I mean if a few words from an office of a company could bring down the whole tech stocks, then the stock market isn't healthy by itself. If it was a bubble, it would busted sooner or later no matter what Ballmer said.
Thanks for some of the few words of wisdom in this incredible outpouring. I was away yesterday afternoon and saw only the start of the emotional outburst here, and was astounded to both at the number and tone of the posts when I checked them last night.
This article gives some context to the remarks and points out that such comments are not uncommon from Microsoft honchos:
seattletimes.com
But the strange thing is, Ballmer didn't say anything that other prominent Microsoft executives haven't already said, that technology companies, including Microsoft, were overvalued by the stock market....
"Microsoft makes these types of comments in the public forum any time they get a chance," said Tom Rath, a Safeco Asset Management portfolio manager.
SI Daily makes the same point:
siliconinvestor.com
Ballmer isn't the first Microsoft exec to fire a warning shot across Wall Street. Two and half years ago, the CFO at Microsoft warned analysts that from a traditional standpoint, the company's growth rate shouldn't keep expanding as the earnings growth was contracting. At that time, Microsoft traded at 46 times earnings. Today it trades at 65 times trailing 12 months earnings per share. I guess Wall Street ignored the warning then; let's see how it reacts to the comments made today.
The market reaction to the remarks yesterday is something that all of us should ponder. A market that reacts so excessively to offhand remarks by a company executive is not a healthy market. If tech stocks were not overvalued, and if thousands of investors did not believe that the market is overvalued and due for a correction, then Ballmer's remarks would have caused nothing but a shrug-line in the charts.
This is a nervous market with a lot of money ready to jump. Those who jumped out of Microsoft in anger at Ballmer might actually have done the right thing for the wrong reason. If they've become so nervous about this market that they'd jump because of these fairly typical Microsoftie remarks, then they might wisely think twice before jumping back in too quickly with their taxed cash.
A few of the regular posters on this thread have been saying the same thing for months. The reaction to them has been about the same (with less volume) as the reaction to Ballmer.
It would seem appropriate to have Jack Nicholson step in right now and shout into a few faces, "Truth? You want the truth? You can't handle the truth." |
