Facebook and Netflix are great choices for investors in the near term even as the threat of a heightened U.S.-China trade war looms over the technology sector, Mark Mahaney, lead technology analyst at RBC Capital Markets, told CNBC on Wednesday.
U.S. stocks were rebounding Wednesday after the Trump administration said a Chinese delegation coming to Washington still intends to reach a trade agreement. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was trading modestly higher early afternoon Wednesday after closing down nearly 2% Tuesday.
Chipmakers, especially vulnerable if China retaliates, led the tech sector lower earlier this week after President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Chinese goods.
Among the large-cap tech stocks, Facebook and Netflix have a low exposure to China at roughly 1% to 2%, Mahaney said. Additionally, Facebook is a cheap stock when considering its price-earnings ratio, while Netflix will continue to be a “revenue growth story” as it keeps producing popular original content, he said in an interview on “The Exchange.”
He expects that the highly anticipated season 3 release of “Stranger Things” will be a boon for Netflix.
Mahaney said tech giant Apple obviously has more exposure in China, but asked investors to consider whether they’re looking at the stock in a long-term or short-term view.
Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners, said in the same interview that Microsoft would also be a good choice for investors amid trade tensions. “It’s more focused on services now rather than hardware” or devices, Forrest told CNBC.
