2000s
This decade began with one of the most dramatic stock market crashes in history. From March 11, 2000 to October 9, 2002, the Nasdaq lost 78% of its value, caused by the overvaluation of a number of tech and internet-based startup companies. This loss came as a brutal hit after such a prosperous bull market in the 1990s, but calling the market top and guiding clients toward defensive names in advance of such crashes is another key strength of our firm. By 2003, the cycle had turned back into an uptrend, led, as always, by new innovation.
“What seems too high in price and risky usually goes higher and what seems low and cheap usually goes lower...”
— William J. O’Neil, How to Make Money in Stocks
Biggest Winner Innovation
The outstanding innovator of the decade was Apple. When it introduced its iPod music player in October 2001, the country saw the first sign of a transformation that would change the way we communicate and businesses operate. The iPod set the stage for the success as it ushered in a new mobile evolution. With explosive sales across the planet to secure its success, Apple’s stock began to soar, climbing 1,300% between March 2004 and December 2007. We put it on our Leaders and Laggards list at $12, and many clients held it throughout its move to nearly $200 per share.
Global Expansion
On a much broader and deeper scale, businesses and economies became increasingly globally connected during the course of the decade. At William O’Neil + Company, we opened up our New York office to support our growing east coast client base and expanded our product offerings. We bolstered our suite of personalized services with the launch of the Analytical Perspective Service in 2007. We also added global market data to WONDA in 2008 that included 70,000 securities, funds, and indices from 71 developed, emerging, and frontier markets. Its comprehensive data gained immediate popularity with some of the world’s leading money managers.
In 2008 the market crashed again, this one with perhaps the most devastating global effect in history. Based on our historical studies, we were able to call the 2007 market top and advise our clients to, once again, raise cash or move into more defensive positions.
To complement our domestic advisory services, in 2009, our country and regional analysts introduced the Global Focus List (GFL), a product of long and short emerging and developed market stock recommendations. The GFL lists went on to achieve phenomenal performance, proving that the O’Neil method applies to markets—and the psychology of investors—from every corner of the planet. During this decade, we also continued our study of the greatest stocks and produced three more volumes of "The Model Book of Greatest Stock Winners" series.