Alphabet Inc (GOOG)

Alphabet (A) or Alphabet (C)? There is really no difference between these. This one is going to give you more voting rights and is slightly more expensive. He prefers GOOG-Q because it is such a big company, he can’t imagine his votes are going to make a difference.

Trading at an all-time high, and the only advantage of buying it now is that the Cdn$ is slightly stronger now than a year ago. These companies are onto a big, big trend. 1.5% or a 2% starting position is not a bad idea.

(Top Pick Feb 9/16, Up 20.76%) She still likes it. It has lagged the rally, only up at 4% vs. the market being up 10%. It is the 28th consecutive quarter of organic growth over 20% year over year. That trend of digital advertising is going to continue to grow as only about 35% of advertising budgets are allocated to it. They got a new CFO a couple of years ago who has brought a lot of financial discipline to the company so more growth is dropping to the bottom line. They have been buying back stock even though they don’t yet pay a dividend. They have a lot of cash off shore so policy changes in repatriation of cash will benefit them.

Apple (AAPL-Q) or Alphabet (GOOGL-Q)? He owns both, although he has a bigger position in this one and thinks of it as a better business. If you strip out their cash, it is only trading at 17 or 18 times earnings.

(A Top Pick Feb 18/16. Up 17.92%.) Technology has been a theme for him all year. This continues to perform really, really well. At that time, the biggest things were the things that were working best. Over the course of the year, he has moved to include mid and smaller cap securities.

He is concerned about valuation here. But they are a great company. In a market correction it could come down more than the market. $740-750 would be a buying range.

It is in a unique situation because a lot of advertising is going online. They have an advantage to Facebook in this area. They are more about software than making products. He prefers this to FB-Q.

It dropped 2 weeks ago, because of the earnings. Some of the investors and analysts took that as a negative. You have to remember that a $45 drop in the stock is pretty small percentage wise. Still one of his favourites. They own “search”, and with Facebook (FB-Q) they own “mobile advertising”, one of the best growth areas out there. They do very smart acquisitions and generate a lot of cash. Still one of the great growth stocks out there. Only trading at about a 20-22 multiple.

A fantastic company that he would buy. The valuation is a little bit high for a tech company, but they have a tremendous balance sheet and cash flow and they are just unleashing the potential of YouTube. GOOG-Q is a very disruptive company. YouTube is the crown jewel now.

(A Top Pick Jan 27/16. Up 16.18%.) The company is doing everything right, and he is happy with it. They have their “other bets” category where they have been spending quite heavily and have been taking some heat. They’ve started to reef that in and get it under control. Has strong year-over-year growth rates in 20% category. Everybody has baked in the governments’ tax repatriation holiday. If they get that, that will be a nice move.

They are reining in expenses, which people are a little bit upset about. Tax repatriation could be a benefit to them. 15% of their cash ($82-$83 billion) is trapped overseas. (Analysts’ price target is $991.78.)

A new wave media company coming out with earnings tonight. He expects $35 a share earnings, up from $29 last year. (Analysts’ target: $971.64).

He likes this and doesn’t see selling his holdings for some time. Trading at about 24X earnings. Growing at a 15-16 clip, a pretty good valuation for a very strong tech name that doesn’t have a lot of competition. They are monetizing areas like the YouTube space, and their ad sales are doing very, very well. This is a name you want to hold long-term.

(A Top Pick Feb 9/16. Up 17.52%.) She still likes this. It actually lagged during the whole post election rally. She likes the secular play on online advertising, which is a growing trend. Of all the digital ads in the US, this company takes about 40%, and she expects this to continue. Trading at about 21X forward earnings, which is reasonable given that she thinks their earnings can grow in the 18%-20% range over the foreseeable future.

For US technology, there are a bunch of cross currents for a lot of them. There is a potential big benefit if the US allows repatriation of foreign cash. Some, including this one, would be big recipients. This one continues to grow very, very nicely, both its core business and its YouTube franchise. Has a bunch of businesses that are not generating a lot of profits yet, which at some point could crystallize. A 25% grower trading just over the market multiple at closer to 20X earnings.