Don't Buy This Tech Dip, Notable Internet Analyst Says

Internet stocks suffered a notable pull-back Friday, but an Apple Inc. AAPL downgrade Monday morning merely added to the bearish sentiment. As such, the question fresh on many investors mind: Is now a time to be buyers of internet stocks or sellers?

RBC Capital Markets' Mark Mahaney, one of the Street's most notable internet analysts, said that he wouldn't be a buyer on the dip. After all, a 3-percent dip on Friday isn't a compelling enough buying opportunity after a 30-percent gain in 2017 so far, he explained as a guest on CNBC's "Squawk Box" segment on Monday.

Meanwhile, investors shouldn't necessarily be looking to sell on the panic, the analyst suggested. Fundamentals among the consumer internet names remains very strong and there has been no new regulatory hurdle or macro factor which would justify the sell-off in the first place.

"Every once in a while, you are going to get these trade off and they may create great buying opportunities [but] one day's trade doesn't do it," he said.

Internet Outperformance 'Less Severe'

Internet stocks have been huge outperformers this year, but taking a step back and looking at the year-over-year performance paints a different picture, Mahaney noted.

Specifically, many internet stocks including the FANG group — Facebook Inc FB, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, Netflix, Inc. NFLX, and Google/Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL — dipped lower after the U.S. presidential election in late 2016 under the assumption the economy would benefit from an immediate acceleration in growth. As such, the scarcity value of the FANG group was initially brought down but the scarcity value of the sector quickly came back up when it was apparent an acceleration in growth will be pushed to next year.

"That's the key backdrop for why they are up so much but if you take them back a year the outperformance is less severe," the analyst concluded.

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