Our bifurcated market has been driven to an extreme not justified by any history. The excitement generated by the technology and communications revolution is fully justified, and there is no question that the firms leading the way are superior enterprises. But this doesn't automatically translate into increased shareholder values . . . Value comes from the ability to sell above cost, not from sales. If sales alone created value, General Motors would be the world's most valuable corporation. In a competitive economy, no profitable firm will go unchallenged. Margins must erode as others chase the profits that seem so easy to come by now. There is a limit to the value of any asset, however promising. Despite our buoyant view of the future, this is no time for investors to discard the lessons of the past.
Jeremy J. Siegel in Big-Cap Tech Stocks Are a Sucker Bet ($$) from the Wall Street Journal (3/14/00)Predicting the long-term economics of companies that operate in fast-changing industries is simply far beyond our perimeter. If others claim predictive skill in those industries -- and seem to have their claims validated by the behavior of the stock market -- we neither envy nor emulate them. Instead, we just stick with what we understand. If we stray, we will have done so inadvertently, not because we got restless and substituted hope for rationality.
Warren E. Buffett in Berkshire Hathaway's Annual Report
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