7 of the Best Tech Stocks to Buy for 2018

These are the best tech stocks of 2018.

Technology is a sector on fire, and over the years it's paid to be a believer. You should always be healthily diversified, but if you own a smattering of the best tech stocks to buy for 2018, you'll be well on your way to designing a robust portfolio. Last year's seven tech picks by U.S. News crushed the market in 2017, jumping 36.3 percent through mid-November, beating the Standard & Poor's 500 index by 21 percentage points. That outperformance was exceptional and can hardly be expected year after year, but if your portfolio needs exposure to this sector, the following seven technology stocks look like steals going into 2018.

NetEase (NYSE: NTES)

NetEase is a Chinese video game publisher and e-commerce company, and its stock happens to be undervalued enough to make NTES one of the best tech stocks to buy for 2018. Shares go for just 24 times earnings, roughly in line with the Standard & Poor's 500 index. This is despite the fact that most S&P 500 members would kill for the company's growth profile; revenue and earnings per share are expected to rise 25 percent and 18 percent, respectively, in 2018. A major beneficiary of the rapidly growing esports industry, NTES is poised to keep growing -- and perhaps earn a higher multiple -- in 2018.

Micron Technology (MU)

You don't see stocks like Micron too often. Shares of this semiconductor company doubled in 2017 but still appear dirt cheap. Micron's revenue growth over the last five years has compounded by roughly 20 percent annually, higher than 80 percent of tech companies worth over $2 billion. At 0.6, MU's PEG ratio -- a reading under 1 is considered a steal -- is better than 97.5 percent of its peers. Granted, Micron is a somewhat high-risk play, as the market is signaling it fears a peak in the cyclical memory chip market; still, it's one of the best tech stocks to buy for 2018 if you can tolerate the risk profile.

IAC/InterActiveCorp (IAC)

IAC is a peculiar and maddeningly interesting company, historically acting as a sort of publicly traded post-venture capital incubator that helps grow, nurture and spin off a broad variety of media and internet businesses. Chairman and media legend Barry Diller is a brilliant manager, but IAC is one of the best tech stocks to buy because its major stakes in two spun-off public companies -- Match Group (MTCH) and ANGI Homeservices (ANGI) -- are actually worth about $1 billion more than IAC itself. That means the market is also valuing IAC's Vimeo brand, its applications businesses and its publishing divisions as literally worthless. There's still plenty of value here to unlock.

Facebook (FB)

"When I buy a stock, I don't care whether they close the stock market tomorrow or for a couple of years," says investing legend Warren Buffett. While FB might not be Buffett's style, it's still an appropriate way to think about Facebook. A network effect is arguably the toughest competitive advantage to build, and FB has leveraged its network beautifully: Facebook boasts 2 billion monthly active users, Whatsapp has 1.3 billion monthly average users, Messenger tallies 1.2 billion and Instagram has over 800 million. Each app is still growing meaningfully and improving monetization, a double positive. Data is king, and FB stock should thrive for years to come.

Intel Corp. (INTC)

Intel may be a longtime Dow member and a steady Eddie, but it's still one of the best tech stocks to buy for 2018. While investors once worried that Intel would slowly erode into a shell of its former self as PC sales declined, Intel has wisely diversified into exciting new growth areas. Its 2017 acquisition of Mobileye earned it a seat in the self-driving car space, and INTC is also a more conservative way to play the artificial intelligence boom, owning a commanding share of the CPU market that will be needed as AI grows. Intel also trades at 17 times earnings and pays a 2.4 percent dividend.

Alibaba Group Holding (BABA)

Along with Facebook, Alibaba is one of U.S. News's 7 Best Stocks to Buy for 2018, so it's naturally a top tech stock, too. Want exposure to the Amazon.com (AMZN) of China at cheaper-than-Amazon prices? Meet BABA. Not only is the e-commerce giant growing by over 50 percent annually (Amazon is around the 30 percent mark), it trades for a forward price-earnings ratio of 28 (Amazon's is 142) and is wildly more profitable, with net margins of 28.8 percent dwarfing Amazon's 1.3 percent take. Any company that can do revenue of $25 billion in a day, as BABA did on Singles' Day, is, proverbially speaking, taking over the world.

Gogo (GOGO)

Last and in fact least (by market value) is Gogo, a Chicago-based wireless company not yet worth $1 billion. Fair warning: As a small-cap stock, Gogo is a high-risk, high-reward pick. But Gogo isn't one of the best tech stocks to buy because someone threw a dart at a board -- this business, which offers in-flight connectivity and entertainment, has had a compound annual growth rate above 30 percent for the last five years, which is stellar. While not yet profitable, in late 2017 it signed a major contract with Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific. Gogo's growth, the industry's consolidation and recent insider buys make it awfully attractive.

John Divine is an investing reporter for U.S. News & World Report, where he covers financial markets and the economy, with a focus on individual stock analysis. He has been an investor himself for over 10 years, and has been writing professionally about stocks and investing for the last five years. He previously wrote about the stock market for The Motley Fool and InvestorPlace, and his work has appeared on Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money, and AOL DailyFinance. He graduated from Appalachian State University in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in finance and banking. At Appalachian, he was a member of the Bowden Investment Group, a team of students that ran a real-money portfolio worth over $100,000. You can follow him on Twitter or give him the Tip of the Century at jdivine@usnews.com.