A tech correction is ‘inevitable,’ investor Paul Meeks warns

FAN Editor

The investor who ran the world’s largest technology fund during the dot-com boom has a new warning.

Paul Meeks predicts a near-term correction will hit tech stocks.

“It’s inevitable,” he told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Friday.

Meeks, who’s now a portfolio manager at Independent Solutions Wealth Management, cites two chief factors for his negative outlook: U.S-China trade war fallout and the economic growth slowdown.

“My typical tech company is deeply embedded in a supply chain between the two nations,” said Meeks. “We’ve also started to see a decline in the economic growth rate particularly abroad, less drastic here in the states. But a lot of people don’t realize that tech products and services, whether that be sold to the enterprise or sold to the consumer, you know typically are cyclical.”

He expects the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which is up 23% year-to-date, will fall 10%.

Despite his pullback warning, Meeks plans to put money to work.

“I always have my eye on my favorite tech names, and I look for opportunities to buy them on dips,” he said. 

Meeks: Sell Apple, Buy Salesforce

However, Meeks indicates one widely held tech stock that’s been dominating the headlines won’t be on his pullback shopping list: Apple, which is up almost 40% so far this year.

He plans to reduce his already underweight Apple position and take profits.

According to Meeks, a secular slowdown in smartphones will continue to hurt iPhone sales, despite Apple’s iPhone 11 launch last Tuesday. 

“I would like to shift out of those names in this kind of environment and try to find some deals in software,” he said.

It’s not the first time this year he’s been bearish on Apple. Meeks went negative on the stock on “Trading Nation” in late April. A month after his interview, shares were down more than 13%. 

“The one that I like the most particularly as I exit Apple and increase in the software space is Salesforce.com,” he said.

Meeks, who already owns Salesforce, is up more than 6% over the past month, but it’s down 3% over the last year.

“Something like Salesforce.com, you can get a 100% software business that is growing faster and is much more profitable than anything that Apple is doing,” said Meeks.

Disclosure: Paul Meeks holds positions in the stocks discussed.

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