When Ed Yardeni speaks, I listen. This man is very good.
A far more optimistic view comes from Ed Yardeni, chief strategist at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. He did slash his earnings outlook for the S&P 500 this year to $40 a share as a result of the terrorist attacks. But he didn't downgrade his estimate for 2002, which still stands firm at $55 a share.
"The economy was already falling into recession prior to the attack, as industrial production and initial unemployment claims showed in August," Yardeni says. "Now there's greater chance of a steeper, V-shaped recovery for the economy and profits. We'll go down harder, but we'll bounce back faster."
Yardeni is worth listening to. After all, he's the guy who forecast the Dow Jones Industrial Average would hit 10,000 by the year 2000, and he did it years before it happened. |