Forum Archive Index - February 2000

["Pryor Rowland" <pryor.rowland@xtra.co.nz>]

I think a common mistake is to lump all the tech categories together without considering the vast range of industry groups involved. there are internets, manufacturers (semiconductors, chips, ), communications (telecoms fixed/ cable/ wireless, ISP's), networking, biotech, software (ASP's, tools, end-user packages), infrastructure, etc.

 

In every category there is a breakout across traditional lines: retail, wholesale, manufacturing, R&D, with many companies diversifying horizontally or vertically (eg GE, Cisco).

 

One immutable factor in the current bear market is the growth of global communications as represented by the Internet, mobile communications, and therefore producing insatiable demand for increasing bandwidth. Nothing which happens on the stockmarket is going to change this (except to add to it).

 

Accordingly strategic tech investing might be to focus on companies creating "first to market" products & unique intellectual property. Sadly such companies do not seem to have flourished in our country so we will have to resort to investment funds or companies to act on our behalf, or else directly invest overseas ourselves. I think this goes some way to validating the divergence of the Nasdaq index from the Dow & S&P, and the decline of many retail-oriented market darlings such as Amazon, AOL, etc.