Birinyi rides the bull, sees S&P 500 soaring to 1,700 by 2012

Double-dip recession? Lack of aggregate demand? Don't tell that to institutional investor Laszlo Birinyi. The founder of Birinyi Associates, a money management and research firm based in Westport, Connecticut, said Monday he's still very optimistic. "The markets are suggesting that the economy has turned the corner and is going to do a lot better than most people anticipate," Birinyi told Bloomberg News on Monday.

In May, Birinyi predicted that the S&P 500 will soar to 1,700 in the next two to three years: a roughly 66 percent gain from its current level of about 1,030. The index has rallied about 15 percent since Birinyi's May forecast. The S&P 500 is up more than 52 percent from its 12-month low, recorded in March.