It’s been a brutal year for tech stocks, which means there may be opportunities for investors to scoop up some names at a good price. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is down 26% this year, compared to declines of 14% for the S & P 500 and 5% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. While experts are looking at a shift in market leadership, there are certain tech stocks that are attractive to some investors. “The things that you want to own to the extent that you are going to be investing in technology need to be those beaten-up names with real free cash flow support. There are big cap names trading at historical lows,” said Altimeter Capital Chair and CEO Brad Gerstner on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” Thursday. With that in mind, the “Halftime Report” traders gave their playbooks Friday. Meta Facebook-parent Meta is on Gilman Hill Asset Management CEO Jenny Harrington’s list. She pointed to the fact that the company is trading at 15.2 times earnings and has a 3.7% free-cash-flow yield. The stock is down nearly 64% year to date. CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently laid off 13% of his staff and said he will be focusing on his core business. “Just from a pure investment perspective, the numbers are compelling,” Harrington said. “If you believe that it’s a survivor and that revenues continue to grow mid- to high-single digits … it is hard not to like it as an investment, even if there is noise out there.” Cisco Jim Lebenthal, chief equity strategist at Cerity Partners, likes Cisco Systems for portfolio protection. “It generates cash. It buys back shares. It gives you a good dividend. It’s got a good business, but more than anything it’s got low volatility,” he said. Shares of Cisco are down nearly 22% so far this year. Microsoft For Jason Snipe, founder and chief investment officer of Odyssey Capital Advisors, Microsoft looks compelling, especially due to its commercial cloud business. While the company won’t see the enormous growth it saw during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is still a “double-digit” earner with growing free cash flow, he said. “There continues to be value and it will serve you well going forward,” Snipe said. Microsoft shares are down 24% in 2022. Stephen Weiss, chief investment officer at Short Hills Capital Partners, also likes Microsoft, as well as Apple. However, he’s holding off buying any shares right now as he expects the stock market to continue falling.
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