Cash In on Consumer Devices Stocks

It's time to focus on consumer devices, a segment that has started the year with a bang.

Consumers were wowed by the new gadgets demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

On display at the gathering were giant plasma screens and tiny cell-phone screens.

The smaller gadgets are the more powerful draw, as they are rich with features and longer battery lives.

A major theme for many of the gadgets on show was the convergence of technologies for customized home networking, computing and entertainment.

This column is also a continuation of my December profiles of 10 Tech Buys and 10 Sells for Year-End and Nine Tech Stocks to Sell.

In those columns, I set some guidelines to use for buying undervalued stocks on weakness and selling overvalued stocks on strength with specific moving averages, value levels, pivots and risky levels at which to take action.

The columns also included profiles of some lesser-known overvalued names where long-term investors would want to sell 25% to 50% of their positions.

For both, I suggested it would be time to review the names again in early 2006 -- and here we are.

In upcoming columns, I'll discuss Internet-related stocks, software stocks and stocks of chipmakers.

But let's start with those attention-getting gadgets.

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The Goods on Gadgets Here are the levels to keep in mind for this group of tech stocks
Consumer Devices	Jan. 6 Price	Rating	(-UV)/OV By	Fair Value	Value Levels	Pivots	Risky Levels
Company Name/Symbol
Apple (AAPL:Nasdaq)	$76.30	HOLD	29.00%	$59.16	51.86 A	72.59 M	82.85 W
AT&T (T:NYSE)	$24.93	HOLD	-28.10%	$34.67	22.19 M		26.59 W
Cisco Systems (CSCO:Nasdaq)	$18.77	HOLD	-10.70%	$21.01	18.23 M	18.82 M	20.61 Q
Crown Castle (CCI:NYSE)	$28.12	SELL	57.70%	$17.83	25.67 Q	27.58 Q	29.32 Q
EMC (EMC:NYSE)	$13.73	HOLD	-42.60%	$23.92	13.22 Q	14.08 M	14.76 M
Juniper (JNPR:Nasdaq)	$22.06	HOLD	-39.30%	$36.31	21.63 W	24.48 M	25.06 M
Motorola (MOT:NYSE)	$24.34	HOLD	23.70%	$19.68	20.98 A	23.10 A	27.36 M
SanDisk (SNDK:Nasdaq)	$73.95	HOLD	76.30%	$41.95	51.30 S	66.56 M
Sirius Satellite (SIRI:Nasdaq)	$6.54	SELL	-0.20%	$6.55		7.17 M	8.46 M
Source: Global Market Consultants

Apple Computer(AAPL Quote) begins its MacWorld convention Tuesday with shares having just made a fresh 52-week intraday high, $77.20. It may trade even higher than that this session in anticipation of CEO Steve Jobs revealing another cool gadget. The stock is rated a hold by ValuEngine, and according to my model, it's 29.0% overvalued, with fair value at $59.16. The weekly chart profile is overbought, with the five-week modified moving average at $69.92 as strong momentum continues.

Apple is scheduled to report quarterly earnings after the close on Jan. 18, and analyst consensus for EPS is 53 cents, according to First Call. Long-term investors should consider selling strength to my weekly risky level at $82.85, reducing the position to 50% of what it was on Dec. 1. Another way to protect gains would be to use a sell stop below my monthly value level at $72.59. I would add to an Apple long position on weakness to my annual value level at $51.86.