INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
By Vildana HajricIn a decade of extreme wealth creation in markets, few assets did more to enrich investors than stocks in the Nasdaq 100
Their combined value jumped by more than $7 trillion, ending with the best year since the bull run began.
Powered by a near-doubling in
and gains exceeding 50 per cent in Microsoft Corp
and Facebook Inc., the tech-heavy gauge surged 38 per cent over the past 12 months, the biggest increase since 2009.
Technology companies
needed 15 years to recover from the dot-com crash, coming full circle in 2015
But for all the rampant appreciation, the stocks still trade below their bubble-era highs relative to earnings
earnings, dividends, cash flow and other measures to compare then and now, a kind of Internet-bubble calendar that shows where the market is
today relative to the 1990s
burst.
Not that any two eras are likely to follow identical routes
Leuthold keeps the calendar mainly to show how crazy things got 20 years ago
Regulatory scrutiny is bearing down on the sector, with Democratic presidential candidates and President Donald Trump himself stepping up
criticisms of technology firms.
Plagued by scandals, tech firms saw sentiment turn against them in the late 2010s -- though not in the stock
Users became more leery of their smart-phone providers and social media mainstays
Profits are likely to fall for many tech companies in 2019
Semiconductor stocks, for instance, are forecast to see a 15.4 per cent drop, and hardware and equipment firms are projected for a 6.8 per
stocks have more wiggle room from a balance sheet perspective to plug issues whether it be too much debt or if they have a shortcoming in
according to data compiled by Bloomberg
Amazon trades at 82 times earnings now, down from north of 300 in 2001
