This being the inaugural issue of Smart Tech Investor, we humbly suggest you save it to your vault in the event that it is one day viewed with the same value as a Honus Wagner baseball card or early Batman comic book.  Perhaps those expectations are more than a bit lofty, in which case we will settle for helping you make enough money from our investment recommendations to buy that boat you’ve always had your eye on, or send your kids to college without you (or them) having to take on a mountain of debt.

And since this is the first time we have unveiled our portfolio recommendations, there is no Portfolio Update to report at this time so we are showing the initial recommendations instead.  However, future issues of STI will summarize all revisions to our portfolios that have occurred since the previous issue.  Of course, our weekly publication, Smart Tech 50 Weekly Movers, will also include any changes that have taken place between each of those issues as well. 

This month’s In Focus article identifies Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) as the one tech stock to own in 2014.  We realize it is not a particularly daring choice, but we believe it is perfectly positioned to move forward while many other tech stocks suffer the inevitable consequences of gross overvaluation.  Unlike 2013, which was a great year for virtually all but the worst tech stocks (see BlackBerry), next year will witness an equal number of winners and losers with far differing results.

However, our Sector Spotlight article may surprise you, as two of the disk drive manufacturers make it onto our initial buy list.  It’s not a sexy business, but it is a very profitable business as demand for cloud storage escalates at a pace far outstripping supply.  Our methodology heavily favors businesses that generate huge amounts of cash flow that are independent of advertising revenue or social trends, and both of these companies fit that bill very nicely.