Fund manager says another tech selloff is looming, and names the stocks to buy instead

Published Sun, Jul 24 20228:52 PM EDTUpdated Mon, Jul 25 20226:10 AM EDT

Despite calls from some analysts to reconsider tech stocks, Deuterium Capital's John Ricciardi says it's not yet time to buy the dip. The tech sector has sold off massively this year as investors rotated into value from growth names, on the back of monetary tightening, recession and other risks. Ricciardi, lead fund manager and head of global asset allocation at the firm, told CNBC on Friday that markets could well see another tech selloff. "It may not be out of the way," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe." "We'll have to confirm in a few months, but it doesn't look great for September and October." Tech stocks saw a brief rally this week, with the Nasdaq posting its third straight positive session on Thursday . But on Friday, Nasdaq futures tumbled back into negative territory, declining 1.87% at the close as investors digested a fresh batch of corporate earnings and disappointing results from Snap . Ricciardi said indicators such as U.S. retail sales, global exports and factory orders looked set to contract in the coming months, which would spell bad news for tech firms such as Apple and Microsoft . Consumer spending held up during June's inflation surge , with retail sales rising slightly more than expected for the month, however a University of Michigan report showed that consumer sentiment remained relatively downbeat. "It looks to us as if investors will be relieved and attracted by the current valuations for this month and next month, but thereafter, new fears, in particular of an earnings contraction and a recession ... will become quite manifest," Ricciardi said. The Nasdaq Composite is down more than 20% year-to-date, putting the tech-heavy index firmly in bear market territory, and FAANG stocks, too, are trading at deep discounts. Alphabet is down more than 20% for the year, while Meta has plunged more than 45% in the same period. Stock picks Steering clear of tech stocks, Ricciardi said Deuterium Capital is rotating into sectors such as healthcare and telecommunications instead. He added that the firm has rotated out of energy stocks. "Sector rotation will remain a major investment theme as U.S. technology stocks, still overvalued despite their selloffs, likely will correct again, this time along with energy shares, when the global cycle slows markedly late in Q3 2022 and investors move to favour shares in interest-sensitive sectors such as healthcare," Deuterium wrote in its outlook for the third quarter. In healthcare, Ricciardi said pharmaceutical stocks such as Pfizer and Merck may still have "more room to run." In telecommunications, he picked names such as AT & T , Verizon and Sprint (now part of T-Mobile ). "So we would stay in what I would call the interest sensitive end of cycle securities," said Ricciardi. "It may be yet a little bit soon to go in and acquire staples and in such things were utilities that are super interest sensitive." — CNBC's Jeff Cox contributed to this report.