4 Top-Ranked Tech Stocks That Gained More Than 50% In Q1

There’s no looking back for the technology sector in spite of its latest market mayhem. Looking beyond scandals and mishaps, tech players continue to thrive on the growing adoption of cloud computing, cloud infrastructure build-out, networking innovations, corporate focus on security, the proliferation of wearables and increased automation on the factory floor. Use of other Internet of Things (IoT) at home, in office, for cars and every other conceivable place is also an incredible business driver.

What is Driving Technology Sector?

Factors fueling the technology sector are the emergence of cutting-edge technology such as cloud computing, big data, growing adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions, IoT, wearables, VR headsets, drones and virtual reality devices.

High demand for power-efficient as well as high performance chips, essential for running cloud-data centers and processing massive data by using Big Data analytics, machine learning and deep-learning tools has mainly behind the popularity of technology stocks.

Moreover, demand for sensors and software for autonomous vehicles, advanced driver assisted systems (ADAS), Augmented/Virtual reality devices (AR/VR) and Internet of Things (IoT) is escalating.

The lightning pace at which the 5G platform and technology are evolving is also worthy of mention. Additionally, growing incidents of cyber attack is anticipated to drive demand for cybersecurity software.

Recent Pain

However, of late, tech companies have been embroiled in disputes and struggles. Facebook’s (FB) data breach report sparked panic, spreading concerns about data privacy and security, resulting in increased scrutiny and possible regulatory pressure. The news took a toll not only the broader technology sector but the broad U.S. market as well.

Moreover, President Trump has been raising his voice against Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) . He has accused Amazon of not paying Internet taxes and causing loss of jobs in many cities and towns of the United States. Also, the company was penalised for paying the postal services a pittance for deliveries. Trump also claimed that Washington Post, which is owned by the CEO of Amazon, publishes fake news.

This was followed by a slew of negative news last week that again sent the sector into a tailspin, with FANG stocks being the biggest losers.

Screening the Stocks

If your faith in the technology sector is wavering with one bad news cropping upafter another, separate the wheat from the chaff to get the best investment options.

For this, we have taken the help of the Zacks Stock Screener to make our selection foolproof. To shortlist the stocks from the vast universe of tech companies, we have picked stocks that have gained more than 50% year to date. Further, these stocks carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) and flaunt a market cap of more than $1 billion. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Top Picks

Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFLY) manufactures and retails personalized products and services primarily in the United States, Canada and the European Community. The company has surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average positive surprise of 12.99%.

Shutterfly sports a Zacks Rank #1 and has a market cap of $2.6 billion. Based on the Zacks Consensus Estimate, we expect Shutterfly to finish 2018 with EPS growth of 99.1% and sales growth of 4.4%.

Shares of Shutterfly have gained 63.3% year to date, outperforming the 2.75% rally of the industry it belongs to.

Momo Inc. (NASDAQ:MOMO) is a mobile-based social networking platform operator. It has an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 17.3%.

Based on the Zacks Consensus Estimate, Momo is expected to finish the current year with EPS growth of 29.4% and sales growth of 38.1%. The stock sports a Zacks Rank #1 and has a market cap of $7.4 billion.

Shares of Momo have gained 52.7% year to date, in stark contrast to the industry’s decline of 1.09%.

Kingdee International Software Group Company Limited (OTC:KGDEY) manufactures and sells enterprise management software products and provision of software-related technical services primarily in China.

Based on the Zacks Consensus Estimate, Kingdee International is anticipated to finish 2018 with EPS growth of 78.7% and sales growth of 54.2%. On top of this, Kingdee International is a Zacks Rank #2 stock with a market cap of $2.5 billion.

Shares of Kingdee International have gained 87.4% year to date, substantially outperforming the 6.5% rally of the industry it belongs to.

Based in Japan, OBIC CO LTD OBIIF provides system integration services, system support services, office automation services and package software services.

OBIC CO carriesa Zacks Rank #2 and has a market cap of $8.1 billion. Based on the Zacks Consensus Estimate, we expect OBIC CO to finish fiscal 2019 with EPS growth of 5.2% and sales growth of 6.4%.

Shares of OBIC have gained 80.2% year to date, outperforming the 2.6% growth of the industry it belongs to.

Can Hackers Put Money INTO Your Portfolio?

Earlier this year, credit bureau Equifax (NYSE:EFX) announced a massive data breach affecting 2 out of every 3 Americans. The cybersecurity industry is expanding quickly in response to this and similar events. But some stocks are better investments than others.

Zacks has just released Cybersecurity! An Investor’s Guide to help Zacks.com readers make the most of the $170 billion per year investment opportunity created by hackers and other threats. It reveals 4 stocks worth looking into right away.

Download the new report now>>