.20 6.17 3.95 3.20 -54.00
RZT Resort Quest Intl. Inc. NYSE 3.47 3.10 -0.37 -10.66 -0.37 -- -- 8.12 2.94 -8.38
TSO Tesoro Petroleum Corp. OTC 5.35 7.40 2.05 38.32 -1.93 0.00 0.00 14.54 1.24 -3.83
This information is based on sources believed to be reliable, but is not guaranteed by this corporation. Any opinion expressed reflects judgment as of date of submission of materials, and may be subject to change. OTC stocks priced at the bid, listed stocks priced at the last trade.

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