One of the stocks driving the Nasdaq 100 to new heights may be investors' best pick in the sector now.
The Nasdaq 100 hit an intraday all-time high on Friday, crossing the 6,000 mark for the first time but was unable to hold its gains through the close. By far the biggest drag proved to be tech heavyweight Microsoft.
Despite its weakness on Friday, the stock has strong growth potential and is a good bet now, according Kim Forrest, portfolio manager and senior equity analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group.
The stock is the second-largest holding in the QQQ (behind Apple), and one Forrest owns personally and for clients.
Microsoft is "at the beginning of a cycle of businesses who have custom applications moving some of that workload to Azure," she wrote to CNBC in an email last week, referring to the company's cloud computing platform.
Last week, "Microsoft announced the availability of Amazon Web Services tools for Microsoft Visual Studio Team Services cloud service. The tools make it easier for developers to upload content to and deploy from Amazon Web Services platform. Is this MSFT throwing in the towel? We think not – it is likely addressing some of MSFT's larger customers to stay on the development platform," she wrote.
The stock closed 1 percent lower on Friday, at $73.94 per share. The Nasdaq Composite achieved a record close on Friday, posting its best week of the year as shares of Apple rose nearly 3 percent on the week.
The technology sector saw its largest weekly inflow in 15 weeks, according to Bank of America strategists in a report sent to clients on Friday.
Disclosure: Kim Forrest owns shares of Microsoft, and owns it for clients. No family member of Forrest's owns the stock.
