Friday, August 25, 2006

Commentary:  Good Sportsmanship

It's been five months since the GTI was up two
weeks in a row. This week was no different.

After an 11.1% pop last week, the GTI coasted
to a 1.8% loss this week, which put it back
in the red for the year. The wall of worry is
a slippery slope.

But perhaps we're just gracious winners.
We don't pile on, or hit our opponent when
he's down, or rub it in.

Certainly grace is a good thing, but if our
opponent doesn't hold back, why must we?
The market clobbers us one week, and then
comes right back and does it again the next.

It reminds me of how the Yankees took all five
games in Boston last week, outscoring the
Red Sox 49 to 26. We were at home. Couldn't
they have thrown us a bone?

Speaking of losing efforts, Microvision (MVIS)
is the GTI's worst stock this week for the tenth
time this year. What with a 49% loss last year
and a 65% loss so far this year, it has fallen
82% since it joined the GTI 3½ years ago.

Microvision may turn out to be aptly named.

The Week's Top Gainers and Losers

Gainers Losers
 IKAN + 5.8%   MVIS - 11.2% 
 CPHD + 3.9%   NETL - 7.2% 
 GLW + 3.9%   LNOP   - 5.8% 
 SYNA + 3.1%   TSM - 5.7% 
 INTC  + 2.7%   SMTL  - 5.5% 

Returns for the Week:

Gilder Technology Index (GTI):  - 1.8%
Nasdaq Composite Index (NSD):  - 1.1%
S&P 500 Index (S&P):  - 0.6%


Historical Returns:

Period GTI    NSD  S&P 
1997 (est'd) 21% 22% 31%
1998 (est'd) 48% 40%  27%
1999 284% 86%  20%
2000 - 44% - 39% - 10%
2001  - 43% - 21%  - 13%
2002 - 56% - 32% - 23%
2003  130% 50% 26%
2004   3% 9%    9%
2005   5%  1% 3%
2006 to date - 0.4% - 2.9% 3.7%
Avg for 9+ yrs 9.3%  5.4% 6.0%
Last 52 wks 6% 1% 7%
Since the high
of 3/06/00
- 78% - 58% - 15%
Since the low
of 10/09/02
271% 92% 67%

Comparison of Returns for GTI Stocks
By Whether or Not They Pay Dividends:

Year Do Pay
Dividends
Do Not Pay
Dividends
2004 11.6%   - 3.3%  
2005 11.1%   4.2%  
2006 to date - 4.8%   2.6%  
Avg for 2+ yrs 6.5%   1.3%  

Room to Grow:

  GTI NSD S&P
Loss from the
high to the low
94%   78%   49%  
% of the loss
recovered
17%   26%   69%  
Return needed
for a new high
354%   136%   18%  

Graph of the GTI's long recovery attempt.  

Individual Year-to-Date Returns:

ADI

46%

GLW

11%

QCOM

-13%

ALTR

2%

IKAN

-20%

S

-23%

AMD

-20%

INTC

-23%

SIGM

-28%

BRCM

-9%

KEYW

-16%

SMI

-4%

BWNG

82%

LNOP

58%

SMTL

10%

CPHD

-5%

MVIS

-65%

SYNA

-2%

ENER *

-30%

NETL

3%

TSM

-4%

EQIX

39%

NSM

-10%

TXN

-2%

FLEX

11%

PMCS *

-54%

XLNX

-10%

FNSR

75%

PWER

9%

ZRAN

7%

* Joined list this year (ENER 2/10, PMCS 4/7, SMTL 5/12).
  Return is while in GTI only.