Intel

It is a bit of a laggard. He thinks it rallies from here and makes a new high. The sector is positive. It outperformed in 2014 and that was important, but now it is underperforming. If the index is going to go higher, then money has to go into this stock as it is a big component of the index.

Great company, a pioneer of the Internet. Gets fairly seen as a one trick pony. Prefers QCOM-O. But INTC-O is not a bad company.

They had some hiccups here. He keeps hearing there are positive announcements coming up this fall. There might be some good fundamental stuff coming out. We are past the technology period of seasonal strength. He would hold off on purchasing it until it proves itself. Look at it later in the year.

(Top Pick Mar 26/14, Up 37.19%) They are coming out with new products. This is old tech but it has been really good to him. His model price is $54.26, or a 60% upside. It has a 2.81% yield. He has a 35% weight in old tech.

This is a similar situation to Microsoft (MSFT-N) in that they are a very large company and generate a fair bit of cash, but there is really not a lot of traction. Although PCs have had a bit of resurgence, long term he doesn’t think much has changed in terms of predictions that it will be a falling situation.

The period of seasonal strength for technology is predominantly from October through to the middle of January. However, you can see a bit of a pickup in technology from around April through to July. This is where you would want to look to make your entry point. From now into mid April, technology tends to do rather poorly. It doesn’t necessarily go negative, but tends to underperform the market. The better time to invest is more towards April to June, and ideally, from October to January.

Peaks around this time of year. January until spring it underperforms. It is a good time to take profits and move to sectors that do well this time of year.

Coming out with more chip products. 40% model price differential. 30-40% upside. 2.6% yield.

A very, very good business. Free cash flow generation is very strong and the computer cycle was better than anticipated in 2014. Thinks it will be a sound business still in 2015. A great alternative for people looking for fixed income. It will be challenged to grow going forward however.

The undisputed leader in semiconductors. Many would say they are 3 years ahead of their competition when it comes to manufacturing technology, and they are accelerating their pace of innovation. Somewhat economically sensitive. Dominant in data centres, which has rapidly growing revenues. PC market seems to be stabilizing. Will probably grow 10%-12% a year going forward. They’re returning cash to shareholders by buying back shares and raising their dividend. It will grow its dividend at 15% per year. Yield of 2.64%.

Largest chip manufacturer globally. Has always tended to have cyclical earnings. Earnings have had a very nice run. Wouldn't want to be buying it here because if you look at the last 20 years, earnings can move up and down very significantly. You need to buy this when the gross margins are dropping a bit and earnings are down sharply. This will happen as it does in every cycle.

(A Top Pick Oct 8/13. Up 60.79%.) Hit his target so he sold his holdings at around $27-$28. We do have a good PC upgrade cycle and they do seem to be doing things well in the mobile market, but there are rumours that they are paying people to use their chips.

(A Top Pick Sept 6/13. Up 50.73%.) He liked it because people were overly pessimistic. It was paying a good dividend. Financially strong. They are fixing the problem now. It is a lower margin product. Got to a level that he thought was pretty reasonable, and he Sold his holdings.

This is a stock that has broken out from a long-term trend. Had fallen into the category of old tech. This one is up over 30% year to date. Not overly cheap. Trading at a forward PE multiple of over 16X. Had a big run, so wouldn’t run after it here. If you own, consider taking some profits.

Great company. Generates a lot of free cash flow. Thinks there are better technology names out there for his clients. 2.6% dividend yield. Prefers Qualcomm (QCOM-Q).

They have resources. They used to be the leader in the PC market. They have a $12 billion capital expenditure budget. It is one to keep an eye on.

Close to the target price of the general consensus of $27-$28. Had a nice little bounce off the bottom. 62% of revenues are from the PC market, which is going through a sector decline right now. As economies and corporate profits improve, they are going to have to go through a normal PC replacement cycle. One short-term catalyst that is working in their favour is where Windows XP has stopped being supported, and there are still about 27% PCs being run on that, so you might see a natural upgrade cycle. Not cheap at 14X forward earnings, and earnings growth is mid-single digit. If you own, consider taking some profits.

Huge value in these names. Maybe we get a normal market where money actually stays in the market, but it rotates through value. Model price is $37.73, a 50% upside to its current price. 3.4% dividend yield.

Recently sold his holdings. They came out with some pretty disappointing guidance. Thinks they will turn the corner here. They are investing a huge amount of money in research and development. They are investing more money every year than what their major competitor ARM Holding (ARMH-Q) is worth. PC shipment business has been tough. Having some difficulty in the new lines of business. They have been expanding into. Likes the 3.7% dividend which he feels is secure. Good balance sheet. Feels their movement into chips for the cell phone business will be successful but is a lower margin business.

(Market Call Minute.) It might have some promise. Spending a lot of money. They’re a big company and have a big CapX program but are not really growing their revenues.

His model price for today is $36, a 51% upside. A year from now it is almost $40. Lots of upside. Yield of 3.77%. The trouble with all of these large-cap techs is that they have a lot of value, but are just sitting there.

Not positioned for mobile because their chips use too much energy. They are moving to better chips to compete with ARM. There is this big battle going on and it will pressure prices for a while. Their margins will come under pressure. They can probably continue with their dividend but growth will come under pressure.

Have some headwinds in that they were the PC chip set leader and that market is shrinking in favour of other technologies. They have the size and scale that they can reinvent themselves, so don’t dismiss them, but do wait until they reinvent themselves. Pass for now.

Good dividend yield. Spends $14 billion a year in research, development. Growing out new product lines. Missed the mobile phone market but is there now. Feels that investors are far too pessimistic about this company.

Not a fan. This is a tech company that is in denial of their growth prospects. They are the gorilla of market share but have nowhere to go because there is no real growth in core PCs.

Street was negative on this because they largely don’t have leverage to the mobile market. They missed this completely. Hands-down they are the best chip maker out there. Lost direction when they missed the mobile market. Thinks the stock will continue to work because they will gain market share over time. If they can take 1% of market share per year over the next several years, it is a positive trajectory for them. It is now starting to gain leverage to the mobile market and he likes that the chips are the best chips available. His bias is positive on the stock.

Growth has been very sluggish and is being replaced by tablets, etc. Have a new chip coming out and that may be a catalyst. They have 80%+ share and it’s difficult for them to grow in an environment where the economy has been slow and the market for PCs and laptops has been really negative.

It is controversial but he would buy it today. Thinks they will regain market share. They ARE the PC business. There is not a lot of market share to lose in that area. At some point PC sales will stabilize. They have a rich dividend. Don’t count them out yet. There are better places to be, but he would hold it.

His 3 picks today are all technology related. He is seeing earnings and revenue growth over time and a global move towards more mobile telephony technology. This company is trading at around 12X earnings with a 3.96 % yield. Spends $14 billion a year in research and development. Expecting they will come out with an innovative solution in new chips.

He is pretty positive on the entire technology space, specifically in the US. This one has great dividends so you are paid to wait. Had a bit of a rough go over the last little while because of competition. They were a little bit late moving into the mobile space. They plow a ton of money back into R&D and they are the dominant player. Good price.