The company advised that due to “continuing challenging economic conditions in certain regions, phasing delays at major customers in North America and delayed decisions by customers,” it has been forced to scale back its revenues expectations for the full year.

Pace now expects sales to clock in at $2.55bn in 2015, down from $2.62bn last year and a hefty downgrade from its previous revenues prediction of between $2.65bn and $2.72bn.

 In better news Pace kept its forecasts for adjusted earnings before interest, tax and appreciation stable at $255m, up from $241.1m in 2014. The Yorkshire-based business also confirmed that its touted $1.4bn takeover by US-based Arris Group “continues to progress in-line with expectations and … is expected to close in late 2015.”

The chips are up

But while Pace advised performance should pick up during the second half of 2015, thanks to a better product mix and improving supply chain, I believe the company lacks the rosy revenues outlook over at ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM). While it is true that Pace is a big player in the TV and broadband technology markets, it does not carry the same weight with blue-chip customers as the mobile microchip designer.

Fears of saturation in the critical smartphone and tablet PC markets has prompted much head-scratching over whether ARM Holdings can maintain the breakneck earnings growth of previous years. But thanks to its alliance with industry giants like Apple, and increasingly with the fast-growing manufacturers of China, I believe the Cambridge firm is in great shape to continue heading off the charge of competitors like Intel.

On top of this, ARM Holdings is also making steady headway in the networking and servers segments, which are red-hot growth markets in their own right. Indeed, the business advised just this week that it expects its chips to be in 25% of all servers within the next five years.

A strong selling point

And I am also more positive on payment specialist PayPoint’s (LSE: PAY) sales outlook than that of Pace, thanks to its hefty presence on the UK High Street.

The business currently operates from 27,800 retail outlets up and down the country, including both supermarket giants, like Tesco and Sainsbury, and independent retailers, and provides a variety of services — from accepting bill payments and zipping money across the globe, through to topping up pre-paid cash cards, PayPoint has its fingers in many pies.

PayPoint saw UK and Irish retail transactions leap 24% during April–June, a result that helped group transactions clip 6% higher in the period, to 201.6m. With the firm also making progress in divesting its underperforming online and mobile divisions, I believe earnings at PayPoint should step comfortably higher in the years ahead.

The post Why I Would Buy Tech Giants ARM Holdings plc And Paypoint plc Over Pace plc appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Royston Wild has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK owns shares of PayPoint. The Motley Fool UK has recommended ARM Holdings. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Anyone who is everyone has been willing to give technology stocks a chance. Legendary investor Jim Mellon (net worth approximately £800m) is also an advocate for investing in the technology sector in his latest book titled Fast Forward – The Technology and Companies Shaping Our Future. Within, Mellon points out the merits of driver less cars, robotics and nanotechnology.

So here are my top three technology stocks to invest in for next year.

ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM)

Despite an analyst at broker Liberium saying that the “smartphone party is over” and “licensing can’t grow at the same rate indefinitely”, the UK chip maker is upbeat about the fourth-quarter and beyond. ARM expects its smartphone royalty revenue growth to accelerate to a 15%-25% compound annual growth rate (AGR) up to 2018 from less than 8% this year. However, ARM has to “watch its back”. US chip maker Intel plans to launch a competitive smartphone product SoFIA to market in early 2015, so the pressure is on in the smartphone world. Also ARM’s finance director, Tim Score plans to leave in 2015 which could spark management woes.

Imagination Technologies (LSE: IMG)

The company beat analysts’ forecasts with its most recent set of results in mid-December; however, it reported a pre-tax loss of £10.7m, down from a profit of £2.2m. The UK microchip designer, which counts Apple as its biggest customer (and ARM Holdings as its UK rival), earlier launched MIPS Creatot I20 – which targets hobbyists and children who want to learn computer coding. This is a company which is continually innovating and developing. Imagination expects a stronger performance in the second half of the year and has plans to bump up its operating profit margins from 14% to 30-40% in the next three to five years. Although its shares have fallen 20% since June (2014), it could be perceived by some tech-hungry investors as a good buying opportunity.

 Pace Technologies (LSE: PIC)

The FTSE 250 company has seen its shares nearly quadruple in the past three years. It has built on its relationship with US cable providers such as Comcast and AT&T. Pace recently appointed a new group chief financial officer (CFO) Mark Shuttleworth, an appointment which analysts welcomed, although the sudden resignation of the previous CFO Roddy Murray did cause a bit of a share wobble. The set-top box maker trimmed its full-year revenue forecasts by 3% to $2.6bn-$2.65bn in November 2014, however, it boosted its projected operating margin to more than 9% for the full year. Things look rosy for Pace if they expand into software or  the “smart” connected home market, according to broker Liberium.

The post 3 Top Tech Buys For 2015: ARM Holdings plc, Imagination Technologies plc and Pace Technologies plc appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

More reading

• Back below 500p, is it time to consider BP shares again?
• Is there any value left in Lloyds shares now they’re over £1?
• How much would I need in a Stocks and Shares ISA to target £19,036 a year in second income?
• After huge new nuclear deals, are Rolls-Royce’s sub-£15 shares set to power higher?
• This 7.5% yielding passive income share is at a 13-year low! Time to consider buying?

Sabuhi Gard has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended ARM Holdings. The Motley Fool UK owns shares of Imagination Technologies and Apple. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.