Intel (INTC)

An issue he has had with this company is that their products go into other people’s products so they don’t control the customer per se. They are looking at things where the can get more exposure with the end customer. Reasonable valuation. Well managed. Wouldn’t be his 1^st choice on the technology side.

Trading at about 11X earnings with probably a high single digit, low double-digit long-term growth rate. Thinks the overall industry is in transition. How are tablets and mobile devices going to affect total PC growth? Thinks it will perform in line with the industry in the tech sector but not much better. Would prefer others.

Like Cisco (CSCO-Q) and has to do the mature transition story. If they are able to actually penetrate the mobile phone market, it will be a long-term story. If it doesn’t, then it has to put its bets on the server market. Very good dividend. Rock solid balance sheet but there is a lot of concern around its ability to replace the PC market. This is worth waiting for to see how it turns out.

They were the leader in terms of chips in the PC world. The transformation from a PC world to a mobility world is happening faster than anyone really expected. The new leader is Qualcomm (QCOM-Q) which has the chip market for the tablet, mobile devices and smart phones. If you own, consider Qualcomm as a replacement.

Granddaddy of desk top business. Concern is that it is not leveraged enough to mobile phone market. Made a major acquisition last year and dominates server business and will take a share in the mobile market in the future. Solid and safe and good balance sheet. It is not the growth story it used to be.

Introduced a new chip, Adam, early this year. (Low keyed micro processor chips). They’ve only got 7% share, which will only make about 2% of their bottom line but the neighbourhood is changing and they are doing their best to try to come back and get into that really fast growing mobile, smart phone area. Juicy dividend of 4.25 %. Could be an interesting Buy here.

Unfortunately it gets the vast majority of its sales and earnings from the PC market, which he believes is a declining business.

All the large-cap tech names are trading at pretty attractive multiples. Now paying dividends (over 4%) which tells you they are no longer considered a typical growth company. They are such a dominant player in their space with over 80% plus share. They can’t grow when their end market, PCs, slows.

(Market Call Minute.) Has been a disappointing long-term performer. Down by a quarter in the last 3-4 months. Decent dividend yield. Rock solid balance sheet.

This one is not doing very well. Broke a major uptrend line and the 200 day moving average is at about $23. There are better stocks at this point.

CEO is retiring. Some think he did so because he thinks it will be a tough couple of years. Low debt to capitalization. 4.2% dividend, 9 times earnings, so it is a cheap stock. Hard time moving to the mobile business. That has really hurt them. Also, increased competition in the server business. It is a restructuring story and they can’t get where they are going as quickly as they thought.

Senior management is going to moving on the middle of next year, so there is still room for this one to keep trailing. Prefers another chip manufacturer.

(Market Call Minute.) Not so great news coming out of Apple (AAPL-Q) in that they are going to switch some of their chips out. Breaking into new lows so not a stock he would be purchasing.

Almost totally exposed to the PC market. Unless you get a feeling that the company is successfully diversifying in a big way or that the PC market is coming back, don’t rush into this one. If you want exposure in the semiconductor market, he would get Taiwan semiconductor (TSM-N).

(A Top Pick May 3/12. Down 23.26%.) This was a pairs trade with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD-N). Sold this in mid-July and he thinks he was flat on the trade.