(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
The U.S. stock market has been on a great run, with outsized returns driven by the so-called FAANG or GAFA stocks. As an asset manager, however, I’d rather hold some older, lesser-known technology names that have been through several bear markets as this historic bull market eventually heads into the next downturn than risk too much money on stocks the value of which has been bolstered by investor popularity.
However, beyond stellar returns, these companies have one other thing in common — celebrity chief executives. Now, I’ve never been a big fan of the concept of the celebrity CEO, whether it’s Apple’s Tim Cook arguing with President Donald Trump for pulling out of the Paris Accord, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg touring the country as if he were a campaigning politician, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos buying The Washington Post, or Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin trying to become immortal.
Don’t get me wrong. These executives do a great job, even though none of the activities mentioned above really has anything to do with driving shareholder value. In helping to drive their company stock prices higher, all of them show shades of famed circus promoter P.T. Barnum.
While it may seem hard to imagine today, these companies are not without risk. All of these tech giants have suffered exceedingly steep drawdowns over the years. Take Apple, for example, which has experienced two 82% drawdowns, from 1991 to 1997 and again from 2000 to 2003. Even in the past five years, Apple’s stock has seen significant drops on two occasions.
Recommended by Forbes

Wall Street's Secret: Advisors Sell Performance, Yet Hide Their Track Reco...
Meanwhile, Facebook and Google might have to deal with a financial boomerang such as anti-trust in Europe, China censorship or the ongoing investigation of Russian influence into the 2016 presidential election. Reputational damage is definitely a risk factor for investors. 
After an eight-year-long stock market rally, investors are rightly wondering when the good times will end. As I’ve written before, history suggests that as long as the Federal Reserve doesn’t accelerate the rising of interest rates and Trump — or Congress — doesn’t raise taxes, this market could go a lot higher. Nevertheless, the market eventually will reverse. When it does, I’d rather be holding stocks in my clients’ portfolios that are not priced for perfection.
When it comes to the technology sector, I prefer several older-tech names, some well-known, others quite obscure. One such company is Amphenol Corp., a maker of cables and fiber optic connectors. Another is integrated circuits and software maker Analog Devices. I am fond of Autodesk, the specialist design software maker. I also like the outlook for well-known names like Microsoft, Adobe and Intel.
What all these disparate companies have in common: They are well-run, show stellar performance over the long haul, and employ chief executives who work to boost shareholder value. If any of these CEOs walked into your local Starbucks, you would be unlikely to recognize them. That should be a good thing in a CEO.
As someone paid to generate strong returns for my clients, I’ll take returns over pizzazz every time. Better in my view to be defaanged.