With the start of the new year, many gurus have appeared on CNBC and Bloomberg interviews recently to discuss the sectors and regions in which they see opportunities.
One sector that has struggled so far this year is technology, with the Nasdaq hitting its lowest levels since October 2014. Information technology stocks in particular led the declines, with the industry down about 3%.
Using GuruFocus’ All-in-One Screener, investors can search for the most widely-held tech stocks among the gurus to find possible investment ideas. Four of these popular guru stocks are listed below.
EMC has a 4.5-star business predictability rating from GuruFocus and is held by 22 gurus, or 15% of the investors GuruFocus follows. EMC provides information technology infrastructure that allows companies to store, analyze and secure information.
The stock declined 11% over the past year and trades at $24.72 as of Tuesday morning. Dodge & Cox is the largest guru shareholder with a 4.41% stake. For the third quarter, EMC reported a revenue increase of 1% year over year, with EPS of 25 cents. Annual EPS has increased steadily as shown in the graph below.
EMC carries $5.4 billion in long-term debt, which it took on in FY 2013. This is the highest level of debt the company has had over the past 15 years. The dividend yield is near the three-year high at 1.84%, with a 39% payout ratio.
Symantec Corp. (SYMC, Financial)
Symantec is held by 18 gurus, or 12.3% of investors GuruFocus follows. The stock has dropped 24% in the last year and may still be slightly overvalued according to the Peter Lynch earnings line.
Symantec provides security, backup and availability solutions to protect information. Dodge & Cox is the largest guru shareholder by a wide margin with a 12.95% stake, ahead of Richard Snow (Trades, Portfolio) with the second largest stake of 0.51%.
Net income for the second quarter of 2016 ended Oct. 2 declined 36% year over year, while diluted EPS declined 34% to 23 cents.
The dividend yield is close to the three-year high at 3.04%, and the payout ratio is 62%.
Avnet is held by 13 gurus; Richard Pzena (Trades, Portfolio) is the largest guru shareholder with a 4.29%. Avnet distributes electronic components, computer products and software.
Avnet’s stock price is down 9% over the past year and trades at just 9x earnings. For the first quarter of 2016, the company reported diluted EPS increased 9.8% year over year and net income increased 6.1%. In the year leading up to the first quarter, Avnet repurchased more than $290 million worth in shares.
The operating margin of almost 3% is slightly below the industry average, and has hovered at this level since 2010.
The company pays a dividend yield of 1.72%, which is close to the three-year high. The payout ratio is just 16%.
CA is held by 14 gurus, with the T Rowe Price Equity Income Fund (Trades, Portfolio) holding the largest stake of 0.79%. The stock has declined 18% in the past year and trades at 15x earnings.
CA develops software and services to help companies manage their IT infrastructures. GuruFocus rates the business predictability as 3 out of 5 stars. In the second quarter of 2016, however, CA reported EPS had declined 26% year over year to 39 cents, while revenue declined 7%. The graph below depicts annual EPS over time.
The dividend yield of 3.77% is close to the three-year high, and the payout ratio is 59%.
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