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Strategies & Market Trends : Rande Is . . . HOME -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: maverick61 who wrote (48785)	3/11/2001 9:09:06 AM
From: puborectalis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 57584

Buffett scolds 'giddy' tech investors, Wall Street By Bill Rigby NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett, billionaire investor and champion of the old economy, scolded ``giddy'' investors and a greedy Wall Street on Saturday for creating the overblown market for technology stocks last year. ``It was as if some virus, racing wildly among investment professionals as well as amateurs, induced hallucinations in which the values of stocks in certain sectors became decoupled from the values of the businesses that underlay them,'' wrote Buffett in his annual letter to shareholders of his company, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa - news), posted on the firm's Web site. The year-long plunge in the tech-heavy Nasdaq has been a vindication for 70-year-old Buffett, who plays bridge with Microsoft's Bill Gates, but won't invest in tech companies that he doesn't understand. Berkshire's stock has risen 74 percent from its 52-week low a year ago today. In the same time, the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC - news) has plunged 59 percent. ``Last year, we commented on the exuberance -- and, yes, it was irrational -- that prevailed, noting that investor expectations had grown to be several multiples of probable returns,'' said Buffett. The whole fairy tale ended badly, said Buffett. ``After a heady experience of that kind, normally sensible people drift into behavior akin to that of Cinderella at the ball. They know that overstaying the festivities -- that is, continuing to speculate in companies that have gigantic valuations relative to the cash they are likely to generate in the future -- will eventually bring on pumpkins and mice.'' Buffett's Omaha, Nebraska-based firm -- whose main business is insurance but also has subsidiaries in a range of sectors, from furniture to jewelry to plane leasing -- on Saturday reported a 113 percent leap in profits for 2000 to $3.328 billion. The jump in profit marks a comeback for Buffett from last year -- which he called the worst ever for the firm -- when poor returns on his old-economy investments led to accusations that Buffett had erred in missing the Internet craze. BUFFETT VS WALL STREET Buffett, known for his dislike of Wall Street whizzes, put much of the blame on investment bankers and their partners for the tech bubble, and the pain it has caused many investors. ``By shamelessly merchandising birdless bushes, promoters have in recent years moved billions of dollars from the pockets of the public to their own purses -- and to those of their friends and associates.'' According to Buffett, bankers' short-term profits were put before the interests of the average investor. ``The fact is that a bubble market has allowed the creation of bubble companies, entities designed more with an eye to making money off investors rather than for them. Too often, an initial public offering, not profits, was the primary goal of a company's promoters.'' Buffett also criticized himself however, recounting some of his less successful old-economy ventures. ``We make many mistakes: I'm the fellow, remember, who thought he understood the future economics of trading stamps, textiles, shoes and second-tier department stores.''