Brokers drop coverage. The whole thing just shuts down. The problem is, there's no guarantee techs will ever return to the boom times of the '90s. Worse yet, tech giants that were leaders in the 1990s bull market might even be the most dangerous investments. Earnings growth, the fuel of the '90s bull run, is slowing for many of the biggest tech companies, a trend that may not reverse itself no matter how robust the next economic boom, Cliggott says.
Slower growth translates into lower valuations and lower stock prices.
We would beg to differ. And as the technology of the giants ages, he says, value in these companies is destroyed faster than upstarts can re-create it. Companies in that boat include Dell, Compaq, Intel and Lucent, he says. But while a stalling out of the inspirational tech leaders may sound like a bad omen, it has the opposite effect on many of the same investors and entrepreneurs that created the last bubble. Investing in, or creating, the next Dell is still the goal.