Any substitutes are extremely hard to find. In the past, these were also biotech stocks, but by now, vaccine development stories have largely lost their former luster and appeal.

It would be wrong to equate biotechnology with the high-tech sector in general, which is the mainstay of the Nasdaq index, and indeed remains the main hope for equity-oriented growth investors. The overall situation in the high-tech sector looks much more optimistic, given the following considerations:

a. These companies usually have large amounts of cash on their balance sheets – therefore, the upcoming increase in interest rates is not so scary for them, since borrowed funds are not critical for them;

b. Many of these companies show average annual growth rates (CAGR) that substantially beat the average economy’s growth, and this is now important for investors in the light of high inflation;

c. Scaling their business in the Covid era is easier for them as they don't have to physically move anything distantly.

U.S. analysts and portfolio managers also, for the most part, remain optimistic about the further prospects for the continuation of the rally in high-tech stocks, despite the Fed’s targeting now tightening of the monetary policy, which will result in an increase in the cost of borrowing. Unfortunately, the past six months did not please investors with good dynamics in the high-tech sector. Most relevant stocks posted a moderately negative trend in the last three months, which accelerated as we approached the date of the Fed meeting in January 2022. They kept their market value, demonstrating conditionally sideways trends only by the largest representatives of the industry - such as Microsoft (MSFT), Palo Alto Networks (PANW) and Fortinet (FTNT). We know these companies very well, and they do not need additional recommendations.