Bourgeon Capital Is All Over These Tech Stocks

#3 Palo Alto Networks Inc (NYSE:PANW)

– Shares Owned by Bourgeon Capital (as of September 30): 30,751

– Value of the Holding (as of September 30): $4.9 million

Moving on, Bourgeon Capital lowered its stake in Palo Alto Networks Inc (NYSE:PANW) by 6% during the July-to-September period. Shares of the cybersecurity giant have had a rough ride this year, losing 13.5% of their value. Nevertheless, most analysts who track the stock continue to remain bullish on it, citing the company’s profitability, growth, and returns on assets (ROA), which they think is much better than its peers. According to them, the stock is trading at reasonable valuations and all the company needs to do is maintain its ROA for the stock to see meaningful upside going forward. On September 19, analysts at Imperial Capital reiterated their ‘Outperform’ rating and $190 price target on the stock, which represents potential upside of 25%.

#2 Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)

– Shares Owned by Bourgeon Capital (as of September 30): 6,638

– Value of the Holding (as of September 30): $5.34 million

Amid an over 12% rise in Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock during the third-quarter, Bourgeon Capital upped its holding in the company by 5%. Last month, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock crossed the $800 barrier for the first time and hit its lifetime high of $816.68. Though the stock has declined considerably since the company reported its third-quarter results on October 27, it is still trading up by 3.12% year-to-date. For its third-quarter, Alphabet reported much better-than-expected numbers, with revenue from advertising registering a growth of 18% year-over-year, driven by a 23% rise in revenue from Google’s operations. Other highlights from the earnings release included a 40% quarter-over-quarter increase in revenue from the ‘Other Bets’ segment, whose losses for the quarter stood at $865 million, considerably lower than the $980 million that Alphabet had reported for the segment in the prior quarter. Apart from its financial results, the company also announced that its Board has authorized the repurchase of up to $7 billion of its Class C stock.

#1 Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

– Shares Owned by Bourgeon Capital (as of September 30): 170,000

– Value of the Holding (as of September 30): $5.39 million

Despite Bourgeon Capital lowering its holding in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 6% during the third-quarter, the company remained its top stock pick at the end of that period. Shares of the networking giant have performed amazingly well this year, rising by 14%, especially when one takes into account the beating they took at the start of 2016. In spite of this impressive rally, the stock still sports an attractive annual dividend yield of 3.35%. Most analysts expect the company to return capital to shareholders at a healthy rate going forward, due to its healthy balance sheet and strong cash flow generation. The 34 leading analysts and research firms on the Street who track the stock currently have an average rating of ‘Overweight’ on it with an average price target of $32.85, signifying upside potential of 6%.

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