Billionaire Jeff Vinik: No bubble in tech stocks

The rise in tech stocks in 1999 and 2000 was the biggest bubble “any of us will experience in our lives,” billionaire Jeff Vinik told CNBC on Wednesday. With the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQ: .IXIC) at 15-year highs again and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow Jones Global Indexes: .DJI) and the S&P 500 (INDEX: .SPX) at record highs, the same dangers of a burst do not exist now, he added.

In a ” Squawk Box ” interview, Vinik said there are pockets of overvalued stocks in today’s market, but it’s nothing like the implosion of the Nasdaq that started in 2000. Overall, he thinks the economy is looking good, and it’s a “good time to be invested.” He also said he’s big believer in buying and holding stocks for the long term.

Vinik made his name in the investment world in the 1990s, with stunning success running Fidelity’s Magellan Fund, the world’s biggest mutual fund at the time. He was just 33 years old. But a premature bet against tech stocks in 1996 led to his departure. He then started his own hedge fund, Vinik Asset Management. In 2010, he returned money to shareholders to focus on his own investments and his new ownership of the National Hockey League’s Tampa Bay Lightning.

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