To the Editor:
Curious how some of the more ‘popular’ names—but still, names that are dominant, have tons of cash, pretty decent growth prospects, and little sign of being taken down—are not on the Roundtable members’ lists of stock picks (“Stocks Are Pricey: 42 Bargains From Barron’s Investing Experts,” Cover Story, July 16). Not one Apple, Microsoft, Google, Pepsi, Coke, etc. I dunno, if I had a big bag of cash, I think I’d want to leave some of it at those doorsteps.
Mel Parekh, On Barrons.com
To the Editor:
The Roundtables are the single best way to begin winnowing ideas. These panelists have proven track records and have done the research that the individual investor is not capable of performing. My hat is off to the participants. When Scott Black says shares in a company are being given away, back up the truck.
Nils Wessell, On Barron’s.com
To the Editor:
Henry Ellenbogen had the most interesting Shopify insights by far, in my opinion. I had dismissed this stock as wildly overpriced from the beginning, but now I’m taking a harder look at it.
John Mcdonald, On Barron’s.com
To the Editor:
The list includes too many at high valuations and pie-in-the-sky earnings projections. Yeah, these companies might achieve these results over the next two, three, or four years—or they might not. I’m sticking with dollar-cost averaging into index funds—four to be exact: large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap, and international. And I’ll save money on investment research sites that I simply don’t need.
Peter Brooks, On Barrons.com
Faux Capitalism
To the Editor:
I’ve successfully traded Chinese stocks such as Alibaba, JD.com, and Tencent, but not now. Tencent is an amazing global growth story, but the Chinese Communist Party sees it as a threat and, as with crypto, it is seeking to destroy it. How can you invest in companies that operate in that faux-capitalist economy?
Richard DeProspo, On Barrons.com
Exception to the Rule
To the Editor:
The suggestion that stocks are overvalued based on the “Rule of 20,” which posits that the sum of inflation and the stock market’s price/earnings ratio should add up to 20, and is based on data going back to 1957, omits an examination of interest rates (“By This Key Measure, the Stock Market Is Trading at Dot-Com-Era Levels,” Up & Down Wall Street, July 16). The 10-year U.S. Treasury rate averaged 5.75% from 1957 through 2021, and 6.65% through 2007, prior to the Great Recession. However, it currently equals only 1.31%, its lowest level over this 65-year time period. Since interest rates are to asset prices what gravity is to matter, the Rule of 20 cannot be applied to determine if current stock market valuations are excessive.
David Kass, University of Maryland, College Park, Md.
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