UBS Has Five Chip Stocks to Buy Now

Technology

Published: May 20, 2014 8:50 am

The grinding sell-off that started with biotech, moved to momentum stocks and ended up with solid big cap technology stocks has given investors a very solid entry point to some of the top stocks on Wall Street. With that price reduction in mind, the analysts at UBS are extremely selective on the names they recommend to their clients at this point. While they see 3G and 4G growth, a continued tepid desktop environment and some improvement in storage, the key for investors is to stay with strong franchise names and avoid pricey stocks with less upside for the balance of the year.

Here are the five top chip stocks now rated Buy at UBS.

Avago Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: AVGO) not only gets a huge chunk of its business from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), but it is a big provider in the cloud/hyperscale data center and networking sector. The company supplies Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) with application-specific integrated circuit (ASICs) for a variety of high-end gear. It also indirectly sells into Scientific Atlanta by supplying ICs for disk drives that end up in DVRs. Investors are paid a 1.6% dividend. The UBS price target for this top name is $70. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target for the stock is $70.67. Avago closed Monday at $68.32 a share.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) posted very solid earnings for the most recent quarter and the stock was promptly down over 15% in the tech sell-off, but it has rallied back strong. The company, which is a leader in DRAM chip sales and is one of the top UBS memory picks, has seen a nice streak of beating earnings estimates, especially when looking at the previous two reports Micron has beaten estimates by at least 35% in both cases, suggesting it has a nice short-term history of crushing expectations. The UBS price target is $30, and the consensus target is $29.82. Micron closed Monday at $26.94.

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NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) remains Silicon Valley’s top graphics chip company, and many on Wall Street see the stock having the ability to soar over the next year. The company has been able to use its ability to leverage past investments, with a more controlled spending structure ahead on unified, which enables strong cash flow that is allowing a focus on capital return, which is currently estimated to be $1 billion next year. Despite a strong move this year, the UBS team thinks the best could still be ahead. Investors receive a 1.9% dividend. The UBS price target is $20, and may go higher at some point. The consensus target is $19.13. Shares closed Monday at $18.54.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) was recently added to the UBS Dividend Ruler list, and may be on the verge of making its gigantic world even bigger. The stock is rated Outperform and is also on the firm’s high conviction list. Lenovo, which is one of the fastest growing technology companies, will mainly rely on Qualcomm chips for handsets shipped outside China due to intellectual property reasons. It was also recently announced that software giant Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) plans to use Qualcomm chips in its new, smaller version of the Surface tablet. Investors are paid a solid 2.1% dividend. The UBS price target is $84. The consensus price target is $84.96. Qualcomm closed Monday at $79.81

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) is another top stock that is rated Buy at UBS. SanDisk’s quality, state-of-the-art solutions are at the heart of many of the world’s largest data centers, and embedded in advanced smart phones, tablets and PCs. Investors are paid a 1.0% dividend. The company is considered on Wall Street one of the top memory names for investors to own now. The UBS price target is $90 and could soon be adjusted higher, and the consensus target is $97.39. The stock closed Monday at $91.61.

The UBS plan is very simple: stick with the market leaders for the best growth prospects. While some of these names may have been a better buy a few weeks ago, their dominance in their respective areas are worth noting. For growth investors with a long-term horizon, and a touch more risk tolerance, these stocks may be perfect addition to the technology section of any portfolio.

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