These four techs have special appeal

Article Excerpt

Technology stocks tend to be riskier than our other recommendations in the Manufacturing & Industry sector. That’s mainly because innovations can quickly make today’s products obsolete. To cut your risk, we focus on well-established tech firms with special advantages, such as the four we analyze below. All are market leaders with plenty of cash flow to invest in new products. We think highly of all four, but only three are buys now. APPLE INC. $501 (Nasdaq symbol AAPL; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 892.4 million; Market cap: $447.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.8; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.apple.com) continues to profit from its hugely popular mobile devices: the iPhone smartphone and the iPad tablet computer. These products account for 75% of its sales. The remaining 25% comes from its Mac computers, iPod music players and revenue from its iTunes online store. In its 2014 first quarter, which ended December 28, 2013, Apple’s sales rose 5.7%,…