Free Trial

3 Stocks With Solid EPS Estimates & Charts For The Tech Rebound

tech stock to watch

Key Points

  • Tech was the best-performing sector in Q1, and companies including Workday, Cadence Design and Fortinet are setting up for more gains. 
  • Workday broke out of a flat base on March 29.
  • Cadence is active in the growing market for chiplets. Analysts see double-digit earnings growth. 
  • Fortinet has been in rally mode recently, and its next earnings report may be a catalyst for a big price move. 
  • 5 stocks we like better than Workday.

Anyone whose market view is stuck in 2022 should take notice: The tech sector emerged as the big winner in the first quarter, with some of the biggest S&P 500 stocks, including Apple Inc. NASDAQ: AAPL, Microsoft Corp., NASDAQ: MSFT, Nvidia Corp. NASDAQ: NVDA and Salesforce Inc. NYSE: CRM gaining in market capitalization. 

But less well-known stocks Workday Inc. NASDAQ: WDAY, Cadence Design Systems Inc. NASDAQ: CDNS and Fortinet Inc. NASDAQ: FTNT also made gains in the quarter and are setting up bullish consolidations. 

The S&P sector, as tracked by the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund NYSEARCA: XLK, was the top sector in the first quarter, returning 21.35% in the past three months. 

Other heavily weighted sector components Meta Platforms Inc. NASDAQ: META, Amazon.com Inc. NASDAQ: AMZN and Alphabet Inc. NASDAQ: GOOGL were also among the top performers, with big gains in market cap.

But when it comes to screening for potential buys, the biggest names aren’t necessarily the first ones to add. Several of those stocks are showing the right combination of sales, earnings and price momentum to qualify as watch list candidates. 

Here are three stocks setting up for gains as the second quarter gets underway. 

Workday

Workday’s cloud-based enterprise resource planning software helps businesses manage their human resources and financial processes. It streamlines HR functions such as employee management, payroll, benefits administration, talent management, and workforce planning. Workday can also handle financial processes like accounting, procurement, and expense management. 

Earnings growth slowed in fiscal 2023, but rebounded in the most recent quarter. Revenue growth has held steady, ranging between 15% and 22% in the past eight quarters. The stock returned 23.43% in the first quarter, and a look at its chart shows a breakout from a flat base on March 29. The stock is just out of buy range, but a pullback to a moving average could offer a new buy opportunity. 

Wall Street expects the company to grow earnings by 40% this year, which is fiscal 2024, and by 22% next year. 

Cadence Design

San Jose, California-based chip design specialist Cadence is etching out a specialty in the growing area of chiplets. That’s a design approach in which a single electronic system is broken down into smaller, independent parts. These chiplets can be designed and manufactured separately, using different semiconductor technologies and then assembled to create a larger, more complex system-on-chip. This approach offers increased flexibility, reduced development time, and lower costs, as well as the ability to mix and match different chiplets for specific applications.

Cadence has a multi-year history of increasing earnings, as you can see, using MarketBeat data on the stock. Analysts expect the company to increase earnings by 16% this year, and by the same percentage in 2024. 

Cadence’s chart reflects a February 14 breakout from a cup-shaped pattern. The stock rallied 8.89% in the past month and 30.78% in the first quarter. It’s currently in buy range after pulling back and getting 50-day support on March 28. 

Fortinet

Fortinet provides network security solutions to protect against cyber threats and attacks. Its solutions include firewalls, VPNs, email security, and endpoint protection. Its offerings are designed to provide comprehensive security across the entire network, from endpoints to the cloud, helping its customers protect their data and prevent security breaches.

So it’s pretty clear how that business model might be in high demand in the foreseeable future.

The company has been consolidating since January 2022, but has been in rally mode recently, advancing 11.81% in the past month and 35.94% in the past quarter.

If you expand the view on Fortinet’s chart to include late 2021, you can see that it rallied to a peak in December of that year, and has been consolidating since. Watch for the stock to clear its current buy point north of $74.35. Its next earnings report, in early May, could be a catalyst for a big price move. Analysts expect the company to earn $0.22 per share on revenue of $1.20 billion. 

Should you invest $1,000 in Workday right now?

Before you consider Workday, you'll want to hear this.

MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Workday wasn't on the list.

While Workday currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.

View The Five Stocks Here

20 Stocks to Sell Now Cover

MarketBeat has just released its list of 20 stocks that Wall Street analysts hate. These companies may appear to have good fundamentals, but top analysts smell something seriously rotten. Are any of these companies lurking around your portfolio? Find out by clicking the link below.

Get This Free Report
Kate Stalter
About The Author

Kate Stalter

Contributing Author

Retirement, Asset Allocation, and Tax Strategies

Like this article? Share it with a colleague.

Companies Mentioned in This Article

CompanyMarketRank™Current PricePrice ChangeDividend YieldP/E RatioConsensus RatingConsensus Price Target
Workday (WDAY)
4.9473 of 5 stars
$242.35+0.6%N/A43.67Moderate Buy$287.04
Cadence Design Systems (CDNS)
4.7998 of 5 stars
$268.65+1.1%N/A69.96Moderate Buy$323.60
Fortinet (FTNT)
4.1752 of 5 stars
$78.01+1.3%N/A50.99Hold$71.57
Apple (AAPL)
4.5496 of 5 stars
$226.80+0.5%0.44%35.27Moderate Buy$238.76
Microsoft (MSFT)
4.948 of 5 stars
$416.06-0.1%0.80%36.02Moderate Buy$493.94
NVIDIA (NVDA)
4.8862 of 5 stars
$124.92+1.7%0.03%73.05Moderate Buy$142.10
Salesforce (CRM)
4.6196 of 5 stars
$287.75+2.4%0.56%51.75Moderate Buy$310.74
Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK)N/A$225.29+1.1%0.57%36.81HoldN/A
Meta Platforms (META)
3.9793 of 5 stars
$595.94+2.3%0.34%34.23Moderate Buy$598.08
Amazon.com (AMZN)
4.9182 of 5 stars
$186.51+2.5%0.11%52.24Buy$223.65
Alphabet (GOOGL)
4.1848 of 5 stars
$167.06+0.7%0.48%25.62Moderate Buy$201.14
Compare These Stocks  Add These Stocks to My Watchlist 


Featured Articles and Offers

Recent Videos

Broadcom’s Momentum Returns: Will It Reach New Highs?
Toyota’s Big Bet on Joby: Will Air Taxis Revolutionize Travel by 2025?
UnitedHealth Group: A Healthcare Giant with Strong Dividends

Stock Lists

All Stock Lists

Investing Tools

Calendars and Tools

Search Headlines