Have you bought into the Ultrabook craze, are you content with your iPad, or still into your laptop? Regardless of your personal preference, there's money to be made in the burgeoning tech industry that's now producing hybrid tablets that also act as a laptop, at least according to one top analyst.
"The key for the Ultrabook category will be the Ultrabooks that are dual mode devices," says Sean Udall, independent trader and author of Minyanville's TechStrat Report. "So you have what looks like a Mac Book Air but then you can pop the top off and you can carry the screen around so you have your tablet when you want your tablet then you have your laptop when you want your laptop." Udall adds that these Ultrabooks will pack a memory punch the iPad and other tablets simply don't.
The Ultrabook's ubiquity at last month's CES conference in Las Vegas suggests the market will soon be flooded with them. For Udall, success it will come down to a precious few that "hit it out of the park."
If you don't want to play the odds with respect to the actual devices, plenty of other companies stand to benefit from the popularity of portable tech.
"Intel (INTC) in fact is spearing or creating this category and I think it's gonna be a big winner for them," says Udall, adding that he expects the tech giant to own 70-80% of the market share on the chips used in Ultrabooks. That, he says will help the stock rise from about $26 to a range of $33 and $35 "without much effort."
When it comes to the software on these next generation computers, Apple's (AAPL) popular iOS is trapped exclusively on their own devices. So this could benefit Google (GOOG), at the demise of Microsoft (MSFT) --a stock Macke owns.
"I may have Microsoft short and keep it short for a long period of time," says Udall. "Dare I say Microsoft could become a Research in Motion (RIMM)." However, he clarifies that it's unlikely right now because of cash and profitability.
Udall has similar feelings toward IBM (IBM) because he says both companies' "estimates were for moderate growth, single digit growth. Stock's got two or three times the P/E of a lot of these other companies that are growing two or three times faster."
So what could he and Macke agree on? The age of Ultrabooks only serves to increase network and bandwidth use and so companies like Juniper (JNPR) and Cisco (CSCO) could benefit, as could network chipmaker Broadcom (BRCM) for much the same reason.
What do you think? Is it time to play Ultrabooks? Let us know in the comment section below.
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