High-Tech Stocks Gurus Love to Buy

These mostly large-cap stocks have brought wealth to many investors

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Aug 03, 2018
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In a long-standing bull market, a handful of tech stocks stand out. Most often, these are the stocks that investment gurus love to include in their portfolios because they are consistent growth and revenue earners.

GuruFocus industry overview pages demonstrates a tech world that is vast and complicated. It includes a myriad of companies from different areas of the market, including internet technology, software applications, hardware, gaming, data storage, electronics and semiconductors. The world of online media is also part of the technology space, making up about 24%.

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As many as 10 gurus have invested in some of these top-performers, which have outpaced the S&P 500 in providing returns. GuruFocus makes it easy for you to identify these popular stocks with its All-In-One-Screener. The screener allows you to identify companies based on a never-ending assortment of characteristics, including price-earnings ratios, cash-to-debt and dozens of other metrics.

Among the wide-reaching tech industry, four mostly mid- to large-cap stocks have attracted a large number of gurus. Of the four equities, the most popular tech in the early months of the year included the world’s leading Chinese-language Internet search engine, Baidu Inc. (BIDU, Financial).

On Friday, Baidu shares rose 2.17% in trading to more than $235 a share. Baidu drew a total of 10 gurus to its stock, recent filings showed.

Infosys Ltd. (INFY, Financial) was also a favorite, GuruFocus showed. The company engages in consulting, technology, outsourcing and next-generation services.

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (CY), whose high-tech brand drew gurus, is another popular pick. The company delivers various high-performance, mixed-signal programmable solutions. Shares were down 1.21% in trading on Friday afternoon. The stock stood at over $17.67 a share.

And then there’s Platronics Inc. (PLT, Financial), a manufacturer of communication headsets for contact centers, gaming and other applications. The stock was slightly down 0.01% in trading at market close. It stood at just under $69 a share.

Also, check out the following mostly larger-cap stocks that are favored by gurus: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM, Financial), NCR Corp. (NCR, Financial), Marvell Technology Group (MRVL, Financial), Dell-VMWare (DVMT, Financial), Littlefuse Inc. (LFUS, Financial), IAC/InterActive (IAC, Financial), CSG Systems International (CSGS, Financial), MicroStrategy Inc. (MSTR), Acuity Brands (AYI), Novanta (NOVT), Netgear (NTGR), Belden Inc. (BDC), Diodes Inc. (DIOD), MTS Systems (MTSC), Arrow Electronics (ARW) and Vishay Intertechnology (VSH).

Baidu Inc.

Of a total of 10 guru shareholders, Dodge & Cox held the most shares with 3.7 million shares, or about 1% of total shares. The company has 348 million shares outstanding. The investment has gained an estimated 45% for the firm since the position was initiated in the second quarter of 2013. At the time, shares sold for $82 apiece.

Other guru shareholders included Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio), Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Lee Ainslie (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Romick (Trades, Portfolio), David Herro (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio) and the Tweedy Browne (Trades, Portfolio) Global Value Fund.

The company has a three-star business predictability rating based on GuruFocus’ evaluator of stocks. The rating indicates a stock that has jumped an average 8.2% a year. It does not pay a dividend.

It also is a compelling performer in revenue and earnings. Baidu produced revenue growth of an annual 49% over the last decade. Its earnings were 48% on average each year over the last decade.

Baidu is trading at 23.13 times price-earnings, which is higher than 50% of its peers in the Global Internet Content & Information Industry.

Its price-book ratio is 4.66 times, which is lower than 63% of its peers, and its price-sales ratio is 6.11 times, which is lower than 79% of its peers.

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It has a market cap of $81 billion and GuruFocus ranked it 6 out of 10 in financial strength and 8 of 10 in profitability and growth.

Infosys Inc.

A total of six guru shareholders owned Infosys stock. Its top holder is Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio) with about 21.6 million shares of the company, or about 0.99% of total shares. The company has more than 2.1 billion shares outstanding and has a market cap of $43 billion.

Infosys offers software re-engineering maintenance, systems integration, package evaluation and implementation and infrastructure management services. Infosys traded on Friday at $20.50 a share, up 0.56%. The stock traded below the GuruFocus price median-sales chart that showed its historical value at $31 a share. Year to date, the stock has increased 26%. Over the last year, it jumped 31%.

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It is trading at 19 times price-earnings, which is higher than 76% of the Global IT Services Industry. It reported 19.23 times forward price-earnings, which is higher than 77% of its peers. Its price-book ratio is 4.58 and its price-sales ratio is 4.37. Both ratios are at least 60% lower than peers.

GuruFocus ranked the company 9 out of 10 in financial strength and 7 of 10 in profitability and growth. It has been a steady revenue earner for many years. Revenues topped $10.2 billion this year.

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Cypress Semiconductor Corp.

California-based Cypress has grabbed the interest of a handful of guru investors. But its largest guru shareholder is Gabelli, who sits on more than 1.8 million shares. The company with a market cap of $6 billion has more than 361 million shares outstanding. Other guru shareholders include Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio), George Soros (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio)' Renaissance Technologies and Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio).

On Friday, shares of the chipmaker, at $16.67 a share, down 0.73%, sold above historical value based on the GuruFocus median price-sales chart. The historical value of the company stood at $3.20 per share. Shares are up 26% in trading over the last year. Shares are up 11% year to date.

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In earnings, it has been closing the gap of losses over the past several years. The company also was embroiled in controversy involving its board of directors just last year.

The company has issued more than $300 million in debt over the last three years. GuruFocus also found another warning sign, a decline of -7.1% a year in gross margins over several years.

It provided a dividend yield of 2.39%.

GuruFocus ranks it 6 out of 10 in financial strength and profitability and growth.

Plantronics Inc.

The largest shareholder is Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss, which is based in Dallas. The firm held about 85,000 shares. A total of 39 million shares are outstanding. Other guru shareholders include Greenblatt, Gabelli, Simons, Pioneer Investments and Royce.

The stock closed at almost $69, down 0.1%, a share in Friday trading. The GuruFocus median price-sales chart showed it sold above its historical value. The current share price is an increase of 54% over the last year.

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It has a price-book ratio of 6.5 and a price-sales ratio of 2.62 times. The price-book ratio is lower than 84% of its peers while the price-sales ratio is lower than 64% of its peers.

Plantronics carried a 2.5-star business predictability ranking from GuruFocus. That ranking is dedicated to stocks of companies that grow, on average, 7.3% a year. The company reported earnings growth of 8.3% a year over the last decade. It reported a growth in revenue of 7.3% a year. It has seen a loss in profits over the last 12 months, however.

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It has a market cap of $2.73 billion. GuruFocus ranks it 6 out of 10 in financial strength and 7 of 10 in profitability and growth.