So far, this year has been a big improvement over 2022, and investors can thank big technology stocks for the huge turnaround. Up 16.30% through Tuesday, the Nasdaq has trounced the 1.65% gain of the Dow Jones industrials and the S&P 500’s 7.73% move higher.

The problem is that only a handful of top technology leaders have driven all of the gains so far, and that could be dangerous, as most are at or close to 52-week or all-time highs. While the move higher has been solid, the reality is that Apple and Microsoft have generated nearly 50% of the S&P 500 gains so far this year. If you add in the rest of the FANNG stocks — Facebook (Meta), Amazon, Netflix, Nvidia and Google (Alphabet) — the group has accounted for a stunning 94% of the index gains through April.
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One good idea for growth investors looking to stay in the technology sector might be to take profits on the high-flyers and look at some old-school legacy technology companies that may be able to pick up the rally torch in May. We screened our 24/7 Wall St. technology universe searching for industry leaders that may offer solid upside potential and reliable dividends. That combination could provide some powerful total return potential for the rest of 2023, and seven top stocks made the cut.

It is important to remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision.

Cisco

Investors who are more conservative may want to consider this mega-cap tech leader, which recently posted outstanding quarterly results. Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) designs, manufactures and sells internet protocol (IP) based networking products and services related to the communications and information technology industry worldwide.

Cisco provides switching products, including fixed-configuration and modular switches, and storage products that provide connectivity to end users, workstations, IP phones, wireless access points and servers, as well as next-generation network routing products that interconnect public and private wireline and mobile networks for mobile, data, voice and video applications.

Its cybersecurity products give clients the scope, scale and capabilities to keep up with the complexity and volume of threats. Putting security above everything helps corporations innovate while keeping their assets safe.

The networking giant posted solid fiscal first-quarter results that beat earnings expectations, and it offered up strong forward guidance.

Shareholders receive a 3.30% dividend. Credit Suisse has an Outperform rating on Cisco Systems stock. The firm’s $69 target price compares with a $56.72 consensus target and Wednesday’s close at $45.96.

Corning

This company continues to be a huge player in the fiber optic world. Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) is a technology pioneer that manufactures LCD glass for flat-panel displays for multiple product lines.

Its Display Technologies segment offers glass substrates for flat panel displays, including liquid crystal displays and organic light-emitting diodes that are used in televisions, notebook computers, desktop monitors, tablets and handheld devices.
Corning’s Optical Communications segment provides optical fibers and cables, as well as hardware and equipment products, such as cable assemblies, fiber optic hardware and connectors, optical components and couplers, closures, network interface devices and other accessories for the telecommunications industry, businesses, governments and individuals.
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The Specialty Materials segment manufactures products that offer material formulations for glass, glass ceramics, crystals, precision metrology instruments and software, as well as glass wafers and substrates, tinted sunglasses and radiation shielding products for various markets comprising mobile consumer electronics, semiconductor equipment optics and consumables, aerospace and defense optics, radiation shielding products, sunglasses and telecommunications components.

Its Environmental Technologies segment provides ceramic substrates and filter products for emissions control in mobile, gasoline and diesel applications. And the company’s Life Sciences segment offers laboratory products, including consumables, such as plastic vessels, liquid handling plastics, specialty surfaces, cell culture media and serum, as well as general labware, glassware and equipment under the Corning, Falcon, Pyrex and Axygen brands.

Corning stock comes with a 3.45% dividend. J.P. Morgan’s Overweight rating is accompanied by a $42 price target. The consensus target is $37.17, and shares closed on Wednesday at $31.67.

Dell Technologies

This high-quality company pays a solid dividend, but its shares have been hit hard. Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL) designs, develops, manufactures, markets, sells and supports information technology (IT) hardware, software and services solutions worldwide. It operates through three segments.

Infrastructure Solutions Group provides traditional and next-generation storage solutions, and rack, blade, tower and hyperscale servers. It also offers networking products and services that help its business customers to transform and modernize their infrastructure, mobilize and enrich end-user experiences and accelerate business applications and processes. It also offers attached software and peripherals, as well as support and deployment, configuration and extended warranty services.

The Client Solutions Group offers desktops, notebooks and workstations; displays and projectors; attached and third-party software and peripherals; as well as support and deployment, configuration and extended warranty services.

The VMware segment supports customers in the areas of hybrid and multi-cloud, modern applications, networking, security and digital workspaces, helping customers to manage IT resources across private clouds and complex multi-cloud, multi-device environments.

Dell also provides information security and cloud software and infrastructure-as-a-service solutions that enable customers to migrate, run, and manage mission-critical applications in cloud-based IT environments.

Investors receive a 3.38% dividend. Morgan Stanley’s $55 price target comes with an Overweight rating. Dell Technologies has a consensus target of $47.86. Wednesday’s close was at $45.16.

This blue chip giant still offers investors who are more conservative an incredibly solid entry point, a massive dividend and a degree of safety. International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) provides integrated solutions and services worldwide through these four business segments.
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The Software segment offers hybrid cloud platform and software solutions, such as Red Hat, an enterprise open-source solutions; software for business automation, AIOps and management, integration, and application servers; data and artificial intelligence solutions; and security software and services for threat, data and identity. This segment also provides transaction processing software that supports clients’ mission-critical and on-premise workloads in banking, airlines and retail industries.

The Consulting segment offers business transformation services, including strategy, business process design and operations, data and analytics, and system integration services; technology consulting services; and application and cloud platform services.

The Infrastructure segment provides on-premises and cloud-based server and storage solutions for its clients’ mission-critical and regulated workloads; and support services and solutions for hybrid cloud infrastructure, as well as remanufacturing and remarketing services for used equipment.

The Financing segment offers lease, installment payment, loan financing and short-term working capital financing services.

The dividend yield here is 5.31%. The $162 Credit Suisse price target on the Outperform-rated stock is a Wall Street high. The $141.47 consensus target is closer to Wednesday’s closing print of $123.45.

Juniper Networks

This is another familiar name that could offer among the best in total return potential. Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) designs, develops and sells network products and services worldwide. The company offers various routing products, such as ACX series universal access routers to deploy new high-bandwidth services; MX series Ethernet routers that function as a universal edge platform; PTX series packet transport routers; and NorthStar controllers.

Juniper Networks also provides switching products, including EX series Ethernet switches to address the access, aggregation and core layer switching requirements of micro branch, branch office, and campus environments; QFX series of core, spine and top-of-rack data center switches; and Juniper access points, which provide wireless access and performance.

In addition, the company offers security products including SRX series services gateways for the data center; Branch SRX family provides an integrated firewall and next-generation firewall; virtual firewall that delivers various features of physical firewalls; and advanced malware protection, a cloud-based service and Juniper ATP.

Juniper Networks stock investors receive a 3.02% dividend. J.P. Morgan has an Overweight rating with a $42 price target. The consensus target is $36.31. The shares closed at $28.94 on Wednesday.

This disk drive giant looks reasonable at current trading levels. Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: STX) provides data storage technology and solutions in Singapore, the United States, the Netherlands and elsewhere.
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The company offers hard disk and solid-state drives, including serial advanced technology attachment, serial attached SCSI and non-volatile memory express products; solid-state hybrid drives; and storage subsystems. Its products are used in enterprise servers and storage systems and edge compute and non-compute applications.

Seagate also provides an enterprise data solutions portfolio, comprising storage subsystems and mass capacity optimized private cloud storage solutions for enterprises, cloud service providers and scale-out storage servers and original equipment manufacturers. In addition, it offers external storage solutions under the Seagate Backup Plus and Expansion product lines, as well as under the LaCie and Maxtor brands in capacities up to 16 terabytes.

Shareholders enjoy a 4.78% dividend. TD Cowen has an Outperform rating and has set its price objective at $70. The consensus target is $62.50, and Seagate Technology stock closed on Wednesday at $58.36.

Texas Instruments

This old-school semiconductor company offers solid value at current levels and is a great pick for investors who are more conservative. Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: TXN) is a broad-based supplier of semiconductor components, ranging from digital signal processors to high-performance analog components, to digital light-processing technology and calculators.

Some 65% of the company’s sales are exposed to the well-diversified, business-to-business industrial, automotive, communications infrastructure and enterprise markets. While business from those sectors, especially automotive, could suffer in the near term, the analyst feels the solid dividend should support the shares.

The company is also a big Apple supplier, so the long-term outlook for this venerable leader makes it a safer bet for investors with less risk tolerance.

Investors receive a 2.98% dividend. The analysts at Oppenheimer have an Outperform rating for Texas Instruments stock. Their $195 price target is higher than the $181.46 consensus target and the most recent close at $163.35.

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These seven top technology companies have paid strong and dependable dividends for years and each has carved out specific silos where it excels, and in some cases dominates. Note that technology is indeed volatile, and should the market take another big leg down, tech shares can get hit harder than more conservative ideas, Yet, for those with a higher risk tolerance and time on their side, all seven make very good sense now.

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