Doug Kass

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The Dow is up over 200 points. Doug Kass points out that the shorts are caught.

"...the forward P/E for the S&P 500 (on a realistic corporate profits estimate) is now under 12x vs. an average over the past three decades of 15.5x and about 17x when inflation and interest rates are quiescent (as they are now). Yes, the upside to stocks is capped -- I am using only 13x to get to my 1,150-1,160 S&P target -- by the ambiguity of the current soft economic patch and by the emergence of several nontraditional headwinds (higher marginal tax rates, costly regulation, and federal, state and local imbalances). But the wide gap between historic multiples and today's valuation seems to argue that the concerns are known and discounted.

The downside to stocks will be supported -- I am using 11x, which takes the S&P to the 1,025 level -- by the low probability of a double-dip and by growing evidence of a modest and shallow domestic economic expansion that is capable of sustaining itself." ~thestreet.com