Great Call on Intel! What's Next?

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and its ilk in the semiconductor industry are fighting a strong tide as the economy takes its lumps and both individual and business customers cut back on computing purchases. Intel has been handling the downturn better than its competitors, though, and it's continuing to position itself well for the recovery through deals like the recent one with Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO).

On the Motley Fool's CAPS service there are over 6,000 members who have rated Intel's stock an outperformer versus 530 who think the stock will lag the rest of the market. Some of these Intel bulls have even managed to post positive points on CAPS, because Intel's stock has fallen less than the rest of the market over the past few years. Totasz is one of CAPS' Intel fans and is also one of the score leaders in the stock, thanks to an outperform rating logged back in mid-2006.

Totasz is one of CAPS' All-Stars -- players with a rating of 80 or greater -- and has managed a stock-picking accuracy of 52% while racking up close to 400 points. Intel isn't this player's only great call. Here's a look at a few of the other prescient picks:

Data from CAPS.

So what is this investor looking at these days? Here are a few of the most recent calls on CAPS:

Data from CAPS.

While not all of these picks may pan out, they could be a good place to start some further research. I decided to take a closer look at Motley Fool Stock Advisor favorite Apple.

An Apple for all seasons?
Last month I argued against an underperform rating on Apple and actually added my own outperform rating on CAPS. The pick has worked in my favor so far -- the stock is up just a bit more than 2%, while the S&P index has fallen close to 4%. Yet I have to admit, I still have my concerns.

For one, the stock is hardly cheap -- while many admirable companies are trading at P/E multiples below (or well below) ten, Apple's trailing P/E is nearly 18. At the same time, I have to wonder whether consumers will continue to pay a premium for Apple products in a recessionary climate. My guess is that they will in some cases -- in this Fool's opinion the iPod and iPhone are appreciably better products than what competitors offer. In other areas, though -- namely the computer arm, where investors hoped the company would steal market share from Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and the PC bloc -- the company may stall a bit.

In the end, my original conclusions are still intact. That is, that the company has done a great job creating a strong brand in a consumer electronics market often characterized by commoditized products and thin margins. I may not be quite as bullish as CAPS member atlasbooks -- who recently said "For the long run, this is the best tech stock period. In tech innovation is the name of the game and no one innovates better than Apple" -- but I certainly put Apple near the top of my list of favorite tech stocks.

But here's the important question: What's your take on Apple? Will its great product portfolio help protect it during the recession? Get in on the action by clicking over to CAPS. CAPS is absolutely free and already has over 130,000 stock pickers chipping in to find the best stocks out there.

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