Matrix Asset Advisors' David Katz cautioned investors to slow down with "new money" this year. The markets won't repeat the kind of bull run witnessed in 2013, he said, and investors should adjust their expectations accordingly.
Instead, Katz said they should look for a different kind of momentum: strong business strategies. During an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box," Katz gave three stock picks that fit into his investment strategy for this year.
As part of the "Squawk Box" Platinum Portfolio challenge, Katz picked medical diagnostic manufacture Hologic, industrial company Eaton and Capital One. He called the latter a financial laggard that could surprise investors this year.
"That's one of the few financials that hasn't done a lot," Katz said. "We're expecting a pick up in business momentum in the back half of this year."
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Katz, who owns all three stocks in his fund, said he liked Hologic's new CEO, who was brought in after activist investors took a big stake in the company. And Irish power management conglomerate Eaton represented a play on the global economy, he added.
Saturna Capital portfolio manager Paul Meeks provided three tech stocks that fit his contrarian investment strategy. One big name on his list, social media giant Facebook, saw a slight pullback from a 128 percent run-up in the past year.
Still, Facebook remains poised to become one of the market's fastest growing Internet stocks, Meeks contends. Along with Google, Facebook owns about 80 percent of mobile ad revenue, said Meeks, who owns all three of his stock picks.
Meeks also picked Microchip Techology as a stock to watch. He said the company generates "a ton of cash" for a semiconductor manufacturer.
Digital media software-maker Adobe Systems rounded out Meeks' best plays. He said Adobe took to cloud computing better than most other competitors once it switched from boxed software bundles to a cloud-only subscription model.
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"Adobe Systems is a 1990s-dominant software company that has done a wonderful job of recreating themselves and embracing cloud computing," Meeks said.
—By CNBC's Jeff Morganteen.