term prospects

Tech stocks have been lagging along with the rest of the stock market so far in 2008, but its long-term prospects are much, much better.

So says Imran Khan, a JP Morgan senior analysts who specializes in the telecom and Internet markets. Khan is one of my favorite analysts and his argument that technology has a long way to go if it ever hits critical mass - if ever - is a compelling one.

His case is also a simple one - so simple most financial analysts miss it.

"The drug industry is under attack on multiple fronts, but the single biggest overhang affecting the longer-term prospects of the group is the patent 'cliff' that begins in earnest in 2011," Sanford C.

Bernstein analyst Tim Anderson said in a recent report.

As of 1:46 pm, all three indexes on Wall Street are in the green Thursday with the Dow Jones industrials average up about a third of a percent, while the broader indexes - NASDAQ and S and P 500 are up 0.13 percent and 0.31 percent respectively.