While most of the media attention has been on the financial mess and government intervention, tech has been down just as big. If memory serves me right, tech is suppose to be a good pick when the economy is not so great. I might be wrong though. Then again, this is not your mom and pops downturn. Lets take a look at Jim Cramer’s four horsemen: Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOG), and Research In Motion (RIMM).
Once upon a time, a madman hyped these things as if they would go up forveer. Hedge fund after hedge fund bought the story and these four stocks skyrocketted to lofty valuations. Amazon.com surpassed $100 for the first time. This led to Bill Miller look like a genius. When Google would post great earnings, analysts quickly jumped on the band wagon and quickly raised their price targets to $700+. The same goes for Apple and Research In Motion.
Of course, the madman got out right pretty close to the top. But how about those individuals who bought at the hype. Unless they sold, things havent gone so well. The 4 donkeys (love their products thoguh) are now trading near their 52 week lows.
Yahooooo!
Once upon a time, Yahoo was considered “undervalued”. It traded at higher valuations than Google despite Google growing at a faster clip and gaining market share. Many thought someone like Microsoft could jump in, buy Yahoo, monetize traffic (yahoo has high traffic but does not take advantage of it) and would this give the stock price a boost. That boost came when the infamous Carl Icahn jumped on board and the stock hit $30 as many funds thought the deal with Microsoft might go through now that icahn is on board. Management gets greedy and wants a higher bid from Microsoft in hopes of starting a bidding war. Microsoft holds its grounds (ok they gave ground once) and soon investors realise how bad Yahoo’s management really is. Icahn’s buddies start to panic. Icahn pretty much givesup. Stock falls, falls, falls and falls. Where is it now? $30? $20?$15!…how about a cool $13.
Same could be said for Dell currently $13! P/E 10 with Forward P/E of 8
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Im a buyer ….so many cheap stocks.
I would have to pass on most tech stocks for now. MSFT and INTC are in my opinion the ones that could deliver not only stable earnings during this crisis, but also would pay you dividends while you are suffering temporary capital losses.