Dan Niles: Beyond H-P, Short These Tech Names

As the PC market continues to decline, investors need to shift out of some old standards and learn some new tunes, Dan Niles of AlphaOne Capital Partners said Tuesday on CNBC.

On "Fast Money," he said that Hewlett-Packard, whose stock took a beating after a massive write-down over its Autonomy acquisition, was no longer a good value just because its share price was lower, noting that the same thesis could've been applied to Nokia or Research In Motion — stocks that have not recovered as their products fell out of favor.

"To buy a company just playing for something is not a good investment strategy," he said.

Niles said he was short Intel, Dell and Microsoft, which years ago represented "the names you absolutely, positively wanted to go long."

"The PC industry is in secular decline," he said, noting that they were likely to be replaced by smartphones and tablets.

Apple was a recent buy, Niles said, adding that he also liked eBay, Facebook, Cisco and MillennialMedia, among others.

"A lot of these trends are going to last for a long time," he said. "People need to start thinking a little differently."

Trader disclosure: On Nov. 20, 2012, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Jon Najarian is long AAPL; Jon Najarian is long GS; Jon Najarian is long JPM; Jon Najarian is long FB; Jon Najarian is long PHM; Jon Najarian is long WMT; Jon Najarian is long TJX; Jon Najarian is long ESV; Jon Najarian is long XHB; Jon Najarian is short puts in GLD; Jon Najarian is short puts in AGQ; Jon Najarian is short puts in SLV; Jon Najarian is long CME; Jon Najarian is long CBOE; Jon Najarian is long STSI; Jon Najarian is long GLUU; Keith McCullough is long MS; Keith McCullough is long XLU; Keith McCullough is long TLT; Keith McCullough is long SBUX; Karen Finerman is long AAPL; Karen Finerman is long BAC; Karen Finerman is long JPM; Karen Finerman is long WMT; Karen Finerman is long TGT; Karen Finerman is long MSFT; Karen Finerman is long GOOG; Karen Finerman is long JCP; Karen Finerman is long M; Karen Finerman is long RLGY; Karen Finerman is short IWM; Karen Finerman is short SPY; Dan Nathan is long AAPL NOV WEEKLY 580 CALL SPREAD; Dan Nathan is long WFC JAN 36 CALLS; Dan Nathan is long INTC NOV WEEKLY 20 CALLS; Dan Nathan is long CSCO DEC 16 PUTS; Dan Nathan is long YHOO JAN 17.5 CALLS; Dan Nathan is long MSFT JAN 26/24 1X2 PUT SPREAD; Dan Nathan is long JCP NOV/DEC 18 CALL SPREAD.

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