This may be a short trading week on Wall Street (the markets are closed on Thanksgiving Thursday and close at 1 p.m. EST on Friday), but that didn’t stop the NASDAQ from breaking through 4,000 for the first time in 13 years. The fact is that this was a big day for tech stocks.
Shares of tech behemoths Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) trended higher. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt announced today that the company has tightened security measures at its data centers. Meanwhile, Apple shares climbed in the wake of the company’s buyout of PrimeSense, a motion sensor company that helped develop Microsoft’s (MSFT) Kinect. It appears that while Google is empowering users to hide their movements on the internet, Apple Inc. is buying technology that watches users move. When you plug both stocks in my Portfolio Grader screening tool, GOOG is a C-rated hold while AAPL is a D-rated sell.
China’s Qihoo 360 Technology (QIHU) also made headlines today after its third-quarter earnings announcement. Net income more than tripled to $44.5 million, and revenues more than doubled to $187.9 million. Adjusted EPS beat the consensus estimate by $0.10, or 27%. Even so, shares fell after Stifel Research (SF) downgraded the stock to hold (despite the fact that Morgan Stanley raised its target price for QIHU to $95.30). As for me, I’m with Morgan Stanley (MS) on this and consider QIHU a strong buy.
When it comes to the tech sector, there are new developments by the minute. Processing power effectively doubles every few years and every year brings a slew of new startups, apps, software and hardware to replace last year’s innovations. With stakes these high, it’s no wonder that tech stocks are among the fastest to get upgraded (and downgraded) in my screening tool.
So today I’ve compiled up a fresh list of technology stocks that you’ll want to avoid in the coming weeks. These 44 companies may be innovators in their respective fields, but when it comes to keeping shareholders happy, they’re lacking. Take a moment to review the list and note whether you currently hold any of these stocks. If you do, you may want to find a good time to exit your position.
| Symbol | Company Name | Market Cap (Billions) | Quantitative Grade | Fundamental Grade | Total Grade |
| AAPL | Apple Inc. | $467.4 | D | B | D |
| ACN | Accenture Plc | $49.5 | D | C | D |
| AKAM | Akamai Technologies, Inc. | $7.9 | D | B | D |
| ALTR | Altera Corporation | $10.4 | F | C | D |
| AMX | America Movil SAB de CV Class L | $83.7 | F | B | D |
| ARMH | ARM Holdings plc | $22.5 | D | C | D |
| BCE | BCE Inc. | $34.4 | D | C | D |
| BRCM | Broadcom Corporation | $15.0 | F | C | F |
| CAJ | Canon Inc. | $37.0 | F | C | D |
| CCI | Crown Castle International Corp. | $21.7 | D | C | D |
| CHA | China Telecom Corp. Ltd. Class H | $43.2 | F | B | D |
| CHL | China Mobile Limited | $210.1 | F | B | D |
| CHT | Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd | $23.9 | F | B | D |
| CSCO | Cisco Systems, Inc. | $114.8 | D | C | D |
| CTL | CenturyLink, Inc. | $18.2 | F | D | F |
| CTXS | Citrix Systems, Inc. | $11.0 | F | C | D |
| EBAY | eBay Inc. | $65.1 | F | B | D |
| EMC | EMC Corporation | $49.6 | F | C | F |
| EQIX | Equinix, Inc. | $8.0 | F | C | D |
| FFIV | F5 Networks, Inc. | $6.5 | F | C | D |
| IBM | International Business Machines Corporation | $196.9 | F | C | D |
| JNPR | Juniper Networks, Inc. | $10.4 | D | B | D |
| KT | KT Corporation | $7.6 | F | D | F |
| LLTC | Linear Technology Corporation | $9.9 | D | C | D |
| LPL | LG Display Co., Ltd | $8.0 | F | C | F |
| MXIM | Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. | $8.0 | F | C | F |
| NUAN | Nuance Communications, Inc. | $5.1 | F | D | D |
| NVDA | NVIDIA Corporation | $8.6 | D | C | D |
| ORCL | Oracle Corporation | $159.1 | F | B | D |
| PHI | Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. | $13.3 | F | C | D |
| QCOM | QUALCOMM Incorporated | $122.9 | D | B | D |
| RAX | Rackspace Hosting, Inc. | $5.4 | F | D | F |
| RHT | Red Hat, Inc. | $8.9 | F | B | D |
| SAP | SAP AG | $98.1 | F | B | D |
| SNPS | Synopsys, Inc. | $5.6 | D | C | D |
| STM | STMicroelectronics NV | $7.0 | D | C | D |
| T | AT&T Inc. | $187.0 | F | C | D |
| TDC | Teradata Corporation | $7.4 | F | C | F |
| TI | Telecom Italia S.p.A. | $17.8 | D | D | D |
| TKC | Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. | $13.4 | D | C | D |
| TLK | PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Persero) Tbk | $18.0 | F | C | D |
| TSM | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. | $88.8 | D | C | D |
| VIV | Telefonica Brasil S.A. Pfd | $14.5 | F | C | D |
| VMW | Vmware, Inc. | $35.0 | F | B | D |
