The stock market has been a caldron of fear and losses over the past month, and the huge decline of more than 6.5% in the S&P 500 Index last week highlights the intensity of the storm on Wall Street. In fact, during the past month, the broad measure of the domestic market is down around 3% in what is shaping up to be one of the worst months for stocks in some time. Yet not all sectors of the market are suffering.

Technology stocks, as measured by the Technology SPDR (ETF)(NYSE:XLK), actually are up 2% during the past month. The relative outperformance of tech vs. the broader market is impressive, but even more notable are the gains in some of the biggest and best tech stocks out there. Let’s take a look at the five best performers in XLK during the past month, as they represent high-tech stock shelters from the current market storm.

Best High Tech Stocks To Buy For 2012: Texas Instruments Incorporated (TXN)

Texas Instruments Incorporated engages in the design and sale of semiconductors to electronics designers and manufacturers worldwide. The company?s Analog segment offers high-performance analog products comprising standard analog semiconductors, such as amplifiers, data converters, and interface semiconductors; high-volume analog and logic products; and power management semiconductors and line-powered systems. Its Embedded Processing segment includes DSPs that perform mathematical computations to process and enhance digital data; and microcontrollers, which are designed to control a set of specific tasks for electronic equipment. The company?s Wireless segment designs, manufactures, and sells application processors and connectivity products. Its Other segment offers smaller semiconductor products, which include DLP products that are primarily used in projectors to create high-definition images; and application-specific integrated circuits. This segment also provides handheld graphing and scientific calculators, as well as licenses technologies to other electronic companies. The company serves the communications, computing, industrial, consumer electronics, automotive, and education sectors. Texas Instruments Incorporated sells its products through a direct sales force, distributors, and third-party sales representatives. It has collaboration agreements with PLX Technology Inc.; Neonode, Inc.; and Ubiquisys Ltd. The company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Advisors’ Opinion:

• By Fabian At 2011-12-26

  Texas Instruments (TXN) has been given an Overweight rating by J.P. Morgan and is the top pick of the industry because it has positive potential to Consensus estimates over the next year. Currently, its stock is trading at $30.42 and is expected to reach a target price of $33. Earnings per share of $2.63 are likely to see a 10% accretion in C12 due to the company’s acquisition of National Semiconductor. Texas Instruments has market capitalization of $34.76 billion and its P/E ratio of 16.6x is likely to rise to 17.4x by the end of next year.

• By Fabian At 2011-10-30

  Texas Instruments investment returned 46.3% during the past year. The amount of investment is $403 Million. Miller reduced his TXN holdings by 25% during the last quarter of 2010. Since then the stock returned 11.1%. David Tepper also bought TXN during the third quarter.

• By Paul Goodwin At 2011-8-26

  How do they make their money? TXN makes the PA Duplexer Module and the CDMA PA that goes into every iPhone. With a PEG ratio of 0.2 reveals huge discount compared to peers. This is a cash rich company and one I feel will be a strong performer within the next year.

• By Chuck At 2011-8-26

  PEG ratio of 0.2 reveals huge discount compared to peers. This is a cash rich company and one I feel will be a strong performer within the next year.

Best High Tech Stocks To Buy For 2012: Google Inc. (GOOG)

Google Inc. maintains an index of Web sites and other online content for users, advertisers, and Google network members and other content providers. It offers AdWords, an auction-based advertising program; AdSense program, which enables Web sites that are part of the Google Network to deliver ads from its AdWords advertisers; Google Display, a display advertising network that comprises the videos, text, images, and other interactive ads; DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a real-time auction marketplace for the trading of display ad space; and YouTube that provides video, interactive, and other ad formats for advertisers. The company also provides Google Mobile that optimizes Google?s applications for mobile devices in browser and downloadable form; and enables advertisers to run search ad campaigns on mobile devices, as well as Google Local that provides local information on the Web; and Google Boost for small businesses to participate in the ads auction. In addition, it offers Android, an open source mobile software platform; Google Chrome OS, an open source operating system; Google Chrome, a Web browser; Google TV, a platform for the consumers to use the television and the Internet on a single screen; and Google Books platform to discover, search, and consume content from printed books online. Further, the company provides Google Apps, a cloud computing suite of message and collaboration tools, which includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Sites; Google Search Appliance that offers real-time search of business and intranet applications, and public Web sites; Google Site Search, a custom search engine; Google Commerce Search for online retail enterprises; Google Checkout to make online shopping and payments streamlined and secure; Google Maps Application Programming Interface; and Google Earth Enterprise, a firewall software solution for imagery and data visualization. Google Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Advisors’ Opinion:

• By McWillams At 2012-1-11

  This stock has been going up higher and higher for at least the last 10 years.  They don’t seem to be letting up.  On the fundamental side, their market share is growing as well as the market itself.  They are starting to get into the social networking space as well with the recent release of Google+.  The thing you want to watch for is their operational costs.  It’s been rising very quickly due mostly to hiring costs.  I don’t foresee that stabilizing at any point.  Just make sure the earnings are growing faster than rising costs.

• By Bill At 2011-8-28

  Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG : 527.41, 5.92) announced to have purchased technology patents from International Business Machine Corp. (NYSE: IBM) as the former stocks up on intellectual property to defend itself against lawsuits. Shares of IBM were down 0.33 percent or 60 cents to trade at $181.20 in the pre-market trading. Shares of Google had closed at $610.94 yesterday.

• By Chuck At 2011-8-26

  The brokerage expect outperformance for Google, given continued strength in the paid search market driven by a modestly improving economy and online share gains and traction with non-search businesses, primarily display and mobile. The brokerage is modeling 18 percent and 19 percent revenue and EPS growth, respectively, in 2011.

• By Sy_Harding At 2011-8-26

  With a PEG ratio of 0.6 Google is trading at a big discount compared to its peers. With a recovering economy and growing technology sector I see GOOG poised to hit $700.

Best High Tech Stocks To Buy For 2012: Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)

Computer Sciences Corporation provides information technology (IT) and professional services to governments and commercial enterprises. The company?s IT outsourcing services comprise operating customer?s technology infrastructure, including systems analysis, applications development, network operations, desktop computing, and data center management services; business process outsourcing; managing transactional business functions for clients, such as procurement and supply chain, call centers and customer relationship management, credit services, claims processing and logistics. It also offers cloud computing and cyber security protection services. In addition, the company provides range of services in the areas of infrastructure as a service, software as a service (SaaS), business process as a service, platform as a service, and other technologies. Further, its IT and professional services consist of systems integration, including designing, developing, implementing, and integrating information systems; and management consulting, technology consulting, and other professional services, consist of advising clients on the strategic acquisition and utilization of IT and on business strategy, security, modeling, simulation, engineering, operations, change management, and business process reengineering. Additionally, the company licenses software systems, including SaaS offerings for the financial services and other industry-specific markets; and provides a range of end-to-end business solutions. It has its operations primarily in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company was founded in 1959 and is based in Falls Church, Virginia.

Advisors’ Opinion:

• By Vatalyst At 2011-10-22

  Shares are trading at $30 against their 52-week trading range of $25.60 to $56.61. At the current market price, the company is capitalized at $4.65 billion. The company earned $4.299 per share last year, trades on a price to earnings ratio of 6.01 and paid a dividend of $0.80 (a yield of 2.70%), which is covered more than six times by its earnings.

  Computer Sciences clients for its service based business are mostly governmental and corporate. Quarterly revenue growth of 3% may come under further pressure if spending is capped further as governments’ attempt to control budget deficits. Its operating margin of 5.96% would suffer under such a scenario. However, it may be able to continue with its well-covered dividend in the short to medium term, even if earnings are eroded. A buy for the longer term and ahead of economic recovery, but in the shorter term investors may prefer Accenture (ACN) that benefits from a more diversified client portfolio, operating margins of 13%, and a dividend yield of 2,40% that is 2.5 times covered by its earnings.

Best High Tech Stocks To Buy For 2012: Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)

Johnson & Johnson engages in the research and development, manufacture, and sale of various products in the health care field worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Consumer, Pharmaceutical, and Medical Devices and Diagnostics. The Consumer segment provides products used in baby care, skin care, oral care, wound care, and women?s health care fields, as well as nutritional, over-the-counter pharmaceutical products, and wellness and prevention platforms under the brands of JOHNSON?S, AVEENO, CLEAN & CLEAR, JOHNSON?S Adult, NEUTROGENA, RoC, LUBRIDERM, DABAO, LISTERINE, REACH, BAND-AID, CAREFREE, STAYFREE, SPLENDA, TYLENOL, SUDAFED, ZYRTEC, MOTRIN IB, and PEPCID AC. The Pharmaceutical segment offers products in various therapeutic areas, such as anti-infective, antipsychotic, contraceptive, dermatology, gastrointestinal, hematology, immunology, neurology, oncology, pain management, and virology. Its principal products include REMICADE for the treatment of immune mediated inflammatory diseases; STELARA for the treatment of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis; SIMPONI, a treatment for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis; VELCADE for the treatment of multiple myeloma; PREZISTA and INTELENCE for treating HIV/AIDS patients; NUCYNTA for moderate to severe acute pain; INVEGA SUSTENNAtm for the acute and maintenance treatment of schizophrenia in adults; RISPERDAL CONSTA for the management of bipolar I disorder and schizophrenia; and PROCRIT to stimulate red blood cell production. The Medical Devices and Diagnostics segment primarily offers circulatory disease management products; orthopaedic joint reconstruction, spinal care, and sports medicine products; surgical care, aesthetics, and women?s health products; blood glucose monitoring and insulin delivery products; professional diagnostic products; and disposable contact lenses. The company was founded in 1886 and is based in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Advisors’ Opinion:

• By Glenn At 2012-1-11

  Johnson &Johnson (JNJ, $64). Health care giant has “geographic and product diversity” and is positioned to profit via consumer, pharmaceutical and medical device businesses.

• By Michael At 2012-1-11

  I really like JNJ.  They are the largest health care company in the world, in an industry that is ever growing.  They have extremely strong brands for consumer products all around the world.  They also have a strong business on the medical technology end as well.  As the world grays with increasing numbers of the elderly, a massive and emerging middle class in the emerging markets and just the nature of the health care industry in general, I think JNJ is very well positioned to take advantage of significant growth over the next decade.  They are also lending money to European banks.  That means they have a lot of cash.

• By ETF Authority At 2011-11-21

  I have viewed Johnson & Johnson as the perfect dividend stock ever since I started investing in dividend stocks. As such, I have an above-average position in it. The recent product recalls and the lack of immediate action on behalf of executives are a potential issue for the company, although I doubt it will lead to JNJ’s demise. The company should be able to turn around, and those that entered at current levels likely will generate strong returns in the future.

• By Smith At 2011-10-28

  Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) engages in the research and development, manufacture, and sale of various products in the health care field worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Consumer, Pharmaceutical, and Medical Devices and Diagnostics. The company has consistently raised distributions for 48 years in a row and yields 3.50%. The company is attractively valued at the moment at 12.80 times earnings.

• By James K. Glassman At 2011-10-21

  The Motley Fool Web site recently warned against buying several stocks owned by Warren Buffett, legendary chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A). Among those that the Fool panned were Coca-Cola (KO) and the Washington Post (WPO). I’m actually a fan of both, but an even better choice among Buffett’s holdings is Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), which the Fool admitted was a “great opportunity.” After J&J was hammered in 2010, mainly because of production problems, Buffett raised his position by nearly three-fourths. J&J is a sound company with a terrific brand in sectors (drugs and consumer products) that are steady in hard times, and its stock yields 3.3%.

• By Jim Cramer At 2011-9-7

  Unless William Weldon steps down as chief executive officer after his multiple mistakes at the helm of this once great company, we are going to see a high $50s stock at best, with a yield of 4% that will not be attractive. I am convinced that the FDA will come down hard on the company because of its multiple recalls and 2011 will be the year that the tarnished brand will start tarnishing earnings. I am going to say $58 for a target, although Weldon’s exit could take the stock to $66. I bet they don’t do the right thing, though. They haven’t yet. Why would we expect anything different. A down stock for an up year.

Best High Tech Stocks To Buy For 2012: NetApp Inc. (NTAP)

NetApp, Inc. engages in the design, manufacturing, marketing, and technical support of networked storage solutions. It supplies enterprise storage and data management software, and hardware products and services. The company offers Data ONTAP, an operating system that supports storage area network (SAN) and network-attached storage (NAS) environments; storage efficiency technologies, including FlexVol, FlexClone, and Deduplication technologies; storage management and application integration software, such as OnCommand management software; fabric-attached storage unified storage systems, which support a range of data for users on various platforms; and virtual storage tier; V-Series network-based virtualization solutions that provide SAN and NAS access to the data stored in heterogeneous storage arrays. It also provides data protection software products, including Snapshot, SnapRestore, SnapVault, and Open Systems SnapVault techologies; MetroCluster products; and SnapMirror data replication solution. In addition, the company offers data retention and archive products, and Flash Cache modules; and storage security products for data security and key management in IP SAN, NAS, and tape backup environments; StorageGRID that enables intelligent data management and secure content retention; and professional services, global support solutions, and customer education and training. It serves energy, financial services, government, high technology, Internet, life sciences and healthcare services, manufacturing, media, entertainment, animation and video postproduction, and telecommunications industries. It offers its products in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Japan. The company was formerly known as Network Appliance, Inc. and changed its name to NetApp, Inc. in March 2008. NetApp, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

Advisors’ Opinion:

• By Quickel At 2011-8-26

  The company is gaining significant market share over the past year due to a strong storage-optimization-based product positioning especially in virtual-server-related Storage deployments, ramping distribution and sales presence, and increasing penetration into the enterprise.

  The brokerage expects these growth drivers to continue driving share gains for NetApp and solidify its recently-achieved No.2 position in the Storage market.

  The analysts said: “Considering our belief that NTAP is strongly positioned in the strongest Storage growth markets, is gaining significant share at scale and has seen a significant reset in its earning power, we believe there is material potential upside in NTAP stock at current levels.”

Best High Tech Stocks To Buy For 2012: STEC Inc. (STEC)

STEC, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets enterprise-class flash solid-state drives (SSDs) for use in high-performance storage and server systems. Its solid-state drive products include ZeusIOPS SSDs, which provide enterprise-class data storage solutions; and MACH-class SSDs that are small form factor storage solutions for mission-critical systems in various industries. The company?s flash cards and flash module products comprise ATA PC Cards for equipment requiring standard form factors and moderate capacities, such as data recorders, avionics systems, and telecommunication applications; CompactFlash products, which provide interoperability with systems based on the PC Card ATA standard by using a passive adapter; flash modules; secure digital memory cards; USB flash drives; and single chip drives. It also offers dynamic random access memory (DRAM) products, which include dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs), small-outline DIMMs, mini-registered DIMMs, very low profile registered DIMMs, and fully-buffered DIMMs for computing, communications, and industrial applications. In addition, the company provides integrated circuit tower stacked components for thin small outline package and ball grid array semiconductor packages for use on memory modules and within high capacity flash products; DRAM modules with stacked components for use primarily in high-performance servers, workstations, switches and routers, and other custom systems; and flash products with stacked components. It sells its products through direct sales force and original equipment manufacturer distributors in the United States and internationally. STEC, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Santa Ana, California.

Advisors’ Opinion:

• By Curtis At 2011-8-26

  Stec is the only provider qualified and shipping product in the Enterprise Storage Market for Fibre Channel and SAS interface drives. While competition appears inevitable in the market in the future, the brokerage believes the company has a strong technological and qualification lead at the OEMs, which should enable it to maintain market share leadership in the future.

  “Given our expectation that the Enterprise Storage SSD market is likely to be significantly up in 2011 over 2010, and STEC appears likely to maintain an edge over competition in terms of technology and, hence, market share, we believe STEC shares at current levels do not capture the potential upside in terms of market potential or competitive positioning,” the analysts said.

Best High Tech Stocks To Buy For 2012: Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc (TMO)

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. provides analytical instruments, equipment, reagents and consumables, software, and services for research, manufacture, analysis, discovery, and diagnostics. Its Analytical Technologies segment offers analytical instruments to analyze prepared samples, software interpretation tools, laboratory information management systems, and laboratory automation systems; environmental instruments and integrated systems for environmental monitoring, safety, and security applications; and process instruments, integrated systems, and measurement solutions. It also provides diagnostics products used in healthcare laboratories to prepare and analyze patient samples; and biosciences products comprising reagents and consumables used in life science research, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical production. The company?s Laboratory Products and Services segment offers laboratory equipment, including sample preparation, environment storage and handling equipment, and laboratory workstations; laboratory consumables; research market solutions consisting of chemicals, instruments and apparatus, liquid handling pumps and devices, and capital equipment and consumables; and healthcare market products comprising analytical equipment, diagnostic tools, and reagents and consumables. It also provides workplace and first responder equipment, protective gear, and apparel; and packaging, warehousing, distribution, labeling, pharmaceutical and biospecimen storage, and analytical laboratory services in the area of drug discovery and pharmaceutical clinical trials. The company serves pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, hospitals and clinical diagnostic labs, universities, research institutions, government agencies, and environmental and industrial process control settings primarily in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Advisors’ Opinion:

• By Mark At 2011-8-26

  TMO sells analytical instruments. After a successful first quarter where profits rose 55%, TMO looks to continue the streak. TMO’s P/E ratio of 13 reflects a significant discount compared to industry averages, making a strong case for TMO to rise to $65.