UBS’s 5 Tech Stocks to Buy as Sector Hit Hard to End January

By Lee Jackson Published Feb 2, 9:10AM EST

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Despite being one of the top sectors in the S&P 500 in 2014, technology for the most part has slipped out of the gate this year. While that is bad for current shareholders, it does present a window of opportunity for investors with new capital to buy many market leaders now at more favorable pricing. A new report from the IT hardware analysts at UBS points out that the S&P tech index was down 2.6% last week and is only up 0.69% for the year.

With some of the firm’s best ideas getting drilled for everything from slight earnings misses to bad forward guidance, the UBS team points out that none of their top stocks to buy are currently overbought. They have five stocks to buy now that present solid value for investors.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is re-initiated with an Outperform rating at UBS, and it absolutely crushed earnings estimates when it reported. With huge sales of both iPhone 6 models, the iconic Silicon Valley firm traded in spectacular fashion last week. The UBS analysts say flat-out since the first introduction of the iPhone, that Apple has transformed the world of mobility and totally re-morphed as a company. They point to what remains a very strong product cycle story, and basically call Apple the best in class technology story. With a huge $145 billion stockpile of cash, the UBS analysts expect new capital allocations strategies, and see the new Apple Pay as a new source of solid recurring revenue.

Apple investors are paid a 1.6% dividend. The new UBS price target for the stock is $133. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target is $129.53. The shares closed trading last Friday at $117.16.

ALSO READ: Top Analysts Defend Battered Technology Stock Leaders

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) is one of the leading providers of cloud services for delivering, optimizing and securing online content and business applications. About half of Akamai’s revenues are from media delivery (delivery of content over the Internet using the company’s 135,000 server global edge network) and software, for which demand is driven by video delivery and software downloads. Akamai is the leading provider of website optimization and acceleration services to e-commerce companies.

The UBS price target for Akamai is $68, and the consensus target is $68.08. The stock ended Friday’s trading sessions at $58.15, down almost 3% on the day.

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) is the leader in storage, and the constant increase in data makes the stock a core holding for technology investors. EMC missed revenue estimates for the fourth quarter and just squeaked by on the bottom line, beating estimates by a penny. With the company expected to buy back $3 billion of stock in 2015, and the lower VMWare numbers baked into future calculations, now may be a good time to add shares of this outstanding technology stock.

EMC investors are paid a 1.7% dividend. The UBS price target for the tech giant is $31, and consensus target is $30.80. EMC closed Friday at $25.93.

ALSO READ: Jefferies Has 5 Large Cap Tech Stocks to Buy Now

Nimble Storage Inc. (NASDAQ: NMBL) made its initial public offering debut back in December of 2013 and has been crushed back to right around the original offering price after doubling in early 2014. Nimble has developed a hybrid storage architecture engineered from the ground up to seamlessly integrate flash and high-capacity drives. Nimble’s flash storage solutions enable the consolidation of all workloads and eliminate storage silos by providing enterprises with significant improvements in application performance and storage capacity.

The UBS price target is $40, and consensus target is lower at $36.79. The stock closed Friday at $22.43.

Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS) is a top company in the 3D printing area that has been red hot and very volatile over the past two years. In an effort to build up its Makerbot awareness, the company teamed up with eBay last year to utilize e-commerce to sell 3D printing services. The Wall Street consensus is that 3D printing and services, although maturing fast, remain at an early phase of growth, and many are emphasizing sales-based metrics over other valuation metrics. Stratasys is very likely to be able to remain a significant player, even when the bigger competition is in the game.

The UBS price target is $125. The consensus price objective is higher at $127.57. The stock closed Friday at $79.49 a share.

ALSO READ: Highest Yielding Stocks to Buy Gaining Value as Treasury Yields Plunge

While fourth-quarter results were less than stellar for some companies, all the UBS stocks to buy are top notch in the specific tech subsector in which they reside. Aggressive growth investors may want to scale in some funds now and see if the recent market pullback has more room to go.

About the Author Lee Jackson →

Lee Jackson has covered Wall Street analysts' equity and debt research and equity strategy daily for 24/7 Wall St. since 2012. His broad and diverse career, which included a stint as the creative services director at the NBC affiliate in Austin, Texas, gives him unique insight into the financial industry and world.

Lee Jackson's journey in the financial industry spans over 30 years, with nearly two decades as an institutional equity salesperson at Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and Morgan Stanley. His career was marked by his presence on the sell side during pivotal Wall Street events, from the dot.com rise and bubble to the Long Term Capital Management debacle, 9/11, and the Great Recession of 2008. This is a testament to his resilience and adaptability in the face of market volatility.

Lee Jackson’s practical financial industry experience, acquired from a career at some of the biggest banks and brokerage firms, is complemented by a lifetime of writing on various platforms. This unique combination allows him to shed light on the intricacies and workings of Wall Street in a way that only someone with deep insider experience and knowledge can. Moreover, his extensive network across Wall Street continues to provide direct access for him and 24/7 Wall St., a privilege few firms enjoy.

Since 2012, Jackson’s work for 24/7 Wall St. has been featured in Barron’s, Yahoo Finance, MarketWatch, Business Insider, TradingView, Real Money, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Benzinga, and other media outlets. He attended the prestigious Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and has a degree in broadcasting from the Specs Howard School of Media Arts.