Members of Wallingford, Pa., Investment Club Deal with Challenging Market.

Byline: Porus P. Cooper

Dec. 24--Olivia Thorne had just become a grandmother for the second time, her daughter had had a difficult delivery, and there she was in the hospital with a laptop computer, trying to connect to the Internet to check Tyco's stock price.

Thorne, 59, recalls that September day last year with a mixture of amusement and chagrin.

A computer consultant, she had brought a laptop to show her daughter a family Web page she had designed.

But then her thoughts turned to the stock market. She belongs to an investment club, and had pushed to buy Tyco International Ltd., the big conglomerate. Now the stock was fading.

"My husband was saying: `You're out of control,' " Thorne said.

By the time the club sold Tyco earlier this year, it had lost $4,213 of its total investment of $7,587.

Thorne said she hated to dwell on the flops and would rather celebrate the successes: Home Depot Inc., Symantec Corp., and Apollo Group Inc.

Since the Tyco …