Yahoo Finance Low Beta Tech Stocks to Consider for a Rebound Amid Heightened Market Volatility
With market volatility heating up investors will surely be looking for opportunities in the tech sector. After all, the Nasdaq is still up +7% year to date and has soared +32% over the last year despite dipping -1% so far this month.
Furthermore, several tech stocks on the Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) list have beta ratios under 1.0, which suggests they should be less volatile than the broader market as they already appear to be in oversold territory.
Veeva Systems VEEV: Checking in with a beta of 0.74 is Veeva Systems, a provider of cloud-based software applications and data solutions for the life sciences industry.
Veeva CRM (Customer Relationship Management), the company’s flagship product, runs on Salesforce's CRM SaaS platform with other offerings including Veeva Vault for content and information management, and Veeva Network for product data management.
Like Salesforce, Veeva Systems has started to implement AI-driven capabilities in its applications including Veeva CRM and Vault. This has allowed life science companies to engage more efficiently and effectively with their customers. While Veeva’s stock is still 12% from its 52-week highs of $236.90 a share VEEV is up +8% YTD with +14% gains over the last year.
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More importantly, earnings estimate revisions have continued to trend higher in the last 60 days for both FY24 and FY25. Plus, Veeva’s EPS is now projected to expand 27% this year and is expected to jump another 12% next year to $6.89 per share.
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Chinese E-Commerce Stocks
Investing in Chinese e-commerce companies hasn’t been this affordable in years due to geopolitical tensions along with global inflationary pressures and fears of slower economic growth in China. Yet, getting many of these tech stocks any cheaper could be a bargain and JD.com JD and Vipshop VIPS are starting to check this box with “A” Zacks Style Scores grades for Value.
As the largest e-commerce company in China in terms of revenue ($152.8 billion in 2023), JD.com’s stock is more than 35% from its 52-week highs but has a low beta of 0.54. More intriguing, JD is near historically low levels in terms of P/E valuation at an 8.6X forward earnings multiple with EPS expected to slightly increase in FY24 and projected to rise another 12% in FY25 to $3.53 per share.
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Meanwhile, Vipshop’s steady growth as an online discount retailer of popular branded consumer products is starting to make its current P/E valuation look like a steal as well. Vipshop’s annual earnings are forecasted to rise 7% in FY24 with FY25 EPS projected to jump another 9% to $2.78 per share.
Plus, at $16, VIPS trades at just 6.7X forward earnings and has a very low beta of 0.41. Notably, Vipshop’s stock is up +8% over the last year but is still 18% from its high of $20.19 a share in early February.
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Bottom Line
Veeva Systems, JD.com, and Vipshop are three tech stocks that could move higher once volatily in the market starts to subside and their low beta readings are reassuring of this as well.
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Vipshop Holdings Limited (VIPS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Veeva Systems Inc. (VEEV) : Free Stock Analysis Report
JD.com, Inc. (JD) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Salesforce Inc. (CRM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
