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Time to Buy These Highly Ranked Tech Stocks as We Begin Q3

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The Nasdaq’s bullish trend has continued this year with the tech-heavy index up +32% YTD as we begin the third quarter. Naturally, there are concerns that the rally among many tech stocks may be overdone or can’t be sustained.

With that being said, Salesforce (CRM - Free Report) ) and VeriSign (VRSN - Free Report) ) are two tech stocks that may have more room to run, and now appears to be a great time to buy.

Sustainable Growth

Salesforce stock has rebounded with a vengeance and has now soared +60% this year with the leading provider of customer relationship management software expecting its business to be boosted by generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Expansive annual top and bottom-line growth is expected for Salesforce with sales forecasted to rise 10% in its current fiscal 2024 and jump another 11% in FY25 to $38.47 billion.

Even better, earnings are now projected to soar 42% in FY24 at $7.44 per share compared to EPS of $5.24 in the company’s FY23. Plus, FY25 earnings are expected to leap another 21% at $8.99 per share.

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Looking at VeriSign, its stock is only up +8% in 2023 but the global provider of domain name registry services and internet infrastructure has an attractive outlook as well.

VeriSign’s sales are expected to be up 5% this year and rise another 8% in FY24 to $1.62 billion. On the bottom line, earnings are now forecasted to expand 11% in FY23 and jump another 11% in FY24 at $7.68 per share.

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Quarterly Projections

Investors are typically on the lookout for companies that are expected to have expansive quarterly growth. These stocks usually move higher leading up to their earnings reports and afterward, if the results are indeed compelling along with favorable guidance.

In this regard, Salesforce and VeriSign are very intriguing with their fiscal second-quarter results expected on August 23 and July 27 respectively.

Salesforce earnings are expected to have climbed 59% during Q2 at $1.90 per share compared to EPS of $1.19 in the prior-year quarter with sales forecasted to be up 10% to $8.52 billion.

More impressive, Salesforce has now beaten earnings expectations for 25 consecutive quarters and most recently beat the Zacks Consensus for Q1 earnings by 5%.

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Pivoting to VeriSign, earnings are expected to have risen 10% during Q2 at $1.70 per share compared to EPS of $1.54 a year ago with sales forecasted to be up 6% to $372.02 million.

VeriSign has beaten earnings expectations for seven consecutive quarters most recently beating the Zacks Consensus for Q1 earnings by 3%.

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Bottom Line

Salesforce and VeriSign are two tech stocks that could move higher in the second half of the year with both sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at the moment. Now appears to be a great time to buy as Salesforce and VeriSign stock could start rising before their second-quarter earnings reports as solid quarterly growth is expected.


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Salesforce Inc. (CRM) - free report >>

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