Technology stocks have held up relatively well, especially the blue chip companies. I think this sector's performance will be scattered all over the board, some companies will do well while others will suffer for a prolonged period of time. So, it's a good sector to sift through, but you have to carefully assess how the overall economic conditions may influence your picks' earning power.
Orange line in the chart below shows how my Technology Fund has performed relative to the m100 (a collective Marketocracy fund that uses picks from the top 100 members), S&P 500, Dow Jones Index, and Nasdaq.
Below is this fund's ranking:
As you can see, this fund is currently stuck in the middle-of-the-pack performance group, which is not a terrible place to be, but not where I'd like to be either. I expect a stronger relative performance from this fund in the coming quarters as I will make an effort to manage it more actively.
Here is a list of all the stocks currently in the fund and how they've performed up to this point:
I have not changed the picks much - turnover is only 15% since the fund's inception. I plan to shuffle around a good number of these holdings in the upcoming two quarters though. Below are brief profiles of these stocks. I intend to post more details and expectations for this fund's holdings as well as for my other funds.
Accenture (ACN) - With 170,000 employees in 150 offices and 49 countries worldwide, Accenture is a leading provider of IT consulting and outsourcing services to Fortune 100 companies and governments around the globe. About 40% of revenues come from North America. Consulting contributes 60% of total revenue. The firm's business is broadly divided into five operating groups: communications and high-tech, financial services, products, resources, and government. (Source: Morningstar)
Applied Materials (AMAT) - World's largest supplier of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The firm's systems are used in the chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, and electroplating steps of the chip-fabrication process. Applied also supplies etching, chemical mechanical polishing, and wafer- and reticle-inspection systems, as well as critical-dimension measurement and defect-inspection scanning electron microscopes. (Source: Morningstar)
Quality Systems (QSII) - Markets information-processing systems to medical and dental group practices, as well as to physician hospital organizations and health maintenance organizations. Its systems are used to manage medical records, treatment planning, appointment scheduling, third-party reimbursement, insurance claims, and other functions. The company also provides hardware and software maintenance and support services. (Source: Morningstar)
Cisco (CSCO) - World's leading supplier of data networking equipment and software. Its products include routers, switches, access equipment, and network-management software that allow data communication among dispersed computer networks. The firm has also entered newer markets, such as home networking, security devices, storage technology, and Internet-based telephony. Services account for about 16% of sales. (Source: Morningstar)
QLogic (QLGC) - Supplies a wide range of components and subsystems for computer storage networks. Customers include OEMs, value-added resellers, and systems integrators. The company focuses on engineering and product design and outsources manufacturing. Primary competitors include Emulex, Cisco, and Brocade. QLogic's top 10 customers account for 85% of revenue, with Hewlett-Packard constituting 20%. (Source: Morningstar)
EMC (EMC) - Leading provider of hardware, software, and services for enterprise network storage. Historically focused on proprietary storage hardware, the company has recently increased its focus on its software and services segments, which now account for more than 50% of revenue. EMC also owns approximately 85% of VMware, a leading provider of virtualization software. (Source: Morningstar)
SimpleTech (STEC) - Provides standard and custom computer-memory products. The company manufactures tools that connect memory cards and hard-drive upgrade kits to personal computers. Applications include desktop and notebook computers, servers, routers, switches, digital cameras, digital video recorders, digital audio players, personal digital assistants, and medical instruments. These systems are based on dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), and Flash memory technologies. Customers include Unisys and Cisco. (Source: Morningstar)
F5 Networks (FFIV) - Provides products that help manage growing network traffic, application complexity, and security concerns. F5's customer base has evolved from an initial focus on Internet service providers, Web hosters, and e-commerce sites to a current emphasis on the corporate IT market. Customers include Deutsche Telekom, Citigroup, eBay, General Electric, and General Motors. (Source: Morningstar)
SK Telecom (SKM) - Largest mobile-phone operator in South Korea, with more than 22.3 million customers (50.5% market share). SK also provides wireless services through joint ventures and subsidiaries in the United States, Vietnam, China, and Mongolia. SK also owns approximately 44% of Hanaro Telecom, the country's second-largest fixed-line operator. SK Group, Korea's third-largest conglomerate, owns approximately a quarter of SK Telecom. (Source: Morningstar)
Diebold (DBD) - Builds, sells, and services ATMs, security products and systems, and computerized voting machines. Two thirds of Diebold's revenue comes from the sale and service of ATMs, split about equally between the two. Most of its remaining sales come from security offerings and election systems. (Source: Morningstar)
WNS (WNS) - One of the leading end-to-end providers of outsourced business process outsourcing services to clients in the United States and the United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1996 as an in-house BPO unit of British Airways and started serving third-party clients in fiscal 2003. The company's largest offerings are in the travel (37% of revenue) and financial (39% of revenue) industries. WNS has about 22,000 employees, with almost its entire workforce located in India. (Source: Morningstar)
Maxim Integrated Products (MXIM) - Makes high-performance analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits. The company offers a wide range of products serving a host of analog-intensive applications, including power management and data conversion. Maxim supplies its diverse array of about 5,000 circuits to a broad base of customers in end markets including communications, computing, industrial, and consumers. Roughly 70% of the firm's sales are based outside the U.S. (Source: Morningstar)
Corning (GLW) - Leading designer and manufacturing of glass and ceramic substrates found in liquid crystal displays, fiber-optic cables, automobiles, and laboratory products. The company has five primary divisions--display technologies, telecommunications, environmental technologies, specialty materials, and life sciences--but most of its revenues stem from its display technologies and telecommunications segments, which generated about 45% and 30% of sales, respectively. (Source: Morningstar)
Siemens (SI) - A diversified global manufacturer operating in three sectors; industry, energy, and healthcare. About 54% of revenue comes from the industrial segment, which features Siemens automation and drive technologies. Within the energy segment, Siemens produces turbines used in a variety of power plant applications. (Source: Morningstar)
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