{"id":471221,"date":"2026-06-01T20:49:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T20:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/471221\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T20:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T20:49:13","slug":"are-investors-making-a-mistake-by-waiting-for-a-better-market-entry-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/471221\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Investors Making a Mistake by Waiting for a Better Market Entry Point?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;This time is different.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Has any phrase in investing aged worse?<\/p>\n<p>Railroads were going to change everything in the late 1800s. They did, but most railroad stocks still went bust.<br \/>\nRadio was the future in the 1920s. It was, and RCA shareholders got crushed anyway.<br \/>\nThe internet was a new paradigm. Yes indeed; Pets.com is still dead.<\/p>\n<p>Now it&#8217;s artificial intelligence (AI). The pitch is familiar: AI will transform every industry, unlock trillions of dollars in productivity improvements, and mint new corporate giants. As a whole, the thesis may well prove correct. I&#8217;d actually be really surprised if it didn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Humanoid robot in a thoughtful pose.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"880\" height=\"587\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"h-auto max-w-full rounded object-contain\" style=\"color:transparent\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780346953_616_.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">Image source: Getty Images.<\/p>\n<p>But the dot-com bubble and other new-era shifts proved something important: A transformative technology and a good investment are not the same thing. Timing and price still matter, even when the story is real. There will be big winners but also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/investing\/stock-market\/basics\/crashes\/\" class=\"text-cyan-900 hover:text-cyan-800\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">plenty of long-term losers<\/a> as AI changes how people do business.<\/p>\n<p>Which raises the question: Are investors making a mistake by sitting on the sidelines, waiting for better prices? Well, it depends on what they do with that patience.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Cisco Systems Stock Quote\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"w-full flex-none object-contain\" style=\"color:transparent\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780346953_429_.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s Change<\/p>\n<p>(0.76%) $0.91<\/p>\n<p>Current Price<\/p>\n<p>$121.33<\/p>\n<p>Key Data Points<\/p>\n<p>Market Cap<\/p>\n<p>$475B<\/p>\n<p>Day&#8217;s Range<\/p>\n<p>$118.30 &#8211; $121.95<\/p>\n<p>52wk Range<\/p>\n<p>$62.71 &#8211; $121.95<\/p>\n<p>Volume<\/p>\n<p>23.7M<\/p>\n<p>Avg Vol<\/p>\n<p>23.3M<\/p>\n<p>Gross Margin<\/p>\n<p>63.53%<\/p>\n<p>Dividend Yield<\/p>\n<p>1.37%<\/p>\n<p>Lessons from the dot-com wreckage<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s give the late-1990s investors some credit: They saw the future. Amazon (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/quote\/nasdaq\/amzn\/\" class=\"font-bold hover:underline\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AMZN<\/a> 3.48%) did become a juggernaut. Apple (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/quote\/nasdaq\/aapl\/\" class=\"font-bold hover:underline\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AAPL<\/a> 1.86%) did put a supercomputer in everyone&#8217;s pocket.<\/p>\n<p>The problem wasn&#8217;t the vision. It was the valuation.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon dropped 93% before eventually proving the believers right. Cisco Systems (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/quote\/nasdaq\/csco\/\" class=\"font-bold hover:underline\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CSCO<\/a> +0.76%) didn&#8217;t reclaim its 2000 peak until last December&#8217;s AI-powered rush.<\/p>\n<p>But at least those companies survived. Pets.com, Webvan, and eToys didn&#8217;t make it out of the wreckage at all.<\/p>\n<p>Even Enron, now synonymous with corporate fraud, surfed the internet wave while it lasted. Enron Online only existed for two years, but was briefly one of the largest e-commerce platforms by transaction volume. The company pitched itself as a tech-forward logistics innovator, not a stodgy energy utility. Fortune named it &#8220;America&#8217;s Most Innovative Company&#8221; for six consecutive years. The stock peaked around $90 in August 2000 before collapsing to $0.26 by late 2001.<\/p>\n<p>Enron&#8217;s fraud was real, but the bubble gave it cover. When everyone wants to believe in a new paradigm, skeptics are dismissed as dinosaurs who &#8220;just don&#8217;t get it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The investors who waited for better prices in 2000 and 2001 weren&#8217;t cowards. They were right.<\/p>\n<p>The case for optimism (with discipline)<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the good news: investors have seen this movie before, and they can learn from it.<\/p>\n<p>Nvidia (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/quote\/nasdaq\/nvda\/\" class=\"font-bold hover:underline\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NVDA<\/a> +6.26%) is selling real chips for real money. Microsoft (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/quote\/nasdaq\/msft\/\" class=\"font-bold hover:underline\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MSFT<\/a> +2.38%) and Alphabet (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/quote\/nasdaq\/goog\/\" class=\"font-bold hover:underline\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">GOOG<\/a> 1.04%)\u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/quote\/nasdaq\/googl\/\" class=\"font-bold hover:underline\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">GOOGL<\/a> 1.03%) are integrating AI into products with actual users. Unlike Webvan or Kozmo, these aren&#8217;t high-flying start-ups burning cash on a dream. They are established giants with durable businesses layering on new capabilities.<\/p>\n<p>That doesn&#8217;t mean every AI stock is a buy at today&#8217;s prices. Absolutely not.<\/p>\n<p>Valuations still matter. So does long-term planning and execution. But today&#8217;s investors have better tools to separate substance from hype than they did 25 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Waiting isn&#8217;t losing<\/p>\n<p>The financial media often frames patience as a missed opportunity. &#8220;You&#8217;re missing the rally!&#8221; &#8220;The train is leaving the station!&#8221; Gen-Z investors might say &#8220;FOMO!&#8221; and &#8220;YOLO!&#8221; before slamming the &#8220;buy&#8221; button again.<\/p>\n<p>This bullish attitude assumes that prices only go up, and that buying later always means buying higher. History suggests otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>Waiting for a better entry point isn&#8217;t the same as sitting out forever. It&#8217;s a recognition that price matters, that cycles exist, and that enthusiasm can outrun fundamentals. Investors who stayed patient during past fads often received better opportunities down the road.<\/p>\n<p>Believe in the AI revolution if you want. Just don&#8217;t let enthusiasm override arithmetic. Even proven money-makers like Nvidia, Microsoft, and Alphabet <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/investing\/2026\/01\/04\/investors-believe-overvaluation-is-one-of-the-bigg\/\" class=\"text-cyan-900 hover:text-cyan-800\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">might be overvalued<\/a> from time to time.<\/p>\n<p>Being right about the technology doesn&#8217;t guarantee being right about the stock, the price, or the timing. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fool.com\/research\/ai-investor-outlook\/\" class=\"text-cyan-900 hover:text-cyan-800\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">recent Motley Fool research report<\/a> suggests that AI is the real deal, just as railroads, radio, and the internet were. But &#8220;real deal&#8221; and &#8220;buy at any price&#8221; have never been synonyms.<\/p>\n<p>This time might actually be different. History says that&#8217;s not enough. Be careful out there, dear AI investor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#8220;This time is different.&#8221; Has any phrase in investing aged worse? Railroads were going to change everything in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[345,343,344,85,46,125],"class_list":["post-471221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}