Technical analysis shows more gains could be ahead for the Nasdaq, after it touched an all-time intraday high.
Between the "dotcom bubble" of the late 1990s and 2015, the tech-heavy Nasdaq did not see a single new closing high, according to Strategas Research Partners data.
But in 2015, the Nasdaq closed at record highs nine times, and 10 in 2016. The record number, since its creation in 1971? Sixty-one in 1999.
"I think it's important to remember after 15 years of purgatory, the Nasdaq has now made its first new high in about 14 or 15 years, and about 20 percent of stocks within the index are breaking out to new highs as well," Chris Verrone, head of technical analysis at Strategas Research Partners, said Monday on CNBC's "Power Lunch."
And these gains come from more than just the so-FANG stocks, Verrone said, referring to tech heavyweights Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google parent Alphabet.
He and Strategas Research Partners have a target of 6,000, roughly 12 percent above the Nasdaq's Monday close. He expects this to play out in the first half of 2017.
Monday's all-time intraday high came as big-cap tech saw major outflows postelection, and hedge funds sold a record number of Nasdaq equity futures last week, according to a report Monday by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
"There are about 2,500 issues in the index; a lot of them are small-cap stocks. So the strength in the Nasdaq is also strength in small caps, that's a group that we like here. So yes, higher is the call," Verrone said.
Names in the Nasdaq may prove to be good value buys into the new year, according to Chad Morganlander, portfolio manager at Stifel Nicolaus.
"We think that over the next 12 months, you can get a 7 to 9 percent total return within the Nasdaq," Morganlander said Monday on CNBC's "Power Lunch."
"Earnings growth is there, about 10 to 15 percent earnings growth for 2017, as well as revenue growth of around 6 percent," he said, adding that he is overweight the Nasdaq.
The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 closed at record highs Monday.
