UBS frequently tracks tech stocks that are overbought and oversold on a relative strength basis. This week’s report happens to contain five very well-known tech stocks that may be just the contrarian trade for investors looking to take some profits and reapply the capital.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was absolutely eviscerated after reporting earnings far below analyst estimates. Many on Wall Street bellowed that Jeff Bezos’s forays into other potential product silos was killing shareholder value and straying from the company’s strengths. Yet, Amazon continues to dominate Internet e-commerce as third-party sellers on its platform were up 45%. In addition to incredible sales growth, the company’s Web Services division is considered the top player in the public cloud business. The AWS division delivers a set of services that together form a reliable, scalable and inexpensive computing platform.
Amazon is down a gigantic 31.5% year-to-date, and investors may have a chance to pick up some shares at prices that haven’t been this low in over a year. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target is $353.61. The stock closed up nicely Thursday at $296.64.
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3D Systems Corp. (NYSE: DDD) has been an incredibly volatile stock and now may be a time for investors to revisit it. Its 3D printers convert data input from computer-aided design generated software format or 3D scanning and sculpting devices to printed parts. 3D printing was a super-hot segment last year, and the top stocks were absolutely eviscerated in the early spring sell-off. Hot and fast money loves to be long and short this top stock, so entry points are critical.
3D shareholders are paid a small 0.6% dividend. The consensus price target is posted at $49.95. 3D systems closed Thursday at $34.91 a share.
FireEye Inc. (NASDAQ: FEYE) was absolutely crushed in the mid October sell-off and was just fighting its way back when it reported earnings this week far below estimates. Investors now have the opportunity to add a top software security stock at a very reasonable entry point. FireEye recently announced the new release of FireEye Email Threat Prevention Cloud that adds the traditional email security features of anti-spam and antivirus protection to its advanced threat detection capabilities. The company is a favorite for product resellers focused on advanced persistent threat protection for clients.
The consensus price objective is $38.16, and the stock closed on Thursday at $30.04. Note that FireEye traded to almost $100 a share earlier this year.
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International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) is out of favor and is still down right at 20% for the year. Investors with a good memory will recall this isn’t the first time the company has been out of favor. The stock is trading at just over 10 times Wall Street 2014 earnings-per-share (EPS) projections, or a 35% discount to the S&P 500 Index. While the company has struggled with business in China, many trading models indicate that sales bottomed last year, and the path higher could be much easier. It may take time, but the value in the trade may be worth it.
IBM investors are paid a 2.7% dividend. The consensus price target is $169.14. The stock closed Thursday at $161.46.
VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) was a top stock to buy on Wall Street until back-to-back mediocre earnings releases. The company is still a leader in cloud storage software and its cloud computing service is a new offering for its customers. The company’s vCloud Hybrid Service (vCHS) has not been designed or marketed as a standalone public cloud as of yet. Many Wall Street analysts believe that on a pricing basis it is one of the more expensive offerings. The ability to tie the software solutions in with public cloud service may be a huge winner in the future.
The consensus price target for the stock is $102.89. VMware closed Thursday at $83.57. Investors can also indirectly own VMware by buying the stock of storage giant EMC, which owns over 43 million shares of the stock. EMC closed Thursday at $29.31.
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It is one thing to take a flyer on an out-of-favor small cap biotech. It is something else to be able to own solid technology stocks that have made a few missteps. While still an aggressive trade, and probably only suitable for risk-tolerant accounts, any of these five stocks could bounce back and be a big winner. The only real question is when.
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