Tech stocks continue to make headlines. Often, this is due to the competitive race to get new products on the market. Sometimes, it is due to the spectacular rise—or spectacular fall—of a tech stock’s share price. But successful investors look beyond the headlines, to a company’s measurable strengths and weaknesses, to judge its long-term prospects, as we do today with …read more »

Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on specific stocks and other investing topics from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on a selection of the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And every Friday, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions.

This …read more »

On Friday, in response to a question from a member of my Inner Circle, I talked about Cisco Systems and the challenges technology stocks face in a highly competitive industry. (View the article: Technology stocks: Cisco Systems strives to maintain its leadership in cutting-edge technology.)

Today I’d like to follow up by discussing the risks and rewards investors can expect with …read more »

Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on stocks and other investment topics from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on a selection of the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And every Friday, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions.

An intriguing …read more »

NVIDIA CORP. $15 (Nasdaq symbol NVDA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 603.7 million; Market cap: $9.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.nvidia.com) develops 3D graphics chips and related technology for computers, gaming consoles and other devices. The company’s chips make computer games run more smoothly and appear more lifelike. Nvidia focuses …read more »

TERADATA CORP. $57 (New York symbol TDC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 168.3 million; Market cap: $9.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.4; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.teradata.com) makes computers and software that capture and store large amounts of a business’s data, including its sales and inventory. Teradata then analyzes this information and identifies buying habits …read more »

ADOBE SYSTEMS INC. $28 (Nasdaq symbol ADBE; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 490.9 million; Market cap: $13.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.4; No dividends paid since June 2005; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.adobe.com) makes software that lets
computer users create, edit and share documents in the popular PDF format. As well, graphic designers use Adobe’s software to create print …read more »

Chipmakers and software firms operate in highly competitive, fast-changing fields. To cut your risk, we recommend sticking with industry leaders who have built up strong reputations with their customers. These firms also have the financial strength to absorb the high cost of developing new products.

Here are three tech companies that are leaders in their niche markets. Sales and earnings at …read more »

INTEL CORP. $25 (Nasdaq symbol INTC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 5.3 billion; Market cap: $132.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 3.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.intel.com) reported record revenue of $14.2 billion in the three months ended October 1, 2011. That’s up 28.2% from $11.1 billion a year earlier. Most of these gains came …read more »

ACI WORLDWIDE $28.35 (Nasdaq symbol ACIW; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (402-334-5101; www.tsainc.com; Shares outstanding: 34.3 million; Market cap: $972.4 million; No dividends paid) makes software that is used to process transactions involving credit cards, debit cards, automated teller machines, point-of-sale terminals and interbank payments.

ACI has just bought S1 Corp. for $540 million in cash and stock. S1 sells transaction software for …read more »