The recent collapse in the share price of tech stocks has caused many to fear that the bubble has finally burst for the FAANGs. With this in mind, I was curious to understand whether indeed tech stocks are over-valued, and if the recent market slide might be a buying opportunity for me?
Looking beyond the popular consumer-focused companies, I set out to identify three listed technology stocks that manage to combine a mature business model and strong competitive market position.
Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) produces many of the “nuts and bolt” components that power our technology devices.
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Its share price currently sits some 15% below recent highs and the company has provided investors with stellar returns over the past five years.
This is no “newbie” company, though. Its heritage goes back to 1999, when Hewlett Packard chose to spin off its semi-conductor division as Agilent Technologies.
After more than 20 years of acquisitions and growth, Broadcom now generates annual revenues of around $27.5bn and has consistently increased both profits and margins in recent years. It is also pays out a regular dividend, which (at a yield of 2.8%) is not to be sniffed at in this sector.
Possible headwinds include continued supply chain issues and accusations of anti-competitive behaviour both in the EU and US.
However, I think that the market will shrug off these issues and, with estimated earnings of around $33 per share this year — at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 17.5 — Broadcom looks an attractive buy to me.
Another major player in the worldwide semi-conductor market, Dutch company ASML Holding (NASDAQ: ASML) was similarly affected by recent global supply chain issues, as well as a damaging fire to its Berlin manufacturing plant at the turn of the year.
These issues are likely to have a knock-on effect to the output of certain chip products that it supplies around the world – most notably where it holds a virtual monopoly in certain niche product areas.
The company has, however, put in place a plan to hire an additional 35,000 workers in 2022 in order to reverse its sales decline and to meet demand, which is running at up to 50% above current capacity.
These operational issues have led the market to hit the share price hard, and ASML now trades at around 25% below its 52-week high.
It will take some time for this company to restructure itself for the future, but I take comfort from the fact that it has good products that are in demand. On this basis, I am confident that ASML is a good bet for the long term and I will be adding some shares to my portfolio at $662.
The last of my three picks is chip maker Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM). This is a company that has powered the evolution of mobile devices and smart phones for many years now.
Over the last three years, Qualcomm has demonstrated impressive profits growth, while at the same time reducing its heavy debt burden. Interest rate rises will be a worry for the future but, at $166 per share, Qualcomm is trading well below most analysts’ expectations.
With a forecast P/E ratio of just over 14 times, I believe that this stock offers good value and has more to give.
