It's time to break up the FAANGs

FAANG is an acronym for five popular technology stocks - Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google - which have grown for years and crushed competition. Initially, the basket of shares was called FANG, as the founder of the acronym was CNBC analyst Jim Cramer. A little later, investors added Apple, forming the FAANG basket.

In the middle of 2018, FAANG's shares still dominated the stock market, as investors still bought their shares despite bad estimates. But in the second half of last year - especially after the "Red October" when the markets were facing huge sale-off amid the fears of raising Fed interest rates, the uncertainty surrounding the US-China trade war and the health concerns of the global economy, the shares of FAANGs began to lose their value. When rumors passed, all five stocks were already in the bear market, losing at least 20% of their value.

Shares of technology giants recovered to start the year on green, with Netflix rising 33%, while Google posted the smallest growth of 7%.

On January 29, 1818, Apple announced that Iphone sales for the fourth quarter of the year fell by 15 percent and that their business will continue to struggle in the coming months.

On the other hand, Netflix said in its fourth quarter report that it has added 8.8 million subscribers worldwide, surpassing Wall Street estimates of 7.6 million. The streaming giant expects to add 8.9 million paid international subscribers in the first quarter, well above the 8.5 million Wall Street consensus.

Picture: Used with permission of Bloomberg Finance L.P.

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