Tech stocks: Hold Apple. Be selective on others.
As Apple stock climbs toward $500 per share, one widely followed Internet analyst remained bullish on certain tech stocks.
“Actually, I think Apple is one of the biggest tech laggards given that earnings revisions have been so positive, but the stock hasn’t reacted,” Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray said Friday on “Fast Money.”
“This is a delayed reaction that we should’ve seen for the last couple of quarters,” he added. “Despite the fact the stock keeps going up, I think there’s a lot more room to go.”
Apple closed up 0.05 percent at $493.42 per share after having hit yet another all-time high of $497.62 earlier in the day.
Munster, who rated the stock “overweight” and maintained his $670 price target, expected Apple to pay a dividend within three to six months.
But not all tech stocks enjoyed similarly positive sentiments.
Yahoo: “They need to do something that’s innovative for once,” Munster said. “I still think they should buy Hulu. They need to do this because it’s a great fit with business, and they need to get into a secular growth theme, which they’re not a part of today.”
Amazon: “Don’t bet against Amazon,” he said. “Despite all the investors’ fears about revenue growth, I think you need to own it.”
Google: The stock has lagged partly due to the company’s lack of guidance on its acquisition of Motorola Mobility.
Analyst Toni Sacconaghi of Sanford Bernstein weighed in positively on the tech sector.
“There’s a lot of skepticism about technology stocks for the last couple of years,” he said. “Tech stocks started the year as basically the lowest relative valuation versus S&P in over 20 years.”
Apple’s stock performance was justified, he said, calling the company a “great growth story operating in a great growth markets. But the high stock price I think distracts from the fact that this is really a very attractively valued stock.”
Sacconaghi noted that at $500 a share, Apple had over $100 a share in cash, and that it would see an estimated $45 in earnings for the year.
“This stock, taking out the cash, is trading at about 9 times earnings, which is incredible for a company that is going to grow earnings 60-plus percent this year,” he said.
Sacconaghi, with a price target of $600 per share, also thought a dividend was likely.
“I think that would also put some legs under the stock and buffer it from swings going forward if, ultimately, Apple does indeed do that,” he said.
IBM: “IBM is at its very high end in relative multiples, and I don’t think there’s much opportunity going forward,” he said.
Patty Edwards of Trutina Capital also liked tech stocks overall.
“Dell and Apple in particular, while I love them and I am long Apple, my concern is that they have parabolic moves, and parabolic moves do not end well. It’s got to come down, then I’d be interested in buying some more,” she said.
