To The Moon

A popular metric shows stocks haven't been this richly valued since the dot-com era. There's no getting around it. Shares of America's largest companies have been looking pretty expensive lately.The thinking holds whether looking at valuation metrics based on corporate earnings over the past decade, or Wall Street's expectations for profits and sales over the coming year. Major gauges for measuring how expensive stocks have become, relative to their fundamentals - including the earnings and sales these companies stand to reap - send a similar message: Prices for U.S. large-cap stocks haven't been this elevated since at least 2021. That was right before the bull market that followed the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic reached a peak.For many investors, high valuations can be reason enough to question whether stocks look like a smart buy at current prices. But strategists who spoke with MarketWatch also offered a word of caution: just because stocks look expensive, doesn't mean they can'