The tech sector has been a market-beating beast in recent years. Tech-heavy exchange-traded funds (ETFs) like the Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT 0.38%) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ 0.23%) have delivered annual returns of more than 21% over the last three years. Broad market trackers like the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO 0.39%) only gained 15.5% per year over the same period. Yes, that's a fantastic return from a historic perspective, but the tech sector offered even stronger gains.
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The technology boom has been driven by artificial intelligence (AI) news, starting with the public release of ChatGPT in November 2022. Many leaders in the AI market have soared sky-high, adding fuel to the tech sector's market performance fires, but also making those market darlings a bit expensive.
Fortunately, the market-moving forces left a few top-notch companies behind. I still see several tech stocks with a combination of bright business prospects and modest stock prices. Let's check out a couple of underappreciated bargain-bin tech stocks. This dynamic duo looks ready for a fresh bull run.
1. Criteo
Digital advertising has been a troubled sector since the first signs of an inflation crisis in 2021. Paris-based commerce media specialist Criteo (CRTO) provides purchase-inspiring ad services to global brands. This focus placed the Parisian company in the epicenter of the inflation-based slowdown -- why invest in lavish marketing campaigns when consumers are pinching pennies and tightening belts?
Criteo's revenues have indeed slumped since then, and so has the stock price. You know what's surging in recent quarters, though? That would be Criteo's free cash flows:
CRTO Free Cash Flow data by YCharts
The cash profits took a temporary dip, but came back stronger, with trailing cash flows reaching an all-time high in May's Q1 2025 report. But Criteo's stock price is down more than 30% in the last quarter, and the shares are trading at the bargain-bin valuation of 11.3 times earnings and 6.6 times free cash flow.
I'm not saying the digital ad market is roaring back to life in the spring of 2025. The political climate may result in another inflation spike, and advertisers are already reducing their ad-spot spending right now. Hence, Criteo's undervalued stock may see more volatility and weakness in the coming months. However, I think the market makers have underestimated Criteo's ability to turn cash profits in a soft market.
The Criteo shares you buy at a discount in this downswing should return to more reasonable valuation ratios someday. At the same time, the company's robust cash generation makes it less vulnerable to short-term financial challenges. You can buy Criteo stock with confidence while it's cheap. This one is poised for great long-term returns, and patience is the greatest Wall Street virtue of them all.
2. Hewlett Packard Enterprise
My next recommendation is more of a household name. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE -0.37%) has been around (in some form) since 1939. As the data center and cloud computing operator of the old HP business, HP Enterprise (aka HPE) plays a serious part in the AI boom.
Indeed, seven out of the 10 most powerful supercomputers today were built by HP Enterprise. Only Chinese rival Lenovo has more systems in the top 500 than HP Enterprise, and nobody can match the total number-crunching performance of this company's ultra-powerful systems. Any company or organization that needs a top-performance system for their AI training and operations is likely to check out HP Enterprise's catalog first.
So I'm talking about an AI powerhouse here. Yet, the stock price has dropped 16% lower year to date while smaller system builders Super Micro Computers (SMCI -1.98%) and Dell (DELL -0.14%) are up by 41% and down by just 1%, respectively. Trading at 8.9 times earnings and 14.3 times free cash flow, HP Enterprise looks downright cheap next to these challengers.
HP Enterprise's stock could double or triple in price and still be affordable next to Supermicro or Dell. This could be a great value play on the hardware side of the AI boom.
