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With the S&P 500 hitting new highs nearly every day this fall, are stocks in a bubble? 

Tesla, NVIDIA, and Microsoft are red-hot, invoking some deja-vu from older investors who remember the 1990s boom market dominated by Cisco, and day-trader favorite, QUALCOMM.

The Dot-Com Bubble

Older stock investors have vivid memories of the dot-com bubble.

It came at the end of an 18-year bull market in stocks which lasted from 1982 to 2000. The world was being revolutionized by the Internet, dot-coms and technology companies.

By the late 1990s, the “tech titans” of Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, and Dell were must-owns.

Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) and Cisco (CSCO - Free Report) weren’t dot-coms that made no money. These companies were blue chips that made billions.

Investors poured money into their shares.

From Jan 2, 1998, to Jan 3, 2000, Microsoft shares jumped 240%.

During that same time, Cisco, which was one of the hottest stocks of the decade gaining over 10,000%, was up another 447%.

But these weren’t even the hottest tech companies.

QUALCOMM (QCOM - Free Report) was a day-trader favorite. During those 2 years, QUALCOMM shares jumped 2216%.

The 2021 Bull Rally

In 2021, Microsoft is back in the game as one of the FANGMAN stocks. Over the last 2 years, Microsoft shares have gained 126.4%.

And other Silicon Valley darlings are again in the spotlight.

Instead of it being Cisco, NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) is one of the fan favorites. Over the last 2 years, NVIDIA shares are up 486.8%.

NVIDIA shares are trading with a forward P/E of 73.

But much like the late 1990s, who cares about P/Es? It’s all about the growth and innovation.

And nothing says “innovation” as much as Tesla (TSLA - Free Report). Not only is it in a new, emerging industry of electric vehicles, Tesla is also on the cutting edge of AI-technology.

In fact, many say Tesla isn’t a car company at all, it’s a technology company.

Tesla shares are up 1,367% over the last 2 years.

Tesla isn’t cheap. It trades with a forward P/E of 169.