Here are three missed tech stocks of a fund manager with ‘mission critical’ products to weather any economic storm

By Barbara Kollmeyer

Critical information for US day trading.

Given an environment of rising interest rates, the Nasdaq Composite was hard to love last year, but its 22% decline seems to open up opportunities for some.

Tesla shares (TSLA) climbed premarket after UBS lifted the EV maker to buy, citing the opportunity by a 31% decline in shares this year.

That brings us to our call of the day, from Chul Chang, a manager at Vontobel’s US Equity Institutional Fund. He said investors were busy chasing companies capable of handling unexpected macro worries, they didn’t notice the gems with “mission -critical products” that were well armored for economic collapse.

“We’re looking for strong franchises that we think … can grow in their competition, grow in the market and get into positions where they will be stronger and bigger on the other side of any macro weakness,” he said. Chang told MarketWatch in an interview on Wednesday.

His fund holds staples such as Coca-Cola (KO), and top holding Microsoft (MSFT).

As for the diamonds in the dust, the manager highlights Synopsys (SNPS), a maker of software tools for electronic design automation. Investors are getting defensive posturing, a business with a predictive nature and good growth, Chang said.

“The reason why we know through a downside, through an upcycle, that [Synopsys] What will be solid is that they have the high recurring income that mission critical chip engineers need to do their jobs, ”he said.“ So it’s not a tool you’ll decide to cut because you think the next 12 months that the recession is near or rates will rise. ”

In 2008 and 2009 when the chip industry was shrinking, Synopsys saw flat revenue and delivered revenues, he said. Shares are down 12% this year.

He also likes ServiceNow (NOW), down 22% so far this year. The software company and its cloud computing platform are the “major players” that corporations use to systemize their workflows.

“It’s early innings when we’re talking about digital transformation, so a lot of growth comes from just share gains in one category,” he said. ServiceNow has expanded into operations, employee management and customer service management.

“So again, going back to the theme of being defensive in weak times, this is a company that we think continues to grow not just from the secular trends they see, but simply because of the subscription model and being defensive. of their profile., “he said.

Chang’s last choice was Keysight Technologies (KEYS), a leading measurement company with “the widest offerings of equipment for measuring electric signals or radio signals,” with growth also supported by trends. sector. Keysight is down 29% this year.

“In this case, 5G, but also what will 5G do for the Internet of Things, or AI or EVs,” he said, noting that Keysight tools are being used to test EV infrastructure, batteries, inverters, so there’s a lot of “rising use that’s just beginning.”

Keysight also sells manufacturing tools, which customers use as they make newer cars, products or smartphones. So those clients see Keysight’s tools as “mission critical” and “won’t be cheap about it,” making it a company “that can deliver, we think double-digit revenue growth in the longer term. weather, ”he said.

The buzz

Chinese EV maker NIO (NIO) fell in premarket trade as its second -quarter earnings guidance was lower than Wall Street estimates, even as it minimized its loss in the first quarter. Chinese ADRs were also forced following a report that the China Securities Regulatory Commission said it was not undertaking work to revive Ant Group’s initial public offering.

Twitter (TWTR) is reportedly going to offer Elon Musk a data-sharing agreement to settle Tesla chief’s (TSLA) doubts about bots on the social media site and get the $ 44 billion deal on taking.

The European Central Bank meeting is on tap, although few expect a move in rate increases until July as the bloc struggles with inflation that hit a record 8.1% year-over-year in May. Next week will bring meetings of the Fed, Bank of England and Bank of Japan.

Calendar data includes weekly unemployment claims and household net wealth counts for the next day.

Dutch and UK natural gas prices are rising after the explosion in Texas for a major liquified natural gas exporter, Freeport. The explosion will cause a shutdown for at least three weeks.

The Shanghai district of Minhang (pop. 2 million) is under strict lockdown and will undergo mass test due to a COVID outbreak. “Markets are naive in pricing because the easing of restrictions in Beijing and Shanghai is the final victory against omicron, and thus, the highest covid-zero,” said Jeffery Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA.

The markets

Stock futures are rising, while bond yields are returning. Oil prices are climbing to $ 121 per barrel, the dollar and gold are slipping, while bitcoin is holding at the $ 30,000 level.

Read: Oil prices could be ‘parabolic’, put the global economy in ‘critical situation,’ says head of commodity trading giant

The tickers

These are the top traded tickers on MarketWatch starting 6 am Eastern Time:

Ticker  Security name 
TSLA    Tesla 
GME     GameStop 
AMC     AMC Entertainment 
NIO     NIO 
BABA    Alibaba 
AMZN    Amazon 
AAPL    Apple 
RDBX    Redbox Entertainment 
MULN    Mullen Automotive 

The chart

Our chart of the day is from Michael Cembalest, chairman of market and investment strategy at JP Morgan Asset Management, who lays out trends in energy transfer. He included a chart showing how disruption has been slower over the past 20 years in some parts of the economy than others. For example, everyone seems to have a smartphone, but fewer people than you think own an electric vehicle.

Random reading

American tourists were fined after throwing a scooter down the stairs of a UNESCO World Heritage site in Rome, causing $ 26,000 in damage.

Late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel told President Biden that “he needs to start shouting at people.”

The Tik Tok trend combines sparkling water and balsamic vinegar for the hottest, healthiest new Coke of the summer

The Need to Know starts early and is updated until the bell rings, but sign up here to have it delivered once to your email box. The emailed version will be sent at about 7:30 am Eastern.

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-Barbara Kollmeyer

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

06-09-22 0716ET

Copyright (c) 2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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