To: Triffin who wrote (65 ) 12/13/1999 7:31:00 PM From: Triffin Read Replies (1) | Respond to
BC: FORBESFifty. The percentage of American households in the stock market. Lo and behold, households take a longer view than institutions. Good technology stocks don't look so overpriced in a long view. Seventy. The percentage of stock-owning American households that vote. Big government grabs of the private sector aren't so easy anymore. Risk capital. It's raining down. Every hour yet another college dropout in Palo Alto scores his Series A round of venture capital at a $20 million valuation. Every hour a colonel from the old economy smells the money and goes AWOL in a mad dash for seven-digit stock options. Talent. It's running like a soccer riot to the new economy. Talent's idea of fun is to slaughter incumbent players in slower-moving industries ... and to get rich. Talent stoked up on stock options will work 80-hour weeks to do this. Hmm, let's see, who to bet on? Human fighter jets working 80-hour weeks or aging 747s working 40? Old-style value investing. Sorry, but Graham and Dodd are dead. Sure, you might find some rust-bucket trading at 60% of book. But the likelihood of your little trash hauler or chicken feeder roaring back is less than it used to be. Undervalued companies nowadays, like every other poor s.o.b., are suffering relentless attacks by a smarter, faster species. New-style value investing. It's very simple: arms merchants that supply the e-commerce wars. Buy the leading brands when they dip 25%. Buy the second-tier players whenever their prices are 75% below peak. Then sit back and pop a Cherry Coke. You're the New Economy's Warren Buffett.
