Topic: How To Invest

What is Pat’s commentary for the week of January 12, 2021

Article Excerpt

A lot can change in 20 years. As long-time readers may recall, we launched our Wall Street Stock Forecaster around 20 years ago. It got a good reception from our clients and investors (and it’s still going strong today). However, I recall one cancellation email that we received in late 2002, about a year after 9/11. It came from a reader who said he liked our selection of U.S. consumer stocks, but didn’t share our taste in technology. Specifically, he explained that he couldn’t accept a U.S. stock newsletter that recommended has-been computer issues like Apple and IBM. That was an extreme opinion, but not totally out to lunch. Both Apple and IBM went through a sluggish period in the first half of the 9/11 decade. Apple stayed between $0.25 and $0.50 (split-adjusted, needless to say) from fall 2000 to mid-2004. It broke decisively out of that holding pattern after the 2007 release of the first iPhone, and began the phenomenal rise that…