There is a willingness on the part of investors to buy premium names in anticipation of a recovery, but I really think there isn't a lot of conviction on the part of buyers or sellers. |
There was a combination of things that really depressed it. One was Hewlett-Packard's shortfall and we had a sympathetic sell-off using the political environment as a backdrop, ... Ironically, IBM remained the stalwart and it probably gave the notion of stability to the tech sector and we saw some people looking for bargains. |
There was a combination of things that really depressed it. One was Hewlett-Packard's shortfall and we had a sympathetic sell-off using the political environment as a backdrop. Ironically, IBM remained the stalwart and it probably gave the notion of stability to the tech sector and we saw some people looking for bargains. |
There was disagreement about tax policies and the need for further stimulus was at issue. O'Neill felt there was no more need for stimulus and it would have been difficult to get a tax package together without unanimity. |
There wasn't enough in my judgment to alleviate the fears that we are in the throes of a lack of confidence in the market. |
There's a pause today, but the bulls still have the upper hand. The economic releases continue to support the case for strong economic growth through 2004 and a continued recovery in the labor market. Yet there are still plenty of skeptical people out there, suggesting the market could continue to build on the gains. |
There's an old saying that out of chaos comes opportunity. |
There's no conviction over earnings, ... You're going to get this vacillation back and forth as we're in this bottoming process and it's going to take some time. |
There's no conviction over earnings. You're going to get this vacillation back and forth as we're in this bottoming process and it's going to take some time. |
There's skepticism out there. Companies are extremely cautious about giving a decent outlook. They've set a much lower level of expectation for the public and the analysts out there. |
These companies are actually growing, ... The whole group is growing somewhere between 10 and 13 percent relative earnings growth and the price-earnings ratios are about 13 to 14 times. It's one of the few groups out there that are actually selling at their growth rate in terms of price-earnings ratio. And, right now, it's strange -- people don't like the group. It isn't a hot group. |
These companies are boxed in by poor past forecasts and lack of visibility. |
Things like Dell Computer or Microsoft or Cisco Systems, all have one characteristic: They have enough cash to go through a period like this and come out smelling like roses, |
This administration is seen as being very pro-investment, whereas Kerry is seen as wanting to rewrite the rules -- on capital gains, tax cuts on the wealthy, certain business regulations. I think, for market psychology, that would be damaging. |
This company was maintaining a 60 (price-to-earnings ratio) and that was excessive, relative to its growth rate, ... Now, it's more reasonably priced. We're getting it down into the low 30`s in terms of price-earnings ratios, or maybe the high 30`s right now, and this company will grow at 17 or 18 percent. So Pfizer looks good, at this point. |