The End to the FAANG Era?

The End to the FAANG Era?

With the tech-weighted Nasdaq down over 25%, many of the high-flying tech names from the last decade have watched their stock plunge this year, reports an article in Fortune, including the companies known as the “FAANGs”: Facebook (Meta), Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google (Alphabet). FAANG stocks have declined about 37% on average since the beginning of 2022. Several pandemic darlings are also down, such as Peloton and Zoom, along with tech startups like Robinhood and Rivian.

Many analysts are wondering why it’s so particularly bad for the tech sector right now, and the article points to several factors. Tech is dealing with an onslaught of macroeconomic headwinds right now, from surging inflation and slowing growth, to the Ukraine war, continued lockdowns in China, and ongoing supply chain disruptions. That would be enough on its own, but additionally, not many investors are feeling inclined to pour money into speculative risks in such uncertain times. Instead, those investors are looking for safe havens—a place that tech stocks have never claimed to be.

Recession fears are also a top investor concern, especially after Fed Chair Jerome Powell admitted that engineering a “soft landing” for the economy as they attempt to control inflation could be more “challenging” than they originally thought. And while the central bank poured an unprecedented amount of money into the economy during the pandemic, now that they’ve pulled back, tech investors fear we could be seeing a repeat of the dot-com burst. However, some analysts believe that the current tech sell-off is more of an overcorrection than a bubble burst, and that the tech sell-off will end soon. In the meantime, tech stocks are particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, because as rates increase, the current value of a company’s future earnings decreases. So those tech giants—including the FAANGs—are seeing their growth potential get slammed as investors look more to the short term and put a lower price tag on future cash flows.

Investors drained $1.1 billion out of the tech sector in mid-May—the biggest withdrawal in 2022, according to Fortune. That indicates that investors are dumping their most cherished holdings, and many strategists believe that the sector still hasn’t hit bottom. But while the FAANGs may have lost some of their bite, these giants can still offer “organic business growth” to their investors, especially those who focus on the long term.