BofA Securities Very Bullish on FANG Stocks for Q2 and Beyond

Technology

Published: March 31, 2021 7:53 am

For years after the financial crisis meltdown of 2008 and 2009, the so-called FANG stocks had the market leadership as they all roared higher during the following years. Over the past few years, the luster seemed to have worn off as the momentum crowd moved to electric vehicle stocks (especially Tesla), solar and green energy stocks, marijuana stocks and others. However, for long-term aggressive growth investors, the FANG stocks are very likely one of the best places to be now.
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We screened the curated stock lists at BofA Securities and were intrigued to find that all four of the original FANG stocks were in the firm’s Growth 10 list, which contains their 10 top growth stock picks. All are rated Buy and all make good sense for investors looking to shift from momentum plays that are way overvalued to more sensible mega-cap technology ideas. While they all dominate their respective technology silos, it is important to remember that no single analyst report should be used as a sole basis for any buying or selling decision.

Alphabet

The search giant continues to expand, and it was the G in the FANG stocks before changing its name in 2015. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) is a global technology company focused on key areas such as search, advertising, operating systems and platforms, and enterprise and hardware products. The company generates revenue primarily by delivering online advertising and by selling apps and content on Google Play, as well as hardware products. Alphabet provides its products and services in more than 100 languages and in 190 countries, regions and territories.

The company offers performance and brand advertising services. It operates through Google and Other Bets segments. The Google segment includes principal internet products, such as search, ads, commerce, Maps, YouTube, Apps, Cloud, Android, Chrome and Google Play, as well as technical infrastructure and newer efforts, such as virtual reality.

Analysts point to Google Cloud, which is the largest cloud infrastructure play and engages in more technology, infrastructure research and development in headcount and dollars than any other company. That gives it the strength and wherewithal to compete with and differentiate itself from Amazon’s AWS and Microsoft’s Azure.

The BofA Securities price target for the stock is $2,440, and the Wall Street consensus target is $2,319.03. Alphabet stock closed Tuesday at $2,046.47 a share.

Amazon

This is the absolute leader in online shopping, and it remains a technology anchor for many portfolio managers and also is a member of the BofA Securities US 1 list. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) serves consumers through retail websites that primarily include merchandise and content purchased for resale from vendors and those offered by third-party sellers.

The company serves developers and enterprises through Amazon Web Services, which provides computing, storage, database, analytics, applications and deployment services that enable virtually various businesses. AWS is also the undisputed leader in the cloud now, and many top analysts see the company expanding and moving up the enterprise information value chain and targeting a larger total addressable market.

Like every year, online sales continued to grow in 2020, especially during the busy Christmas shopping period, and as a result of the COVID-19 shutdowns, and Amazon remains the go-to portal for many shoppers.

BofA Securities has a huge $4,150 price objective for the technology giant, while the consensus figure is $3,899.36. The last Amazon.com trade for Tuesday came in at $3,055.29.