Nasdaq MSFT MicroSoft

Data from Grand View Research shows the artificial intelligence (AI) market is worth $137 billion, and is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 37% through 2030. The technology has massive potential in numerous industries, from manufacturing to healthcare, consu

The recommendations of Wall Street analysts are often relied on by investors when deciding whether to buy, sell, or hold a stock. Media reports about these brokerage-firm-employed (or sell-side) analysts changing their ratings oft

Investing in high-quality, blue-chip companies is a primary focus of mine as an investor. Not only has it proven to be successful to this point, but it also helps an investor sleep well at night. There are a few stocks that I love investing in regularly, but none more than Micros

Major U.S. stock indexes were set for a higher open on Wednesday as easing Treasury yields boosted megacaps, while investors awaited developments on a U.S. funding bill and inflation data this week to gauge the Federal Reserve's policy outlook.

U.S. stock index futures rebounded on Wednesday as easing Treasury yields boosted megacaps, while investors awaited developments on a U.S. funding bill and inflation data this week to gauge the outlook for the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.

U.S. stock index futures rebounded on Wednesday as retreating Treasury yields boosted megacaps, while investors awaited developments on a U.S. funding bill and inflation data this week to gauge the outlook for Federal Reserve's monetary policy.

Microsoft said on September 19, 2023 that its board of directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share ($3.00 annualized). Previously, the company paid $0.68 per share. Shares must be purchased before the ex-div date of November 15, 2023 to qualify for the d

Call it seasonal blues, poor positioning or a nagging anxiety about being wrong-footed, but wavering world stock markets appear to many to be uncomfortably prone to a left field hit.

When CS Disco (NYSE: LAW) went public in July 2021, it impressed the bulls with its goal of streamlining law practices with artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and data analytics services. According to the company, its software cuts through all the paperwork to "let la

Safety is a relative concept on the stock market. Markets can and do drop quickly and without warning, and individual stocks will often fall even harder than the average during broad market slumps.

Amazon's (NASDAQ: AMZN) stock plunged nearly 50% in 2022 over concerns about profit declines in its retail segments. Its shares are up 52% so far in 2023 as its e-commerce business recovers from macroeconomic headwinds and the company expands its efforts in artificial intelligenc

U.S. President Joe Biden will announce on Wednesday a $100 million research drive to fight deadly drug-resistant bacteria, according to a White House official.

Call it seasonal blues, poor positioning or a nagging anxiety about being wrong-footed, but wavering world stock markets appear to many to be uncomfortably prone to a left field hit.

Investor nerves remain frayed over the prospect of interest rates staying higher for longer, with a surge in U.S. Treasury yields pulling the dollar to a 10-month peak and driving Asian currencies, the pound and the euro to their lowest in months.

Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ: CSCO) announced a $28 billion all cash deal to buy cyber security company Splunk last week, marking the networking major’s largest acquisition yet. Splunk is a market leader in security information and event management, analyzing log files, and ot

When investors think of tech ETFs, they often think of the massively popular Invesco QQQ Trust ( NASDAQ:QQQ) and the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF ( NYSEARCA:XLK) -- rightfully so, as these are low-cost long-term winners that have performed well for years. But there’s also an overlooked tech ETF that deserves to be in this conversation as well and is worthy of more attention -- the Fidelity MSCI Information Technology ETF ( NYSEARCA:FTEC) . At $6.9 billion in assets under management (AUM), FTEC isn't as big as QQQ or XLK, but its long-term performance is comparable to that of these two juggernauts, and it’s actually an even more cost-effective option for investors. Here’s more on FTEC.  What is the FTEC ETF's Strategy?  The passively-managed FTEC ETF invests at least 80% of its assets in its underlying index, the MSCI USA IMI Information Technology 25/50 Index. All of the stocks in this index are classified within the technology sector by the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS).  FTEC's Strong Past Performance FTEC has put up some great returns over the years. In the past year, the fund has returned 28.4%. Over the past three years, as of the end of August, FTEC returned 11.5% on an annualized basis. FTEC has returned an even better 17.9% on an annualized basis over the past five years. FTEC launched in October 2013, so it does not yet have a 10-year annualized return as it approaches its 10-year anniversary, but it has returned an impressive 19.6% on an annualized basis over the life of the fund.  These results slightly underperformed those of XLK but are within the same ballpark. XLK has returned 31.1% over the past year. Over the past three and five-year time frames, XLK has posted total annualized returns of 13.4% and 19.6%, slightly outperforming FTEC.  Meanwhile, QQQ has returned 27.2% over the past year. Further, QQQ has posted annualized returns of 9.3% and 16.0% over the past three and five years, respectively, slightly underperforming FTEC.  As you can see, while FTEC slightly trailed behind XLK over the past three and five years, it outperformed QQQ, meaning that it deserves to be in the conversation with these top tech ETFs.  Low Fees FTEC is in the same league as these top tech ETFs based on its multi-year performance. And it also is right in the mix with them based on its low expense ratio. In fact, with an expense ratio of 0.08%, it’s even cheaper than both QQQ and XLK, even though both are well-known for being cost-effective. QQQ has an expense ratio of 0.20%, while XLK sports an expense ratio of 0.10%.  An investor in FTEC would pay just $8 in fees on a $10,000 investment over the course of one year. Someone putting the same amount into XLK would pay $10 in fees, and an investor allocating the same amount into QQQ would pay $20. These are all reasonable amounts, but FTEC is the cheapest of the three funds.  You can see how these minor differences in expenses compound over time by looking further out. Assuming that each fund returns 5% per year going forward and that each maintains its current expense ratio, the FTEC investor would pay just $108 in fees over the course of 10 years versus $128 for the XLK investor and $255 for the QQQ investor. Below, you can check out a comparison of FTEC versus QQQ and XLK using TipRanks' ETF comparison tool. This unique tool enables investors to compare ETFs on a variety of factors, including their expense ratios, long-term performances, and Smart Scores. Investors can use the ETF comparison tool to simultaneously compare up to 20 ETFs at a time. FTEC's Holdings FTEC offers good diversification since it owns 314 stocks, but it is also fairly concentrated in that its top 10 holdings account for a relatively high 61.4% of assets. For comparison, XLK owns 67 stocks, and its top 10 holdings make up 69.9% of the fund, while QQQ owns 102 stocks, and its top 10 holdings account for 48.3% of the fund.  Below, you can check out FTEC’s top 10 holdings using TipRanks’ holdings tool.  FTEC features many of the top tech stocks that are household names in today’s stock market. Apple ( NASDAQ:AAPL ) and Microsoft ( NASDAQ:MSFT ), the two largest companies in the world by market capitalization, enjoy particularly large weightings of 22.8% and 20.5% within the fund. Meanwhile, the semiconductor industry is well-represented in FTEC’s top 10 holdings through the likes of Nvidia ( NASDAQ:NVDA ), Broadcom ( NASDAQ:AVGO ), and Advanced Micro Devices ( NASDAQ:AMD ). Enterprise software mega-caps like Adobe ( NASDAQ:ADBE ), Salesforce ( NYSE:CRM ), and Oracle ( NYSE:ORCL ) also occupy top 10 positions within the fund.   Further, an impressive nine out of FTEC’s top 10 holdings feature Smart Scores of 8 or above. The Smart Score is a proprietary quantitative stock scoring system created by TipRanks. It gives stocks a score from 1 to 10 based on eight market key factors. A score of 8 or above is equivalent to an Outperform rating. FTEC itself features an Outperform-equivalent ETF Smart Score of 8 out of 10. Not only is the Smart Score optimistic about FTEC and its individual holdings, but so are Wall Street analysts, as you'll see below. Is FTEC Stock a Buy, According to Analysts?  Turning to Wall Street, FTEC earns a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 238 Buys, 74 Holds, and two Sell ratings assigned in the past three months. The average FTEC stock price target of $149.10 implies 23.1% upside potential. Investor Takeaway While it doesn’t get as much attention as its counterparts XLK or QQQ, FTEC is right up there with them as another top tech ETF. Its performance over the past five years is comparable to those of the two larger funds, and it is actually slightly more cost-effective to own. All three of these ETFs are great funds, but FTEC, in particular, warrants further investor consideration based on its strong long-term track record, its high-quality portfolio of top tech stocks, and its minimal expense ratio.  Disclosure

What you need to know… The S&P 500 Index ($SPX ) (SPY ) on Tuesday closed down -1.47%, the Dow Jones Industrials Index ($DOWI ) (DIA ) closed down -1.14%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX ) (QQQ ) closed down -1.51%. Stocks on Tuesday sold off, with the S&P...

Wall Street's main indexes ended down over 1% on Tuesday as 10-year Treasury yields held their multi-year highs, with investors still wrestling with prospects for a long period of high interest rates and the economic fallout.

Wall Street's main indexes ended sharply lower on Tuesday as 10-year Treasury yields held their multi-year highs, with investors still wrestling with prospects for a long period of high interest rates and the economic fallout.

OpenAI is talking to investors about a possible share sale that would value the artificial-intelligence startup behind ChatGPT at between $80 billion to $90 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.