Tech stocks are booming in 2023 - but there are 3 specific names that investors should be paying attention to, analyst says

• The tech sector has been on a roll in 2023, with the Nasdaq up nearly 25% year-to-date.

• Evercore's Mark Mahaney says Meta, Uber, and Amazon present key buying opportunities.
• "Meta's the cheapest high-quality tech stock out there, period," Mahaney said of his top pick.

It's been a great year for the technology sector, with the Nasdaq Composite up nearly 25% since the start of 2023.

As the sector pushes higher, Mark Mahaney, Evercore ISI head of internet research, said there are three names in particular that investors should be paying attention to.

First on his list is Facebook parent Meta, which Mahaney says will have a "nice recovery in revenue growth" throughout 2023 due to three key offerings.

"Meta's the cheapest high-quality tech stock out there, period. 14 times GAAP earnings and it's got three product cycles that it's going through. First is this Reel's monetization [program that] they successfully borrowed from or stole from TikTok. Second is that Click-to-Message product that's out in the market that's doing well," he told CNBC on Wednesday. "Third is I think they've just been able to recapture a lot of the advertising signal that they lost when Apple went through its privacy changes."

Amazon stock, meanwhile, has underperformed for the past three years, Mahaney says, adding that he expects the share price to shoot up this year.

"It's the triple trough thesis. We think the stock right here [has had] trough multiples, trough margins, and trough revenue growth. If we're right on that, you could have a material rewriting of the stock."

Finally, Mahaney sees Uber as rounding out his top picks. He has a price target of $75 per share for the ride hailing company, around 98% upside from its current levels. He says Uber has three "value catalysts" that could propel its stock higher.

"First catalyst is they're going to reach finally GAAP earnings status. We're going to start actually generating positive GAAP earnings," Mahaney said. "Secondly, we think they'll start buying back stock. And third is that we think they'll finally reach the metrics needed to be included in the S&P 500."