'Not so bullish' on tech, but like Palo Alto and Snowflake - Independent Solutions' portfolio manager
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Money manager Paul Meeks said Friday that while he was "not so bullish" on the tech sector in general, he sees significant opportunity in Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) and Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW).
Speaking to CNBC, Meeks outlined his criteria for picking tech stocks in the current environment, saying he wants to find names that can grow "regardless of macroeconomic conditions."
Looking at the overall sector, Meeks contended that it was difficult to find companies that expect to see growth this year and next. Meanwhile, many of the big-name players in the segment have rallied significantly in the last couple of months.
"I'm much more cautious than I had been. Let's wait until some of these clouds clear because you cannot buy even what you think is a relatively inexpensive stock if the numbers keep going down," he said.
As an example of the more cautious commentary coming from tech heavyweights, Meeks pointed to Nvidia (NVDA), which missed expectations and gave a soft forecast when it reported its quarterly results earlier this week.
Elsewhere, Meeks spotlighted Salesforce (CRM), Marvell Technology (MRVL) and Dell Technologies (DELL) as other names that have made his "dunce list" following their recent earnings results.
On the other end of the spectrum, the portfolio manager praised PANW and SNOW as two standouts from the latest round of quarterly updates. Specifically, he called PANW the "cream of the crop" in cybersecurity and stated that the company "really showed me something" with its latest earnings release.
For SNOW, Meeks touted the firm's ability to show dramatic growth in the current economic environment, although he warned that the stock had become "pretty expensive."

For a detailed reaction to SNOW's latest results, read a deep dive prepared by Seeking Alpha contributor Ben Alaimo. Meanwhile, for PANW, fellow SA contributor Michael Fitzsimmons called the company "the planet's number-one cybersecurity ecosystem."