Technology Stocks Still Down Five Years After Bubble

The Nasdaq bubble peaked at 5,048.62 on March 10, 2000. At the time many investors thought stock prices would continue on the upside forever but time proved them wrong. On March 8, 2005 the Nasdaq closed at 2073.55, a 58.93 percent decline from the 2000 peak.

Buying at high prices is never a good idea and the five-year declines of the following well-known companies show you why.

The big six technology stocks, Cisco (CSCO), Dell (DELL), Intel (INTC), Microsoft (MSFT), Oracle (ORCL) and Sun Microsystems (SUNW), led the technology sector up and have led it down for the past five years. Note: The peak prices are split adjusted.

Big Six Technology Stocks - Five-year Price Decline
Stock	Symbol	Peak Date	Peak Price	March 8, 2000 Close	Percent Decline from Peak Price
Cisco Systems	CSCO	03/27/2000	$80.06	$18.12	-77.37%
Dell	DELL	03/22/2000	$58.13	$40.22	-30.81%
Intel	INTC	03/23/2000	$69.84	$24.80	-64.49%
Microsoft	MSFT	12/27/1999	$52.65	$25.40	-51.76%
Oracle	ORCL	03/27/2000	$44.22	$13.62	-69.20%
Sun Microsystems	SUNW	03/27/2000	$52.50	$4.37	-91.68%

Four of the Internet darlings experienced a bloodier downside.

Internet Stocks - Five-year Price Decline
Stock	Symbol	Peak Date	Peak Price	March 8, 2000 Close	Percent Decline from Peak Price
Amazon.com	AMZN	12/10/1999	$106.69	$35.83	-66.42%
CMGI	CMGI	01/03/2000	$163.22	$1.88	-98.85%
Internet Capital Group	ICGE	01/03/2000	$4000.00	$8.05	-99.80%
Yahoo!	YHOO	01/03/2000	$118.75	$33.15	-72.08%

The once high-flying telecommunications equipment stocks will never come close to their bubble highs.

Telecommunications Equipment Stocks - Five-year Price Decline
Stock	Symbol	Peak Date	Peak Price	March 8, 2000 Close	Percent Decline from Peak Price
Ciena	CIEN	10/20/2000	$149.50	$1.91	-98.72%
JDS Uniphase	JDSU	03/06/2000	$146.53	$2.00	-98.64%
Lucent Technologies	LU	12/20/1999	$62.58	$3.05	-95.13%
Nortel Networks	NT	03/27/2000	$70.38	$3.03	-95.69%