Pro: Forget About The FAANG Stocks, Focus On Microsoft

Investors are familiar with the "FAANG" stocks but focusing on this group alone implies missed opportunity in equally compelling technology companies, Kim Forrest, portfolio manager and senior equity analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group, explained during a recent CNBC "Trading Nation" segment.

While Microsoft Corporation MSFT is not a member of the "FAANG" group, it is in fact the second-largest holding inside of the Nasdaq-100 index, behind Apple Inc. AAPL, Forrest explained. Yet despite a nearly 30 percent gain over the past year, shares of Microsoft still boast tremendous growth potential.

In fact, Fort Pitt Capital focuses on only value stocks so the P/E multiple of many tech stocks implies it isn't suitable for the firm's portfolio. On the other hand, Microsoft is a holding because of its compelling path forward.

Microsoft is merely at the beginning stages of benefiting from businesses who are switching their workload to the company's cloud service, Azure, she told CNBC. On top of that, the company announced the availability of Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN's AWS tools for Microsoft's Visual Studio Team Services cloud service which isn't being fully appreciated by investors.

The collaboration will make it easier for developers to upload their content to the AWS platform and most certainly isn't a sign of "Microsoft throwing in the towel," she added.

"It is likely addressing some of MSFT's larger customers to stay on the development platform," she explained.

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Image Credit: By Johannes Hemmerlein [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons