Some top stockpickers, in fact, call Nokia the world's best company in the world's best industry. I suspect Oracle's CEO Larry Ellison wouldn't agree with that, but Nokia clearly is a spectacular stock that gets top marks from three-quarters of the analysts who follow it. The company's prospects for the next couple of years still look glowing. The number of cellphone users is soaring worldwide. Improving economies in Europe and Asia may well accelerate the process.
Profit margins are good, too.
Again, the only problem is the valuation. That's two to three times the projected growth rate. If any stock deserves a super-premium multiple, Nokia does. Earlier this year, when all the Old Economy stocks were in a slump, I recommended a number of food stocks and other similar consumer products companies. Most of the stocks in that group bottomed in March and many have come back strongly.