Tech investor Paul Meeks is waiting for the Nasdaq to fall 20% from its record high before making any big moves.
Meeks, who’s known for running the world’s largest tech fund during the late 1990s, believes tech stocks are still too expensive despite this month’s correction.
“For the long-term, I’m uber bullish on tech,” the portfolio manager at Independent Solutions Wealth Management told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Thursday. “That being said, my concern and really my only concern, is valuation. But it is a pretty big concern.”
With the Nasdaq on track for its worst week since March 20, Meeks believes another wave of selling could come before the end of the year, dragging popular mega-cap growth names even lower.
He lists the contentious relationship between the U.S. and China as a potential catalyst for another wave of selling.
“Folks don’t realize that the tech supply chain is intertwined between those two nations. It can really never be separated,” said Meeks, who added an escalation of rhetoric particularly around the U.S. presidential election is his biggest worry about the tech sector.
His near-term cautiousness is a stark departure from where he stood just a few months ago. In early June on “Trading Nation, Meeks referred to the group as a safe haven play that was on the cusp of all-time highs.
Now Meeks, a long-term Apple bear, sees the iPhone maker as the marquis tech name facing the most challenges. He believes the stock price is sharply overshooting its multi-year growth prospects.
“Man, it got really expensive a couple of weeks back,” he said.
Meeks contends overall tech volatility will persist, and he calculates there’s a 50/50 chance the Nasdaq will fall into bear market territory this year.
Yet, he won’t back away from his multi-year bullish thesis for the group.
“The fundamentals going into Covid, the fundamentals during Covid and the fundamentals coming out of Covid will prove to be superior than the other ten sectors that make up the S&P 500,” Meeks said.
Disclosure: Paul Meeks owns the stocks mentioned, and he is not shorting them.
