{"id":21658,"date":"2011-06-13T10:14:13","date_gmt":"2011-06-13T14:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.investmentu.com\/?p=20217"},"modified":"2011-06-13T10:14:13","modified_gmt":"2011-06-13T14:14:13","slug":"tech-bubble-or-just-hot-air-you-be-the-judge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/2011\/06\/13\/tech-bubble-or-just-hot-air-you-be-the-judge\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech Bubble or Just Hot Air? You Be the Judge\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tech Bubble or Just Hot Air? You Be the Judge…<\/a><\/p>\n

by Alexander Green<\/a>, Investment U’s<\/em> Chief Investment Strategist
\nMonday, June 13, 2011: Issue #1533<\/p>\n

There’s a lot of talk on the Street right now about a new “bubble” in tech stocks.<\/p>\n

If you’re talking about social network stocks, this may be true. Is there anyone out there who hasn’t heard how LinkedIn<\/strong> (NYSE: LNKD<\/a>) doubled right out of the gate after its IPO last month?<\/p>\n

But this euphoria has hardly spread to the rest of the sector. The Nasdaq is no higher than it was at the beginning of the year. And while many of our recommended tech stocks are soaring, there’s no tulip-bulb mania like the one that took place in late 1999 and early 2000. Solid fundamentals undergird the current tech rally.<\/p>\n

That was not the case in the last real tech bubble – one we called “the greatest investment mania of our lifetimes and perhaps of all time.”<\/p>\n

Eleven years ago, the Nasdaq hit an all-time high of 5,048. Valuations hit nosebleed levels. Many tech stocks sold for more than 100 times earnings. Others didn’t even have a multiple. After all, you can’t calculate a P\/E if you don’t have an E (earnings)…<\/span><\/p>\n

Things are different today. For starters, the Nasdaq Index, more than a decade on, trades at less than 60 percent of its March 2000 high.<\/p>\n