(Every week, Business Edge columnist Gyle Konotopetz profiles the top three stock picks of one of Canada’s top investment pros.)

FEATURED PRO: Howard Sutton is a partner and portfolio manager with Tera Capital, a Toronto-based firm specializing in science and technology stocks. The featured stocks are in Tera Capital’s Global Technology Fund, which has gained three per cent over three years and lost 43.4 per cent over the past year (through March 31).

Sutton’s Perspective: “There are certain areas of IT (Information Technology) and enterprise software and services that help businesses be more productive and I believe the semiconductors will lead a recovery in technology. However, I wouldn’t be running out today and jumping all over these things. I’d be looking at them and choosing good entry points. I think that over the next three to six months there will be a wonderful opportunity to buy these stocks.”



FIRST STAR

* QUICKLOGIC (QUIK-Nasdaq)

* Recent Price: $5.10.

* 12-Month Range: $3.25-$7.11.

* Sutton’s 12-Month Target: $6.

* Snapshot: Cool semiconductor chips are the name of QuickLogic’s game. The company designs and sells chips that can be programmed by manufacturers and embedded standardized function chips that help speed the development of electronic products. Their top customers are Alcatel, IBM and Boeing.

* CEO: E. Thomas Hart.

* Head Office: Sunnyvale, CA (189 employees).

* Vital Stats: Revenue (last 12 mos), $29 million; Profit/Loss (last 12 mos), $29.4 million loss; Market Cap, $118.2 million; Shares Outstanding, 23.2 million.

* Sutton’s Comment: “When you’re designing chips, you can make them kind of fixed but very fast, or programmable and flexible but slower. Quick combines these two types of chips. It’s kind of a panacea of semiconductors. They also have $25 million in cash.”

* Sutton’s Risk Rating: High.

SECOND STAR

* Ramtron International (RMTR-Nasdaq)



* Recent Price: $3.09.

* 12-Month Range: $1.25-$5.63.

* Sutton’s 12-Month Target: $5.

* Snapshot: Ramtron’s chip is described as an enhanced dynamic random access chip, or you can just call it a fancy memory chip. The chip is used in PC boards, communications devices and video graphics systems. Top customers are Motorola and Lucent.

* CEO: William Staunton III.

* Head Office: Colorado Springs, Colo. (117 employees).

* Vital Stats: Revenue (last 12 mos), $32 million; 5-Yr Revenue Growth, 1.3%; Profit/Loss (last 12 mos), $27.6 million loss; Market Cap, $68.2 million; Shares Outstanding, 22.1 million.

* Sutton’s Comment: “Ramtron makes a type of chip that requires very low battery usage for non-volatile memory. That design has a lot of benefits with specific applications that require very low battery power and maintenance of memory. In their last quarter, they grew at 50 per cent over the year earlier period).” * Risk Rating: High.


THIRD STAR

* Applied Materials (AMAT-Nasdaq)

* Recent Price: $24.32.

* 12-Month Range: $13.29-$29.24.



* Sutton’s 12-Month Target: $27 (recommended with a long-term view).

* Snapshot: In the semiconductor world, Applied is the name on the marquee. It is the world’s largest maker of complex equipment used in semiconductor production, supplying the giants of the industry such as Intel and Motorola.

* CEO: Jim Morgan.

* Head Office: Santa Clara, CA (17,365 employees).

* Vital Stats: Price/Earnings Ratio, 237.7; Revenue (last 12 mos), $5.6 billion; 5-Yr Revenue Growth, +16%; Profit (last 12 mos), $171.6 million; Market Cap, $38.1 billion; Shares Outstanding, 1.6 billion.

* Sutton’s Comment: “This is a core holding. If you believe in the Semiconductor space, then you’ll want to own Applied Materials. Quite simply, they’re the market leader.”

* Risk Rating: High.

* Disclosure: Sutton says he does not personally own the individual stocks featured, although he may own shares in the Global Technology Fund in which they are holdings.