Isi bill whyman

As CES fades into the rearview mirror, we try to assess what the annual smorgasbord of tech and electronics tell us about the year ahead. Yet for all of the products and companies on display, more than 3, official exhibitors in all, there was very little investment news to get excited about.

On the other hand, promising "new markets in wearables, connected home and automotive entertainment are still small or nascent," Whyman adds. The good news is that the economy is improving to a point where consumers are starting to loosen their purse strings.

The bad news is that there are few major product cycles that will trigger the acceleration of tech company revenue, with exception to the highly anticipated roll out of new computer game consoles, Whyman says.

As for tablets themselves, their designs and sizes are now competing with phones as well as PC, blurring the market. Smartphones continue to sell, but they competition is fierce and applying intense pressure on margins. There were lots of very cool phones bendable glass anybody? The likes of Google would be the beneficiary of such a trend.

World-wide information technology spending is forecast to increase 5. It projects the biggest growth in spending will be telecom equipment, a projected 9.

In part, companies targeting consumers in markets such as China and Brazil had benefited from the take up of mobile phones and PCs, said Mr. These countries didn't display as much demand on the business side of technology, he said. With an emphasis on cutting costs and building cash reserves during the recession, big businesses in mature economies delayed large technology purchases and updates.

Oracle, the business software maker, chip-designer Altera, and e-commerce giant eBay are among the tech companies that boast the best combination of high-quality cash return with the ability to increase payouts while facing relatively less secular risk, Whyman says. Another group of big tech companies that are strong candidates for returning cash include storage giant EMC, Google and software outfit Adobe Systems.

These companies enjoy strong businesses, which Whyman refers to as "firepower," as well as reasonably low secular risk. The bond market seems to be betting that Icahn's buyback gambit isn't likely to succeed in the short-term, but that doesn't mean that more tech companies won't continue to increase their cash payouts to shareholders.

Mark Veverka is a technology columnist with more than 25 years of financial journalism experience. Facebook Twitter Email. Carl Icahn's dangerous dance with Apple.