After the big flight to safety in the first half of the year, investors are buying up technology again — but top tech investor Paul Meeks remains unconvinced. “I feel that way not really because I see the fundamentals of most of these companies improving a lot in the near-term, but more because it looks like investors are starting to see short-term weakness of these businesses,” said Meeks, portfolio manager. at Independent Solutions Wealth Management, told CNBC Pro Talks on Wednesday. Instead, he is opting for the defensive and is looking for what he sees as a safer bet in the tech space. “I think the more speculative names in this area are not going to come back for a while, so the smart thing to do is to keep playing defensively instead of attacking,” he said. One stock Meeks likes is the tech giant IBM. He noted that CEO Arvind Krishna has transformed the company since he was appointed in April 2020, divesting “much” of the business and putting IBM on the path to revenue growth. According to Refinitiv, the company posted revenue of $15.54 billion for the second quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimate of $15.18 billion. It also beats income. “So now the company is actually growing at a pretty reasonable rate, as it has been steadily shrinking quarter after quarter, year after year,” Meeks said. He added that the company pays a “huge” dividend that “could even please a value investor.” Meeks also likes telecom giant AT&T as a “place to hide.” The company is now a telecommunications company once again, having ended its failed Hollywood venture, according to Meeks, and is gaining market share against T-Mobile and Verizon. AT&T also generates “a lot of cash” and pays a dividend of about 5% to 6%, he added. When to go full force “All of these companies should have less volatility and be a way for investors to use defensive technology until offensive technology is back in favor. But when technology turns around. back, do I want AT&T and IBM stock in my portfolio? No, because then I want to play the offensive game,” Meeks said. However, he plans to “wait a little longer” to reinvest heavily in tech stocks. “Before I go all out, I need to feel more confident that analysts have lowered their estimates for as long as they need to reflect a recession. Even cheap stocks can’t. recover meaningfully or continuously until sales are low and [earnings per share] The forecasts have been posted,” he said. Read more The wealth manager likes this chip stock so much, he puts his own money into it Top investor Paul Meeks says chipmakers are ‘gold’ – and his ‘must own’ stock disclosure Tech investor a ‘must own’ FAANG stock to buy a discount – and one thing to avoid Analysts are betting that any recession in the US will be “short and shallow,” or the Federal Reserve will step in and lower interest rates as quickly as it has risen according to Meeks. range of potential outcomes, is too optimistic, or at least I haven’t sold it yet,” he added. His best bet for the long-term” is chip giant Micron – a stock he admits is a call that contrasts with the company’s challenging outlook. The market is a “correction.” short term” will blow in and i precious. “This is a Meeks com about Micron. I think over the next few years with all the driving factors like artificial intelligence increasingly demanding more chips, more chip-centric memory, then the stock will do well.”