Three tech stocks that could gain in 2012

Article Excerpt

These tech stocks are well below their 2011 highs. However, all have strong balance sheets and rising research spending that will help them compete in their rapidly changing industries. Even so, they will likely remain highly volatile, so they should only account for a small portion of your portfolio. RESEARCH IN MOTION INC. $16 (Toronto symbol RIM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 524.2 million; Market cap: $8.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rim.com) has suffered several setbacks in the past few months, including a network outage in October 2011 that stopped or slowed the delivery of emails to its BlackBerry smartphone users. As well, sales of RIM’s PlayBook tablet computer have been slower than expected. That forced RIM to write down unsold inventory. Excluding unusual items, RIM’s earnings fell 26.8% in its fiscal 2012 third quarter, which ended November 26, 2011, to $667 million, or $1.27 a share. (All amounts except share…