July 24, 2012 at 4:03 pm by Chris Aylott

Worried about putting all your investments in one Asian basket? Israel is one of the economic success stories of the Middle East. Here are five technology stocks investors should keep an eye on.

Israeli technology stocks could be a pot of gold.

CELLCOM ISRAEL LTD  (CEL , quote ): This company disrupted the Israeli cell phone market when it began offering services in 1994. Today it is Israels leading cellular provider. It has over 3 million subscribers. The company is profitable and issues regular dividends. CEL is one of the more stable technology stocks with a beta of 0.74.

FORMULA SYSTEMS (FORTY , quote ): Formula Systems is a global information technology solutions and services company. It provides software consulting and business solutions in over 50 countries.

Appearances can be deceptive, though. Formula Systems is based in Israel, but the Polish software company Asseco is a majority owner. FORTY has also seen its price slip nearly five percent in 2012.

MELLANOX TECHNOLOGIES (MLNX , quote ): Mellanox Techologies is one of the strongest Israeli technology stocks. It dominates the market for Infiniband, a critical technology for supercomputers. Its stock price has nearly tripled since the beginning of the year. If Mellanox can keep its growth going, it could become a major global company.

NICE SYSTEMS (NICE , quote ): Security has always been a major concern in  Israel. NICE Systems started out as a security company. It has since branched out into other areas of analysis. The company studies customer interactions. It evaluates trends in phone calls, email, and social media.

Theres nothing spectacular about how NICE performs in the stock market. However, it provides a service many companies need.

PARTNER COMMUNICATIONS (PTNR , quote ): Partner Communications claims it has Israels top telecom brand. However, Cellcom is slightly larger. Partner Communications has carved out a good niche for itself. It is almost as profitable as Cellcom. However, PTNR has a higher price/earnings ratio and a lower earnings per share. When the two technology stocks are compared, Cellcom comes out on top.

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