Best Investments in Tech: Dial for Dollars with This Smartphone Leader

"Experts" have declared the death of the smartphone,  citing slowing growth and a "maturing" market - but they're way off target. In  fact, one of the best investments in tech today will be the biggest beneficiary  of a market that will expand by 70% in just 5 years...

Just as we're about to celebrate what I consider the seventh anniversary of the smartphone -Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) launched the iPhone on June 29, 2007 - there's no shortage of "experts" who will tell you the category is already dead.

Ever since Samsung and Apple began warning of a slowdown in smartphone growth about a year ago, the gloom-and-doomers have been writing eulogies for the seemingly ubiquitous product.

For instance, Investor's Business Daily recently said the market is "maturing" - concluding that formerly special devices like the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy have reached "commodity" status.

Just a few months ago, TheStreet.com said the market is "rapidly losing its growth" and predicted an even more drastic slowdown to come because of the sputtering Western European economy.

And earlier this year, market research firm IDC predicted a slowdown in worldwide smartphone shipments.

These predictions are way off target.

And I can prove it.

The experts study the smartphone-wielding crowds in cafés, airport terminals, sporting events, hotel lobbies, and even supermarkets here in the United States and conclude the market has reached the saturation point.

That's not actually the case.

Besides, there are huge swaths of the world where most folks have yet to even hold a smartphone, let alone own one.

smartphone fight

And this means there's still a huge opportunity for global sales.

The IDC report I just mentioned actually shows this. The market-researcher estimates that smartphones sales hit roughly 1 billion units for the first time last year. And by 2018, it is projecting that worldwide sales will zoom to 1.7 billion devices.

We're talking about a market that's going to zoom 70% in just five years.

And we've just identified the biggest beneficiary.

It's a tech leader - a company that has a stranglehold lead on a smartphone component that will make this growth possible. And it just keeps adding to its product offerings and bolstering its technology to maintain its lead and keep its challengers in the rear-view mirror.

Best of all: It's a stock we believe will double in price over the next few years.

It's one of the best investments in tech - and it's one you want to grab now, before Wall Street gets wise.

Best Investments in a Tech-Sector Bonanza

Technically speaking, there were "smartphones" that hit the market before the iPhone, particularly in tech-crazy Japan. But those not-so-smart phones were held back by a lack of features and clunky software.

From the time of its 2007 debut, however, it was clear that the iPhone was a truly integrated platform. It could text, make phone calls, surf the web, and play music - all in a user-friendly touch-screen format.

Since then, smartphone-sector sales have soared - a trend that will continue at least through the end of this decade.

That's why tech investors would do well to take a look at Qualcomm Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM). The big-cap firm helped pioneer wireless communications and is perfectly poised to benefit from continued smartphone adoption around the world.

In fact, continued smartphone adoption is a key part of Qualcomm's growth strategy.

The heart of the company's smartphone franchise lies in its Snapdragon processor, a device that combines multiple functions in a single chipset the size of a standard semiconductor.

Qualcomm built Snapdragon to support the smartphone as a true all-in-one device - a phone, web browser, digital and video camera, music player, gaming station, and high-def video screen.

Snapdragon is heavily focused on phones using the Android operating system from Google Inc., which accounts for nearly three-fourths of all smartphones sold today.

The San Diego-based company, obviously, is not on the smartphone death watch.

You see, this company doesn't have to worry about tussling for market share with Apple, Samsung, Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL), and now Microsoft Corp. after its recent acquisition of Nokia's handset unit.

That's because this tech champion makes the guts of numerous manufacturers' phones and, therefore, isn't vulnerable to the whims of the mainstream marketplace's fashions and trends.

Qualcomm expects to see a global total of 7 billion smartphones in use by the end of 2017. By then, this world leader in wireless semiconductor sales expects smartphones to account for 80% of handset sales, compared with roughly 55% last year.

Additionally, Qualcomm is the world's largest "fabless" semiconductor firm. That means it concentrates on product design and contracts other firms to make the chips, a process that frees up cash flow and improves operating margins.

Meanwhile, Qualcomm sees the growing use of Wi-Fi connections as a key part of the growth of tablets and smartphones. So, in 2011 it agreed to buy Wi-Fi chip maker Atheros for $3.1 billion.

The purchase ranks as the largest acquisition in the company's 29-year history. It was a savvy move for Qualcomm because it allows the company to benefit from smartphone growth in two different ways: It now sells the chipsets that go into the Wi-Fi gear and it sells the chips that go into the smartphones that connect to the Wi-Fi networks.

Such savvy strategies will translate into growth for the company - and profits for you.

Yet another reason why Qualcomm should be in every tech investor's portfolio is that I've run it through my five "filters" for identifying the best investments in tech - and the results show that QCOM stock could double in less than 5 years.

To read more about QCOM's profit potential and get my five rules for finding the best tech stocks to buy, click here.

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.

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