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We know the drill: U.S. retailers count on the holiday shopping season for as much as 20% to 40% of their total sales for the year.
And we know that this year won't be any different.
What we don't know is how much American consumers are going to spend: Will this season go like gangbusters, or will it just be a bust?
The National Retail Federation (NRF) is expecting a gangbusters holiday season, having just forecasted a record $602 billion in sales, a healthy 3.9% jump from 2012.
But the respected Gallup polling group is expecting a bust, saying that U.S. consumers expect to spend an average $704 each, or about 10% less than during the Christmas season a year ago.
Investors often handicap the major retailers, trying to guess which one will get the biggest share of the holiday shopping bucks.
We're not going to waste our time with that futile exercise.
You see, we know that the holiday season is also a big time of the year for gadget sales: American consumers are only too happy to drop small fortunes on computers, smartphones, and the other consumer-electronic gadgets that are the tangible results of this country's dominant high-tech sector.
We can predict who those winners will be, and can identify the stocks we believe will zoom as a result.
Today, I'm going out on a limb once again to predict that the tech sector will have a great Christmas overall. And I've identified four tech stocks to buy that should do well for investors this holiday season.
Packing a Punch
Back in June, I made what I called a "bold prediction" - and said we would see a surge in tech-sector stocks in the second half of the year. That wasn't the consensus view at the time: Most pundits were predicting a hefty sell-off.
Turns out investors who followed my advice June 28 and put their money in tech stocks as a group did well.
Since that time, the tech-oriented NASDAQ Composite Index has gained 16.73%, compared with a gain of only 11.5% for the "blue-chip" Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
That's a significant difference.
So, when I tell you today that I'm as optimistic as I was back then, you know I'm not just blowing smoke.
And here are the four tech stocks to buy that I'm handicapping as the big winners of this year's holiday splurge.
About the Author
Michael A. Robinson is a 36-year Silicon Valley veteran and one of the top tech and biotech financial analysts working today. That's because, as a consultant, senior adviser, and board member for Silicon Valley venture capital firms, Michael enjoys privileged access to pioneering CEOs, scientists, and high-profile players. And he brings this entire world of Silicon Valley "insiders" right to you...
- He was one of five people involved in early meetings for the $160 billion "cloud" computing phenomenon.
- He was there as Lee Iacocca and Roger Smith, the CEOs of Chrysler and GM, led the robotics revolution that saved the U.S. automotive industry.
- As cyber-security was becoming a focus of national security, Michael was with Dave DeWalt, the CEO of McAfee, right before Intel acquired his company for $7.8 billion.
This all means the entire world is constantly seeking Michael's insight.
In addition to being a regular guest and panelist on CNBC and Fox Business, he is also a Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer and reporter. His first book Overdrawn: The Bailout of American Savings warned people about the coming financial collapse - years before the word "bailout" became a household word.
Silicon Valley defense publications vie for his analysis. He's worked for Defense Media Network and Signal Magazine, as well as The New York Times, American Enterprise, and The Wall Street Journal.
And even with decades of experience, Michael believes there has never been a moment in time quite like this.
Right now, medical breakthroughs that once took years to develop are moving at a record speed. And that means we are going to see highly lucrative biotech investment opportunities come in fast and furious.
To help you navigate the historic opportunity in biotech, Michael launched the Bio-Tech Profit Alliance.
His other publications include: Strategic Tech Investor, The Nova-X Report, Bio-Technology Profit Alliance and Nexus-9 Network.
Good choice though the benefits are mainly seasonal except for Amazon which continually grows both in retail and cloud servers for Content Delivery Networks