What happened
Shares of so-called FANG stocks generally surged much higher on Friday. As of 3:20 p.m., EST, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) traded 4.4% higher, while both of Alphabet ‘s (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) stock classes gained 5% and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) posted a 5.1% gain. Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) led the pack with a 9.1% price increase.
Continue Reading Below
So what
These well-known companies didn’t actually do anything to earn these big gains today. The main driver behind all of these big moves came from a rosy employment report and a calm update from the Federal Reserve. These events point to solid economic trends in the U.S., possibly driving consumer spending higher in the near future.
That’s great news for pretty much every stock, but particularly so in the case for consumer-facing market darlings like the FANG tickers. American consumers with open wallets should drive more shopping on Amazon, more clicks on ads published by Facebook and Google, and more time on the couch with a fresh Netflix subscription.
All of these high-growth stocks have have taken drastic haircuts in recent months due to more negative economic readings and a Chinese-American trade war, which moved them in the opposite direction. Overall, Amazon and Netflix investors still are nursing a roughly 25% loss over the last six months. You win some, you lose some. Today, the news is good and the stocks are soaring.
Now what
Advertisement
Netflix’s extra-strong gain rests on bullish reports from at least two analyst firms citing strong risk/reward equations at this lower valuation. The same arguably could be said about all of these surging FANG tickers, but Netflix was the one that actually got the hat tip from Wall Street’s pro investors today.
Buying today makes all kinds of sense because market timing is an imperfect science (and a poor investing style overall). FANG investors are buying at low prices today, hoping to sell high much later. This may or may not be the actual market bottom, and it’s always good to keep some dry powder in your investing arsenal in case share prices go back to their downward trends again.
10 stocks we like better than NetflixWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has quadrupled the market.*
David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now… and Netflix wasn’t one of them! That’s right — they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.
Click here to learn about these picks!
*Stock Advisor returns as of November 14, 2018
John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Anders Bylund owns A Shares of Alphabet, and also shares of Amazon and Netflix. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A and C shares), Amazon, Facebook, and Netflix. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
