Five Tech Stocks with a Bright Future in 2015

Today, we're going to take a look at several stocks that made us gains of 50% or better in 2014 and are set for further success in 2015.

I launched my Strategic Tech Investor service in March 2013 with one goal in mind - to help you greatly improve your net worth.

My initial column was titled "The Road to Wealth Is Paved by Tech."

And that proved true through all of 2014 when nearly two dozen tech stocks I recommended beat the market - demonstrating that if you pick the right stocks and manage them properly, you can beat Wall Street at its own game.

Even better, I'll show you why these five tech stocks still have plenty of upside in 2015 and beyond.

A Good Problem to Have

tech stocksThe tech-centric Nasdaq Composite Index was up 15% in 2014, so ours was no small accomplishment. And remember that the volatility we've seen over the first few weeks of 2015 really got its start early last year.

These were such big gains that, had you followed my portfolio management advice, you would have taken a "free trade" on four of these tech stocks.

The "free trade" is a very powerful tool for maximizing your profits.

It works like this. Once a stock in your portfolio has doubled in value, you automatically sell half and recoup all of your original capital.

At that point, you really are working with free money. You've covered your initial investment and are now literally playing with the "house's money."

Now, I expect even more volatility throughout 2015. But I'm optimistic that our five biggest winners of 2014 will continue to generate more profits ahead for one simple reason.

Each meets the mandate of Rule No. 3 of my five-part system for building tech wealth. That rule says to "Ride the unstoppable trends."

With that in mind, let's take a look at our five biggest winners of 2014.

2014 Tech Stocks, Winner No. 1: Bitauto Holdings - Up 90%

When we talked about this e-commerce play on China's huge new car market on Feb. 4, 2014, I labeled it the "perfect profit storm."

Bitauto Holdings Ltd. (NYSE ADR: BITA) sells online advertising and provides reviews and pricing info for consumers. It also serves as an online showroom for both new- and used-car dealers.

Sales of new cars and light-duty trucks rose 9.9% in China last year to 19.7 million units. In 2013, they rose 15.3%.

And that brings up an important point.

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Bitauto has sold off over the last two months over fears about China's slowing economic growth. But if you took the free trade that came around Aug. 6, your profits were protected.

And while we had peak gains of 231%, we're still sitting on gains of 90%.

2014 Tech Stocks, Winner No. 2: Repligen - Up 88.1%

Shares of Repligen Corp. (Nasdaq: RGEN), a small-cap leader in what are known as "biologic" ingredients for pharmaceuticals, did well last year despite a major challenge that derailed the whole biotech sector.

Back in March 2014, biotech came under pressure after three members of Congress criticized the high price of a new hepatitis C treatment from Gilead Sciences Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD).

Of course, this had nothing whatsoever to do with Repligen. This Waltham, Mass.-based company supplies high-value ingredients - made out of "biologic" materials such as sugars, proteins, cells, or tissues - that other biotech firms use to manufacture drugs.

Repligen's ingredients are used in three of the most important drugs on the market today:

  • Avastin, used to treat colon cancer
  • Herceptin, a treatment for breast cancer
  • Humira, prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis and several other conditions

Since I first wrote about Repligen on May 7, 2013, it's up 155%. The chance to take a free trade came almost a year to the day later, on May 12, 2014.

And since Jan. 1, 2014, it's up 88.1%. Along the way, we made peak gains of 109.5%.

2014 Tech Stocks, Winner No. 3: NXP Semiconductor - Up 86.2%

We reached critical mass in the burgeoning field of mobile payments in 2014 when Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) entered the field with Apple Pay.

The fact that Apple Pay is already a success is no surprise, as it began with a bevy of payments giants behind it, including both MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) and Visa Inc. (NYSE: V).

And my recommendation of NXP Semiconductor NV (Nasdaq: NXPI) is a great way to play not just Apple Pay but the entire mobile-payments field. Gartner says the mobile-payments sector will nearly triple from $235 billion in the base year of 2013 to $720 billion by 2017.

NXP makes the chips used in the readers that tap a field of technology known as near field communications (NFC). These are specialized readers that can understand the digital-payment info embedded in a user's smartphone.

The Netherlands-based company began operations in 2006 as a spin-off from the European conglomerate Phillips Electronics. NXP helped invent NFC technology and holds several key patents that serve as great barriers to entry.

NXP is up 86.2% since Jan. 1, 2014. And since I first recommended it on June 25, 2013, it's gained 170%.

The free trade occurred March 6.

2014 Tech Stocks, Winner No. 4: Ambarella - Up 75.7%

In January 2014, I recommended Ambarella Inc. (Nasdaq: AMBA), a small-cap leader in video compression and processing technology, as the company was headed for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

At the time, I predicted the stock was set to double in the next three years. With the stock up 75.66% since Jan. 1, 2014, we are already well past halfway there.

I originally suggested Ambarella as a great play on the breakout market for wearable technology. Juniper Research forecasts industry sales of $19 billion by 2018. That's a nearly 15-fold increase from 2013, when Berg Insight says sales hit $1.4 billion.

Ambarella is the brains behind the GoPro Inc. (Nasdaq: GPRO) helmet video camera popular in action sports. But it's no one-trick pony.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company also supplies chips used in ultra-high-definition television (UHDTV), backup cameras for the "connected car," and web-based video surveillance.

I first predicted the stock would double in three years on Aug. 2, 2013.

Since then, it's up more than 205%. You could have taken a free trade on Jan. 6, 2014.

2014 Tech Stocks, Winner No. 5: Apple - Up 52%

I can describe the year Apple had in one word - amazing. And its earnings report for the holiday quarter really says it all.

During the period, Apple's earnings per share soared some 48% to $3.06. It had net income of $18 billion, a record for a publicly traded U.S. firm. The company sold 74.4 million iPhones, a 46% annual increase.

This year promises to be just as strong for the Silicon Valley legend.

It should see significant upside from the recent rollout of Apple Pay and the upcoming launch of the Apple Watch, the company's foray into wearable tech.

The stock has rallied for gains of 52% since Jan. 1, 2014. I first recommended it back on Oct. 30, 2013. Since then, the stock is up 61.8%.

The track record we amassed in 2014 with these big winners underscores something we've been talking about for the last couple of years now.

If you want to consistently beat the market, you must be in high tech. These are companies riding the unstoppable trends - Chinese-e-commerce, biotech, mobile payments, wearable technology - that pile up huge profits.

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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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