Big Tech is expensive? Try Big Consumer

IF you think tech stocks like Facebook and Google are pricey, you haven't seen consumer stocks in Indonesia and India.

They are getting so high that some analysts have given up telling clients that it's time to get out.

In an end-August note, JP Morgan said it was "throwing in the towel on our longstanding underweight" on Unilever Indonesia since 2014. It upgraded the stock to "neutral", pegged to a target price 40 times forward earnings.

One can almost hear the exasperation with the market. Analysts still think the stock is expensive - hence the neutral call - but they probably got too much flak as the stock continued to defy their expectations.

"Forecasted earnings have expanded by 26 per cent from 2014, while valuations have grown by 41 per cent over the same period, leading to a remarkable 78 per cent increase in the stock pric…