The Successful Investor Hotline – Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Article Excerpt

One of the brightest signs in today’s market is that many great stocks now trade below 10 times earnings. That’s especially true of high-quality technology issues, since they spend so heavily on research, which gets written off against earnings like a routine expense. Low p/e ratios are also particularly appealing at times when interest rates are low, as they are now. Of course, earnings could drop next year and push up those p/e ratios. Stock prices could move lower, for a variety of reasons. But that’s always a risk. To profit best, you need to invest mainly in well-established companies that are likely to recover from the economic downturn and go on to produce still higher earnings in the future. BCE INC. $25.25, Toronto symbol BCE, fell 34% on Wednesday on fears that the $42.75-a-share takeover offer from a consortium headed by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan may be dead. The deal requires auditing firm KPMG to provide an opinion on BCE’s…