Barry Hyman Mates Quotations

The trend with the earnings has been that if you beat the estimates strongly, you get rewarded, but if you miss, you get hammered.

I think people are just abandoning technology, especially when you can't count on a 'Nokia' that hasn't missed (expectations) in years. The point is that there's nothing wrong with these companies - what's wrong is that analysts were not looking at the second half of the year. What's happening now is estimates are going to come down to match the reality of the economic situation.

The intermediate background look in terms of interest rates peaking and the economy slowing to a more sustainable pace without any undue harm is slowly going to play itself out. I would be very shocked if the GDP came in anywhere higher than estimates because Wall Street is already expressing its confidence that the economy is slowing down.

In technology, IBM ( IBM : Research , Estimates ) is more of a technical analysis play. The stock has broken out, or getting very close to breaking out, of a trading range. And I think the market's still going to give a premium to quality companies in technology. IBM being listed doesn't get that Nasdaq appeal, however. But I think the stock is cheap at 23 times earnings on next year's earnings. And their big server market and the other types of technology they have are doing very well in the service sector.