Unfortunately, I would not get my hopes up for a pull back, but would simply take advantage of the buying opportunity, even at these high prices. Why? As I reported a week ago, the hard copy BARRON'S journal for March 29 didn't have a word about the Q-E deal. Well, the April 5 issue, on the newsstands today, also doesn't have a word about it. Here's what I think is going on: When BARRON'S publishes favorable comments, the stock usually takes a significant jump, and conversely, if the comments are unfavorable. That QCOM managed to get through another week without even being mentioned in the "Trader" column (which talks about stocks that had significant moves during the week) tells me that there are some institutional buyers out there who want to make some purchasea FIRST, and then see an article telling the rest of us poor souls what a great deal Q is. But by that time, the major buying will have already taken place. The lesson is, if you want to know what's going on, you have to look for what's NOT going on!
Here's another related thought: It may have dawned on some of these institutional investors that maybe AOL is just a tad too high, given that its growth rate probably isn't nearly as high as that for QCOM. Maybe the institutional investors are looking to REPLACE their AOL stock with QCOM, which after all, sells at a much more reasonable price-earnings ratio - about ten times more reasonable than AOL.
But if you need any more encouragement, you ought to compare the quality of management at QCOM with a place like AOL, which already got its wrist slapped when it used questionable accounting practices to make the earnings look better. Art Bechhoefer |
