16,325!
That's where the Nasdaq is this morning and, just a week ago, we were wondering if they could hold 16,000. 325 additional points is up over 2% for the week and the Nasdaq is up 1,850 points (12.7%) since October 1st and up 3,500 points (27%) for the year. Now, I'm not going to tell you a 27% annual rally is unsustainable – I'm just going to tell you that people who say it is sustainable are idiots… Why? Math.
To demonstrate – use this link and make the "Initial Deposit" $10,000 and let's say that's your Nasdaq Portfolio. Now set "Contributions" to $0 – let's say you don't add anything to it and don't collect dividends. The "Investment Time Span is 5 years – we'll leave that for now. Then set the "Estimated Rate of Return" to 27%, compounded annually. The chart on the right shows you have $33,039 after just 5 years – up 230%.
Now change it to 10 years and you have $109,154 and 20 years is $1.19M and 30 years is $13M – see how easy it is to retire wealthy – just put $10,000 in the Nasdaq today and you're a rich man in 30 years! Even better, put $100,000 away today and you'll have $130M in 2052.
Now, you KNOW that makes no sense because everyone would have hundreds of Millions of Dollars and money would be worthless. But, if you KNOW that is impossible – then why assume these market gains are sustainable when, MATHEMATICALLY, they are not.
If you are in a market that is experiencing unsustainable gains then, at some point – IT WILL CORRECT. A correction is NOT a pullback – a correction is a move towards a CORRECT level that IS sustainable. Historically, that has been 8% annual growth.
From 2000 until 2010 the Nasdaq was below the 2,500 line and it hit 5,000 (again) in 2015 but, if we use 2010 as a base and give 5,000 points 8% growth for 12 years – we get to 13,058 – THAT is trend growth for the Nasdaq and we're 25% over that. Perhaps give us 10% for inflation and the rest is stimulus but none of that is deserved or sustainable though inflation can keep the party going for quite a while as stock prices do tend to keep up with inflation.
Another way to look at the Nasdaq's true value is to look at the P/E ratio, which had exploded to 37.69 as of June – but that was 10% ago – at 14,554. Unless Q3 earnings have jumped up considerably (they haven't), then we're probably payinig around 40 time earnings for the average Nasdaq stock – 60% more than we paid in 2018.
Now that's inflation!
Inflated prices are one thing but, when they are not backed by inflated earnings you are simply setting yourself up for a massive correction. 40x earnins means you are getting an effective 2.5% rate of return on your stock purchases and, because Banks are paying you less than 1% on cash and Bonds are paying you 2% and people are still scared to put money into housing – stocks remain an attractive alternative. You have to watch what these alternative investments are paying to get an idea of when the market might stop attracting money. That's why the Smart Money People fear Fed hikes – it makes the Bond alternative more attractive.
In any event, at 40x earnings, we are certainly coming near to the end of the run so I do urge caution. We bumped up our hedges in yesterday's Short-Term Portfolio Review and we are being extremely selective with our long positions while remaining at least 2/3 in CASH!!! – just in case the bottom does fall out faster than we think.
Be careful out there.
Good morning!
Not too much going on this morning but, if you think this is slow – wait until next week!
Good morning everyone! As we come to the close of another year, we are working feverishly to update our servers and our website. It is a huge undertaking with many many moving pieces. The organic nature of this update will result in an uptick of subscribers and a restructuring of pricing. Everyone who is in prior to the update will be grandfathered in to the same pricing that you enjoy now.
That being said, we are encouraging you to invite those people who you believe might enjoy and benefit from a PSW Premium membership to get in at today's pricing before the end of the year. For doing so, we will credit you $500 for every new person you refer, who joins as a Premium member between now and 12/31/2021. Consider it a little holiday gift. Simply direct them to the site and the "Become a member" section. After they have signed up, send me an email to andy@philstockworld.com with their name and email address and I will credit you the $500. There are no refunds for cancelling memberships at any time.
Here is the link to today's webinar. You may share it with any potential referrals.
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8780891593554972684
It's a whole new world…
Good Morning.
Phil,
when you look at the current P/E valuations, shouldn't you take into account the increased liquidity from stimulus compared to historical valuations ?
With more money available and no where else to go, maybe we should expect higher P/E for no other reason.
Thanks
Where will this lead us?….
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-11-17/american-history-wars-china-israel-russia
P/Es/Gard – Yes, I mentioned that above "Perhaps give us 10% for inflation and the rest is stimulus." Neither of those things are likely to be permanent so, eventually, correction! Your logic leads to a worse conclusion because the price is 40 times the STIMULATED earnings so, if earnings are $12 and P/E is 40, then stock is $480 but if stimulus is removed and earnings are $10 and people go back to paying 25x earnings – then $250 is more like the right price. That's what we mean by UNSUSTAINABLE. There's no long-term reality to the earnings that will support that stock price.
That's the P/E chart for the S&P 500 – not any better than the Nasdaq. Note the spike in 2008 was caused by the total collapse in profits more so than rising stock prices. The current p/e spike is rising equity prices without rising profits – more like 1999 than 2007. In 2007, banks were flat-out lying about their earnings which distorted profits and also drove profits for builders and material companies (since they were part of the falsely-reported transactions) and it all reversed in a dramatic and ugly fashion. That's not what this is – nor is it the dot.com bubble where completely worthless stocks are getting 1,000x valuations but we are giving ridiculous valuations to stocks without merit and 40x earnings is more a function of low rates (no alternative) than anything else so the real bet is how long can the Fed keep this up without consequences?
any thought on media talk of biden and china president releasing strategic reserves of oil. and of oil down on pretty big net draw
Oil down a bit but not too much. Release of SPR trumps this news:
Phil,
from Webinar, take a look at WDC and ATVI.
Thanks
I will get around to it, burned out at the moment.
Phil, a little late for todays webinar but is there anything you like for next week to take advantage of light trading and the short week. This would be an
UNOFFICIAL trade, of course. I dont mind some risk using some fun money.
Here is the link to replay of this week's webinar
https://youtu.be/TfwD9zwl6wY