Seven Dividend-Paying Tech Stocks Analysts Are Bullish On

Markets have been hitting new highs and the unemployment rate has ticked down. Despite the uncertainty about when the Fed's quantitative easing will end, the slowdown of the Chinese economy and the ongoing economic troubles in Europe, analysts are still optimistic about certain stocks. Here is a quick look some dividend payers in the technology sector that have a consensus recommendation of analysts of Strong Buy. Furthermore, based on their mean price targets, analysts see more than 10 percent potential upside in these stocks, relative to their current share prices. Shares of ABB ABB are trading more than four percent higher year-to-date, though it has pulled back more than three percent in the past two weeks. Analysts have overestimated the earnings per share (EPS) of this maker of power and automation technologies in the past four quarters. The Swiss company has a dividend yield near 3.2 percent and a market capitalization of around $51 billion. The long-term EPS growth forecast is greater than 11 percent. Year to date, the stock has outperformed competitor Siemens SI but underperformed the broader markets. BT Group BT is up more than 24 percent from six months ago, and trading near a recent 52-week high. This diversified communication services company recently reported solid EPS growth but revenues that were marginally lower than in the same quarter of last year. The market cap of this London-based company is near $41 billion, and the dividend yield is about 3.7 percent. The return on investment is more than 24 percent. The stock has outperformed Vodafone VOD and the broader markets over the past six months. Shares of Micrel MCRL have traded mostly between $9 and $11 since June of 2011, but the share price is now more than six percent higher than six months ago. This integrated circuits maker exceeded second-quarter EPS estimates but revenues fell short. The $610 million plus market cap company has a dividend yield near 1.6 percent. Its long-term EPS growth forecast is about 10 percent. Over the past six months, it has outperformed Maxim Integrated Products MXIM but underperformed Linear Technology LLTC and the Nasdaq. Minnesota-based MTS Systems MTSC saw its shares rise more than 20 percent since the beginning of the year. The $1 billion market cap company just declared its 127th consecutive quarterly dividend. And it is expected to post a year-over-year earnings decline for the most recent quarter. MTS Systems has a dividend yield of about 1.9 percent and a return on equity of more than 20 percent. Short interest is more than three percent of the float. Over the past six months, the stock has underperformed the likes of Illinois Tool Works ITW, as well as the broader markets. Nippon Telegraph & Telephone NTT has traded mostly between $25 and $27 since early May. The share price is more than 23 percent higher than six months ago. The company has forecast net income to rise more than 11 percent in the current year. Tokyo-based NTT has a market cap near $62 billion and a dividend yield of about 3.8 percent. The long-term EPS growth forecast is only about four percent. The stock has outperformed China Telecom CHA and the broader markets over the past six months. Siliconware Precision Industries SPIL shares fell about 19 percent in July, from a multiyear high, and has yet to fully recover. The Taiwanese company just reported swinging to a profit from a year-ago per share net loss, as well as sequential and year-over-year revenue growth. This provider of semiconductor packaging and testing services has a market cap near $3.5 billion, a dividend yield of about 3.8 percent and a long-term EPS growth forecast of about 20 percent. Over the past six months, the stock has outperformed Advanced Semiconductor Engineering ASX. Tessera Technologies TSRA is more than 13 percent higher in the past six months, despite a retreat of more than 10 percent in the past three weeks. The San Jose, California-based maker of smartphone cameras and other products just posted a wider-than-expected second-quarter net loss. Tessera Technologies has a market cap of about $1 billion. The dividend yield is about two percent, and the long-term EPS growth forecast about 24 percent. Over the past six months, the stock has outperformed competitors such as Amkor Technology AMKR.