In a secular bull market rally, sectors tend to go up and down on a favorable basis as they become either overbought or just lose momentum. The Institutional Portfolio team at Oppenheimer highlighted that the communications equipment sector has shown two months of notable improvement. The breadth of analyst revisions and secularly depressed valuations create a compelling industry-level opportunity for relative outperformance. Most importantly, they point out that valuations are remaining at generational lows. The communications equipment arena looks best positioned to outperform, while limiting downside risks. Here are the top stocks to buy at Oppenheimer in the sector.

ADTRAN Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTN) is a leading global provider of networking and communications equipment. Its products enable voice, data, video and Internet communications across a variety of network infrastructures. ADTRAN solutions are currently in use by service providers, private enterprises, government organizations and millions of individual users worldwide. The Thomson/First Call price target for the stock is $22, and investors receive a 1.4% dividend.

Arris Enterprises Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRS) has become a major competitive threat to Cisco after its acquisition of the set-top box business of Motorola Mobility. IHS estimated that the global set-top box shipment will grow 8% year-over-year to 269 million units in 2013 from 250 million units in 2012. This is further expected to increase 6% in 2014 to 286 million units and another 1% in 2015 to 290 million units. Moreover, IHS also estimated that the global set-top box revenues will reach a record-high $22.2 billion in 2013. The consensus price target for Arris is $17.25.

Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) is a top stock to buy at Oppenheimer and also was recently raised to Outperform at William Blair. Ciena provides communications networking equipment, software and services that support the transport, switching, aggregation and management of voice, video and data traffic worldwide. The consensus price target for the stock is $23.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is a mega-cap tech stock that has roared back into the game. The company is moving to be an innovator in providing the automobile industry with the Cisco enterprise-grade, seamless wireless network switching technology, which is highly secure and is designed to connect passengers to the right network based on their location on the road and their user preference. It is the complete Internet and communications experience for tomorrow’s driver today. The consensus price objective for this top tech name is $27. Investors are paid a 2.6% dividend.

F5 Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) had truly become an out-of-favor stock recently. It blew away earnings, and the stock responded well. Despite some continued weakness in telecom spending, the rest of the year looks very positive for the company. The consensus price objective stands at $95.

Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT) is a top small cap name to buy at Oppenheimer. Revenue in the second quarter totaled $117.1 million, and bookings were $126.3 million. Non-GAAP net income was $5.6 million, or $0.05 per share. That bottom-line result is a welcome improvement compared to the adjusted net loss of $0.02 per share a year ago. The stock was up as much as 16% after earnings, and it may be a top name to own for the rest of the year. The consensus price target for the stock is $7.

Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) announced in June a plan to repurchase $1 billion in stock and added an additional $1 billion when they announced preliminary earnings on July 23. The consensus price for this top tech name is $22.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) rounds out the top communications equipment stocks to buy at Oppenheimer. The company reported fantastic third-quarter results. Revenue surged 35% year-over-year to $6.2 billion, handily exceeding consensus estimates. Non-GAAP earnings per share jumped 21% year-over-year to $1.03, roughly in-line with consensus estimates. Free cash flow was fantastic at $1.85 billion, equivalent to 30% of revenue. The consensus price target for this top tech name is $75. Investors receive a 2.1% dividend.

The Institutional Portfolio managers at Oppenheimer think that earnings revisions, sentiment and alpha momentum can be used as tools from a contrarian or trend-following perspective toward identifying future periods of outperformance. The communications equipment sector may be poised to lead in the second half of the year, and their stocks to buy may be timely portfolio additions now.

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