Forget Blood; These FAANGs Draw Green

Sink your teeth into these tasty top-performing tech stocks. The acronym FAANG was first coined by CNBC analyst Jim Cramer in 2013, and at that time, it was FANG—Facebook, now Meta (META), Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX), and Google (GOOG). Apple (AAPL) was added in 2017. With company name changes (Google to Alphabet and Facebook to Meta), Netflix recently falling out of favor, and Microsoft gaining investor attention, there is talk about a new grouping called MAMAA (Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet). However, that’s not nearly as sexy. For now, let’s look at the prospects of the original FAANG.

Catch These Stocks Prior To The Split

The FAANG companies have consistently outperformed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq over the past decade, making them attractive investment options. They all enjoy strong buy ratings from Wall Street analysts. There’s also the question of stock splits, which increases a stock’s liquidity and makes it more affordable for a wider range of investors. This boosts investor interest and increases demand, which can be beneficial for current investors, as it can raise the share price (and they now own more of it).

Facebook (Meta)

A strong stock split candidate, Meta owns Facebook and Instagram, two of the world’s biggest social media apps, along with messaging apps WhatsApp and Messenger. The company leverages user data to display targeted advertising, and more than 97% of its revenue, $36.5 billion as reported in its 2023 annual report, comes from this. As of February, Facebook had 3.049 billion monthly active users, a 3.08% YoY increase. Meta’s growth remains strong, even though its metaverse-focused Reality Labs has lost $21 billion since its 2022 inception.

Current price: $508.13 | Price target average: $523.61

Amazon

In B2C e-commerce, Amazon reigns supreme. It has over 300 million active customers in the U.S., and more than half are Amazon Prime members. Over 120 million products are sold on its hugely popular platform. The company’s 2023 TTM (trailing twelve months) revenues were $575 billion, with a net income of $36.9 billion. While e-commerce pulls in most of its revenue, Amazon also profits from its cloud computing services and ads. The bulk of its profits come from Amazon Web Services.

Current price: $186.43 | Price target: $200-$246

Apple

One of the world’s largest smartphone makers, Apple’s devices generate most of its revenue. However, Apple has expanded to subscription services for streaming music and video, news, gaming, and cloud storage. It is set to launch Vision Pro, its new spatial computing headset, on July 12.

Current price: $213.00 | Price target: $164-$275

Netflix

In 2007, Netflix moved from DVD-by-mail to on-demand streaming, adding original content in 2012. Today, the company is one of the top buyers of TV and film productions, with 200 million worldwide subscribers. Although other media companies now have streaming platforms, Netflix is still the leader. Netflix is another strong candidate for a stock split. There have only been two since its 2002 IPO. The most recent, in 2015, was 7-for-1.

Current price: $647.84 | Price target: $450-$800

Google (Alphabet)

The tech giant Alphabet is the umbrella organization for the dominant search engine Google and the company’s “other interests.” Those interests include autonomous vehicle company Waymo and health research company Verily. Alphabet’s chatbot Bard AI, put it into the AI leadership circle.

Current price: $179.01 | Price target: $165-$205

While past achievements don’t guarantee future success, these are all strong companies with compelling assets that put them ahead of the competition.

Julie Stoller has no positions in any of the companies mentioned in this article. Stocks.News has positions in Amazon, Netflix, Apple, Meta, and Google.