The first quarter of 2012 is officially wrapped up, and it's one for the record books. The Nasdaq
Why's tech outperforming? Apple
However, it's not all Apple driving the tech sphere. Four out of the five largest tech companies in the Nasdaq 100 outperformed the S&P 500. Microsoft
Is tech set to cool down? My crystal ball is out to the shop for repairs, but I will say there are some signs the rally is running out of steam. The P/E on the Nasdaq stands at about 21.8, which isn't close to what we saw during the "bubble," but it's also not cheap by any means.
The information technology sector posted the highest earnings growth of any sector last quarter. Tech earnings leapt 17.1%, a number more than double the S&P 500's 8.4% growth rate. With that kind of growth, a higher P/E for tech stocks could be justified. However, the main problem is that without Apple, tech-earnings growth falls all the way down to 4.8%! Simply put, aside from Apple, technology companies aren't exactly booming.
With the tech space outside Apple actually underperforming growth in other industries, the broadness of the tech rally is concerning. Unless other giants of technology, such as Oracle
One more idea for the road
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