What are FAANG stocks?

FAANG Stocks

What are FAANG stocks?

What exactly are FAANG stocks? Which companies are included and why are they grouped together with their own acronym?

To start this article, let’s take a look at what stocks actually create the so-called FAANG stocks:

These stocks are some of the largest and most successful US tech companies around today. Not just largest tech companies in fact – but amongst the largest companies in the world.

The combined Market Capitalisation (Market cap = how much a listed company’s shares are worth) is currently just above 6 trillion dollars*! That’s a lot of 0s.

 *at time of writing

Why is the market cap of FAANG stocks so high? Well, you only need to look at the constituents to know why. We will break down each company in this article and take a closer look at what each one relies on to remain profitable.

Another point of note is that the share price of the stock isn’t only driven by the success of the firms but also by large funds and large investors taking positions in these stocks.

Because the size, the success and the popularity of this group of companies is so high, investors and traders alike, follow the path of the FAANG stocks closely.

The group of companies are treated like an index… almost and more recently, there have actually been ETFs created to track and invest in this group of stocks.

 

Where are FAANG Stocks Traded?

Which exchanges are the FAANG stocks listed? And which index are they included in?

  • Nasdaq – FAANG Stocks are all traded on this exchange
  • SnP500 – FAANG Stock are all included in the SnP500 Index

If you’re ready to take on one or more of the FAANG stocks – Please click here to open your account today!

FAANG Constituents

Now let’s take a closer look at each of the FAANG constituents:

 

1-FACEBOOK (FB) www.facebook.com

Not that Facebook really needs an introduction… we will run through one anyway. Founded by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms in existence. Facebook is available in 111 languages around the world and the active users are currently pushing 3 billion!

Facebook

Facebook is so popular with its users because of the ability to connect with friends, share photos, videos, statuses etc – The list goes on and on as the years go by. More recently we’ve seen improvements to instant messaging, a Facebook Marketplace and even dating!

Here are some financials to give you a better idea of their position:

Market Cap – 780B

P/E Ratio – 27.14

EPS – 10.09

Current Share Price – 273.88

And here’s a chart of their recent performance:

 

Facebook Chart

 

2-AMAZON (AMZN) www.amazon.com

Another Company that needs no introduction. Jeff Bezos’ Amazon have gone from strength to strength in the past few years – recently catapulting him to the top of the Forbes rich-list!

Amazon’s core business is B2C (Business to consumer) with almost everything imaginable available for purchase. From technology, to furniture and groceries…Amazon really does have it all.

Amazon

Their prime subscription gives you next day delivery as well as access to ‘Prime’ TV and movies. A service that is now rivalling Netflix. Amazon are also branching out into physical stores in the US.

Here are some financials to give you a better idea of their position:

Market Cap – 1.56T

P/E Ratio – 74.19

EPS – 41.83

Current Share Price – 3,103.49

 

And here’s a chart of their recent performance:

Amazon Chart

 

 
3-APPLE (AAPL) www.apple.com 

Apple. One of my favourite companies (And I’m sure I’m not the only person to say that) This article is currently being written on a MacBook and I’m sure many of you are reading on your iPhones!

Apple build and distribute technology products and offer subscription services like apple TV.

Lets take a look at a few of the main Apple products on the market today:

  1. IPhones
  2. iWatch
  3. Macbook Pro
  4. Macbook Air
  5. Apple TV
  6. Apple Music

Apple

Here are some financials to give you a better idea of their position:

Market Cap – 2.048T

P/E Ratio – 33.09

EPS – 3.69

Current Share Price – 122

 

And here’s a chart of their recent performance:

Apple Chart

 

4-NETFLIX (NFLX) www.netflix.com

Netflix has fast become the ‘go-to’ streaming service. With strong competition from the likes of Amazon Prime and Disney – Netflix still wears the crown. There is an incredible range of TV and Movies to watch on Netflix and they make most of their money through their monthly subscriptions.

More recently, they even produce their own TV series and Movies, employing the services of some of the largest grossing actors in the world.

Netflix

There are currently over 200 million paid users of Netflix and it has recently become the worlds biggest entertainment and media company by market cap!

Here are some financials to give you a better idea of their position:

 

Market Cap – 227.77B

P/E Ratio – 84.59

EPS – 6.08

Current Share Price – 514.28

And here’s a chart of their recent performance:

 

Netflix Chart

 

5-GOOGLE / ALPHABET (GOOG) www.google.com 

Google is the ‘staple’ search engine in the majority of households. And it was in the search engine space that they started out – and for all accounts, continue to dominate. But nowadays, Google is so much more than just a search engine. Let’s take a look at some of the services that have enable Google to become a real tech giant:

  1. Google Search
  2. Google Images
  3. Google Maps
  4. Google Translate
  5. Google Finance
  6. Google Shopping
  7. Google Translate

And those are just a few options from the main list of Google web-based products!

Google

They also offer products and services in the following fields:

  • Advertisements
  • Operating Systems
  • Hardware
  • Software
  • Apps for Mobile
  • Apps for Desktop

And many more! You can see how Google has managed to forge its way into one of the largest and most successful companies in the world.

Lets now have a look at the financial side of Google: (Or Alphabet to be correct)

Market Cap – 1.409T

P/E Ratio – 35.82

EPS – 58.61

Current Share Price – 2,099.47

And here’s a chart of their recent performance:

 

Google Chart

 

Definitions

To round this article off, a couple of definitions on the financials we’ve included for each stock:

Market Cap – Or Market Capitalisation. This is all the publicly available shares added up in terms of value per share. Essentially, it’s what the company is worth on the open market.

P/E Ratio – Or Price-Earnings Ratio. Simply the ratio of the company’s share price to the company’s earnings per share.

EPS – Or Earnings per share – This is just how much money each share has made by way of earnings for holding the stock. i.e. from dividends.

If you’re ready to trade one or all of the FAANG stocks – Please click here to open an account today!

Good Luck and Happy Trading!

 

Chris

By Chris

Chris is one of two founding members of TradingHalo. He started his career in equities as an execution dealer for a large stock-broking firm before going on to run their derivatives desk. From there, he went on to join Smart-Live Markets and then GKFX, where he assisted in their pioneering of MT4-based spread-betting and became a senior trader running large positions across a variety of asset classes including FX, Metals, Commodities, Indices and Single Stocks. Chris now works at one of the largest FX brokerages in the world and is currently Head of Trading in London. Away from Trading, Chris is an avid golfer (or at least, tries to be)