Abby Cohen Quotations

The primary assumption is that economic and profit growth will resume by midyear.

Models work when they are appropriate for the particular circumstance, but some of the best investment judgments over time have come when people recognized that models derived in other periods were broken or not directly relevant.

I think it was more of an excuse. Weakness in Asia just hurts a strong economy a little bit around the edges.

Our valuation work for the S&P 500 has long assumed moderation of profit growth to about 8 percent from 20 percent and a rise in core inflation.

Such a 'flu shot' is now widely expected and would be unlikely to unsettle investors beyond a transitory period.

We expect 2001 to be yet another year of profit expansion, albeit at a slower pace.

We expect 1999 and 2000 to be years of ongoing profit expansion, with better aggregate gains than 1998, which was disappointing.

We expect profit growth to decelerate in the second half of 2004.

We don't think so, and continue to assume long-term earnings growth of 7 percent-to-8 percent in our valuation model.

Corporations in the United States continue to generate good profits. Stock prices are below where they might be based upon the fundamentals for 2005.

Equity prices can rise, despite decelerating profit growth and moderately rising interest rates, if investors expect economic expansion to continue. In previous such cases, stocks outperformed bonds, often notably.

Ours is an economy that is solid at its core.

Opportunities are likely to present themselves, especially given a 6- to 12-month time horizon.

The basic conclusion is that 1999-2000 will bring further gains in corporate profits, mild-mannered inflation and a generally favorable outcome for equity prices. Increasing confidence that the economic expansion will continue through our newly-extended forecast horizon encourages a modest upward revision in stock price targets.

If undertaken, it would be aimed at extending, not ending, the current economic expansion.

Investors believe it is simply not acceptable to be environmentally irresponsible.

If crude prices are near their trough, earnings should start to flatten out and move up.

For the first time in a decade, our model portfolio is no longer recommending an overweighed position in technology.