Intel

This top chip company has been hammered in 2016, despite reporting quarterly results that topped analysts’ expectations. Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) is a world leader in computing innovation. It designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the foundation for the world’s computing devices.

As a leader in corporate responsibility and sustainability, Intel also manufactures the world’s first commercially available “conflict-free” microprocessors. The company provides processors for all of the Apple personal computers. It will be interesting to see if it keeps all that business going forward.

Intel is also is regarded as having among the highest shareholder cash returns at approximately 8%, but it has lagged high-growth specialty chip stocks. The stock just now has traded back to where it began 2015, following the mixed but overall solid fourth-quarter results.

Intel’s NAND flash memory business has a strong focus on enterprise opportunities. Many on Wall Street think that the company’s new chip, which is a collaboration with Micron Technology called the 3D XPoint, could be primarily In-Memory compute in servers, and its launch should coincide with Intel’s Purley platform server launch coming this year.

Intel investors receive a 3.65% dividend. Merrill Lynch has a $40 price target, while the consensus target is $36.32. Shares closed Thursday at $28.22.

Microsoft

This is another top technology stock that gives investors a degree of mega-cap tech safety, and has a massive $99 billion sitting on the balance sheet. Microsoft Inc. (NASDAQ: MSFT)develops, licenses, and supports software products, services, and devices worldwide. With an expanding product silo, the iconic software giant continues to advance and expand their global brand and reach.

Numerous Wall Street analysts feel that Microsoft has become a clear number two in the public or hyper-scale cloud infrastructure market with Azure, which is the company’s cloud computing platform offering. Some have flagged Azure as a solid rival to Amazon’s AWS service. Some analysts maintain that Microsoft is discounting Azure for large enterprises, such that Azure may be cheaper than AWS for larger user.

The top analysts believe the company continues to make steady progress with its cloud transition and expect Office 365 and Azure to be solid contributors to top and bottom line for the next several years. While not likely to snag the top slot from Amazon, it could add huge incremental revenue for years to come.

With gaming revenues growing at a huge pace, the Xbox continues to gain ever more fans as the ultimate console to own. Microsoft continues to upgrade the popular device, and many think that it could dominate Sony’s PlayStation at some point.

Microsoft investors receive a 2.90% dividend, and the forward valuation remains compelling. The Merrill Lynch price target is $65. The consensus price objective is $58.89 The stock closed Thursday at $49.69.

These old-school leaders have one thing in common: survival. With the market still very weak, and appearing vulnerable now, they make good sense for investors with an aggressive growth portfolio who see better things down the road in 2016.