Morgan Stanley names its favorite stocks in tech — and gives one nearly 60% upside

Published Wed, Mar 15 20238:55 PM EDT

Some Wall Street investors may be cautious on tech right now, especially after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. But others are seeing the volatility as an opportunity to snap up some tech stocks . After rallying to start the year, the Nasdaq Composite has lost more than 5% in the past month. Morgan Stanley named its top picks in tech in a March 13 note. Here's what the bank's analysts, which include top strategists such as Mike Wilson, wrote about three of them. Advanced Micro Devices Morgan Stanley said it has a longstanding preference for buying semiconductor stocks at a point in the cycle when "companies are undershipping end market demand and visibility is low." That means Advanced Micro Devices is a buy, according to the bank, which added that scenario "characterizes" half of the firm's business right now, with a recovery likely to come in the second half of 2023. "The other half of the company's business, its data center compute products, are set up for significant share gain in one of the best end-markets in semiconductors, helping the company stand out against peers even in the face of potential customer budget cuts," the bank's analysts wrote. Morgan Stanley gave AMD an overweight rating, and a price target of $87 — a level that the stock reached on March 14. ServiceNow Cloud services company ServiceNow is one of the "best secularly positioned" names in software, according to Morgan Stanley, given that companies are prioritizing "digital transformation" in their IT spending. "The combination of durable topline growth and operating efficiency makes NOW our preferred top pick in the current environment," the bank said. It gave ServiceNow a price target of $612, or around 44% upside. Amazon Morgan Stanley sees Amazon as the large-cap internet name in the best position, with "durable retail revenue growth and inflecting retail profitability." The bank said the company's business could reaccelerate in August, with margins set to improve. Amazon is currently trading at a 55% discount to the historical average, the analysts added. It gave Amazon a price target of $150, or nearly 60% upside. — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.