“The potential for the technology sector is huge. It continues to reshape established industries and in many cases it is a ‘winner takes all’ scenario, resulting in massive rewards for the dominant companies.”
It added that the wide discount – its highest sustained level for five years – made an attractive entry point for investors. “We think the trust ticks all the right boxes of an attractive sector, a strong investment team and an attractive valuation,” it said.
While Questor is always worried about buying overpriced shares, the types of technology stocks that Polar Capital Technology invests in are fairly valued, in our view. It builds its biggest positions in the largest technology companies, which tend to be the cheapest relative to earnings, and only invests small amounts in the more speculative ones that are very expensive relative to earnings.
For example, Google, its second largest holding, has a price-to-earnings ratio, based on earning forecasts for 2022, of 26. Microsoft is at 38 and Apple is at 32, according to Morningstar, the data firm. That is not widely different to the expected p/e of the S&P 500 for 2022 of 22, nor the 30 expected for the Nasdaq 100 index, which is more heavily weighted to technology stocks.
Allianz Technology Trust, another technology trust tipped by this column, invests in technology giants such as Apple, but also more expensive small companies that are more risky. Top 10 positions Tesla, CrowdStrike and Snowflake are all very expensive. They have p/e ratios of 121 and 222 for 2022 profits, while Snowflake is currently unprofitable. It also trades close to NAV, which makes it more expensive than PCT.