Tech stocks: some help from Yelp?
It鈥檚 an exciting time to be in technology, as the听initial public offering, the buzz over听Facebook听and the Nasdaq crossing the听3,000 mark听attest.
听Some of that excitement may rub off on other technology stocks, particularly听Microsoft, whose Windows 8 shows it鈥檚 ready ready to battle听Apple听by offering an operating system incorporating touchscreen technology, Nomura research analyst Richard Sherlund told CNBC Friday.
听Sherlund, who saw the preview of Windows 8 at a recent conference in Barcelona, thinks it 鈥渓ooks pretty good.鈥�
However, 鈥渕ost people still dislike Microsoft.听They think it鈥檚 Apple听versus Microsoft. That鈥檚 probably true for probably 25 percent to 30 percent of the market that鈥檚 very consumer-oriented with the iPad,鈥� said the analyst, who has a $37 price target on Microsoft.
听鈥淭here is another 70 percent to 75 percent of the market where Microsoft has a lot of strength and they鈥檙e finally showing up to the game with a product that offers touch as well as the ability to use Office [its software suite] that will create a very exciting upgrade cycle,鈥� he said.
听Oracle, on which he has a 鈥渂uy鈥� rating, showed it was 鈥渄efocused鈥� in its previous quarter, focusing more on hardware.
听鈥淭hey have to put the salesforce back to what they鈥檙e good at, selling software, and build more of their own direct hardware sales organization,鈥� Sherlund said. He鈥檚 鈥渁 little more optimistic鈥� about Oracle鈥檚听quarter that ended in February.
He sees a 鈥渨ave of IPOs coming鈥� in technology, particularly in enterprise-oriented companies. With the growing importance of听cloud computing听and social networking 鈥測ou鈥檙e seeing the consumerization in a lot of enterprise IT,鈥� the analyst said.
