Hewlett-Packard's decision to split into two companies could be just the start of a major trend in tech, according to FBR Capital Markets Managing Director Dan Ives.
On Monday, HP announced its decision to separate into two companies. Hewlett-Packard Enterprises will focus on infrastructure and software, and HP Inc. will be dedicated to personal systems and printing. The move comes on the heels of an announcement from eBay that it's planning to spin off PayPal into a separate publicly traded company.
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According to Ives, three other tech firms could go the way of HP and eBay.
On CNBC's "Fast Money," Ives named EMC Corp as the first company that could split.
EMC has been under heavy pressure from activist investor Elliott Management to spin off its VMWare business, of which EMC owns some 80 percent.
Ives said that the Hewlett-Packard deal has added "heat in the kitchen" for EMC's board, especially given his view that "VMWare as a structure is just not adding shareholder value to EMC."
Ives' next pick was cybersecurity company Symantec.
According to Ives, Symantec could please investors by spinning off its storage business and focusing on security.
"(The) storage business has really been the overhang here. We could see them getting rid of that, potentially selling off to private equity," he said.
Lastly, Ives said that Citrix Systems could look to spin off its cloud business in the near future. According to Ives, the company's core competency is desktop virtualization, and its cloud business has been "a distraction."
Ives said that F5 Networks or IBM could potentially be interested in buying Citrix' cloud platform.
In addition to Ives' picks, the "Fast Money" traders also each chose a company that could split. Karen Finerman of Metropolitan Capital Advisors picked Manitowoc, a company which sells construction cranes and food service equipment. "These are two companies that have very different profiles. I don't get that they should be together," she said.
RiskReversal.com's Dan Nathan said while he doesn't think Oracle should split, the company is a candidate to spin off part of its business in the future.
Guy Adami of Private Advisor Group picked IBM, saying that among its five business segments, "you could probably spin out two."
Finally, Pete Najarian of OptionMonster.com said DuPont should split its agriculture and chemicals segments.
