What has happened with Home Depot is that somehow they got it all right, or at least very close to all right. I buy from them quite often and it is clear that they have most things figured out right. That is rather funny in that there is a serious competitor next door, they share the same parking lot entrance, even. There are always plenty of empty spots to park in the Lowe's lot even when the Home Depot lot is quite full. So it gets down to the fact that some stores have :it" and some do not. That explains why the stock is doing so well, which is that the stores are indeed doing so well. And it is strange about the lumber pricing. If their costs have increased then the rise in sell price would just be a pass-thru increase. So how are they making so much more on lumber now?

Thanks for the well-thought summary.Author conclusions are always interesting.

Well written, and interesting as well. I had not though much about this sector of the market. The challenge in gaining from dealing with such stocks is that even a huge percentage of growth brings a smaller number of dollars of profit.

Unfortunately I don't see a simple way around that issue, except to own a million shares of the stock. And that might be difficult to sell when trying to take the profit.

Certainly Real Estate as an investment makes sense, because property is a bit like gold, and possibly even a better investment, because the quantity of property is "finite." Land is no longer being made, although more is available, the prime locations are not. And while the price may vary, the intrinsic value seldom changes rapidly, in most cases.

So Thanks for pointing out in a interesting article what may not have been at the forefront of our attention's focus.

And thank You for the insightful article.

Another great article, Vivian. Thanks.

"This time it is different." I think that Timothy Leary said that a few times after a few dozen experiments with LSD. The fact is that distorted vision certainly will make things look quite different. Distorted logic will also do that, and certainly greed distorts logic.

All of those folks following "the momentum" fail to see the similarity to a cattle stampede, in which the animals run because they see other animals running. Really though, humans should be much smarter than 900 pounds of steak on the hoof. Some of us are smarter, others have not yet learned by experience. I prefer to watch, and learn by other people's experience. Much less painful.

Inflation is that thing that drives down the purchasing power of my money. Plain and simple, and does not take a Masters degree to understand that. Inflation is caused by the government (the Federal Reserve Bank) putting too much money into circulation, usually in the wrong hands.

And I understand that inflation benefits those seeking to get rich in the stock market, and that is evidently as far as those in the fed care to look. The fact is that there exists a lot more in the world than wall street, and that most people are not involved in the financial industry. Most people are far closer to the real world, Unfortunately the damage is the result of a long string of very deliberate actions by those individuals running the Federal Reserve bank. So when all the bubbles burst and the times get really rough we will know the names of those responsible. And perhaps things can be changed so that it will not happen again. Certainly this is a radical prediction, and I wish that it would be wrong. But I don't think so.

The obvious question in my mind is how big are the lies being projected as a wonderful future? Claims devoid of veracity do smell a bit "off" by my cynical standards.

It does seem a bit strange that the same stock gets such different ratings. What is the reason?And why so different?

And what is "TAM"???

But a very interesting article, despite the acronym.