punkle - consult a dictionary
There is a big difference between "bitter" and "contemptuous" or "bitter" and "dismissive". Ditto "animosity" ...
There is a difference between attacking an individual and attacking an argument or statement. Attacking the individual would be saying: "punkle, you are an idiot". Attacking the statement would be "I believe that's an idiotic statement and here's why".
Bottom line - to make a sweeping generalization like mikemargin's is just flat wrong. And, ironically, the great valuation managers like Buffett, whom he cites as supporting his comment would be the very first to join me in my assessment, although they certainly would use more gentle adjectives to describe it.
mikemargin responded by suggesting I was wrong about SYMC too, that price doesn't matter, only p/e, p/s, etc. To which I have a couple answers ... First, this isn't an academic exercise. We're all in this to find stocks whose prices appreciate and SYMC's has done so by 450% even while the Nasdaq has declined 50%. Second, and more importantly, he is obviously unfamiliar with SYMC, because if he were, he'd know that on the most important part of the p/e and p/s equation -- namely the "e" and the "s", SYMC's business has grown dramatically over that time period and continues to do so. There are always parts of the market experiencing growth, and always companies succeeding at what they do -- increasing sales, earnings and book value. Always.
I won't go in the fallacy of reversion to the mean. There are a number of recent academic papers that lay that one bare. But more importantly, again, trying to generalize in ABSOLUTE ways about "the markets" shows a gross ignorance, a deliberate exaggeration, or some of each.
I'm sorry if describing that statement as "moronic" offends you, but I believe that's exactly what it was. And I believe the great value investors like Buffett, while perhaps using a different adjective to describe the statement, would consider it to be just as wrong as I do.
AI
Market Data 
Markets 
