With the Nasdaq Composite and related exchange traded fund partying like its the year 2000, bubble fears are brewing. However, the benchmark is strengthening on better company fundamentals this time around.
The Nasdaq Composite sightly retreated Monday after closing at an all-time-high of 5,092 Friday, breaking above its previous record before the dot.com bubble busted in 2000. The PowerShares QQQ (NasdaqGM: QQQ), which tracks the Nasdaq-100, is also trading around a 15-year high after rising 7.3% year-to-date. [Five Reasons Why the Nasdaq 5,000 is Different This Time]
Scott Nolan, the Founders Fund partner, argued that skittish investors should not be wary about the new records this time around, especially when you factor in inflation, reports Tom DiChristopher for CNBC.
“We’ve had about 40 percent inflation since 2000, so when people are comparing Nasdaq to that, it would have to be 40 percent higher just to keep up with inflation,” Nolan said on CNBC.
Nasdaq companies are also trading at more realistic valuations, with a price-to-earnings ratio just under 25, or six times less than the index’s P/E ratio of over 150 back at the start of the millennium. Meanwhile, QQQ is trading at a 20.1 P/E and a 3.9 price-to-book.
Moreover, chart watchers may see that the Nasdaq could be breaking out after a period of consolidations, reports Amanda Diaz for CNBC.
“If you look at a chart, you can see that the Nasdaq has been stuck in a consolidation phase that started in early March,” technical analyst Todd Gordon of TradingAnalysis.com said on CNBC. “This is very similar to what we saw in December through February.”