Excerpt from CBS Marketwatch 2001 Winners and Losers:
Oh Henry!
From investing hero to stock market goat faster than you can say, "valuations" ... so ends the Henry Blodget era.
The erstwhile Internet guru, freeing up time to spend with his family and work on that book of his, announced the end of his storied run; a stint ripe with mind-numbing forecasts and price targets for the likes of Amazon.com and AOL.
But suffice to say, investors bitten by the Pets.com's of the world are none too saddened by the departure of the infamous Merrill Lynch analyst. See Bambi Francisco's coverage.
Fret not for King Henry the Stock Pusher; his ego may have been trampled, but he'll be cackling, with wads of cash and a book deal, all the way to the Hamptons.
Enough about the downtrenders ... time to recognize the few, the proud who bucked 2001's malaise and defied the odds.
Bezos no longer the clown
No, this isn't a typo.
Yes, questions still outnumber answers with regards to Amazon.com's profitable future, but Jeff Bezos has proven time and time again that he's not the slick snake oil guy critics have oft accused him of being.
Well, maybe he is ... but clearly a few faithful backers have stuck with Bezos' since he vowed to reach profitability, albeit on a magical pro-forma basis, by the end of the holiday season; enough so that they've bid shares up 100 percent since September 11th.
Not that Amazon (AMZN: news, chart, profile) has finally flowed out of the woods just yet, but Bezos appears to have more lives than a Buddhist cat ... and he deserves some credit.
Just Buff-ett
Washed up? Out of touch? An investing relic?
If there was ever any doubt , Warren Buffett firmly put to rest questions surrounding his place in the Stock Market Hall of Fame.
Pressed to the wall for the disappointing returns of his Berkshire Hathaway stock (BRK.A: news, chart, profile) amid the since-defunct tech boom, Buffett came roaring back over the past two years, gaining 25 percent in the period, while both the Nasdaq and Dow fell deep into negative territory.
And top honors go to ...
Who else but the man who's tiptoed through every legal minefield put before him?
Unfortunately for the numerous Microsoft bashers, Bill Gates has only added to his aura of super-nerd invincibility thanks to his courtroom victories and the successful delivery of both Microsoft XP and the ballyhooed X-Box.
Fitting that Gates, the man who played such an integral part in creating that euphoric attitude towards tech stock investing with his stock that just kept giving, has managed to stick around even after the tech market shine has worn off.
Although some might passionately disagree with the "fitting" part.
At any rate, on to next year, where the cast will surely change, but the lessons learned should save at least one corporate leader from the pitfalls of those that came before. |
