2018 has not been a great year for tech stocks, especially the latter half. The worst performers were, in fact, those regarded as the best in the industry – the FAANG stocks.
The FAANG stocks – Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Netflix (NFLX) and Alphabet (GOOGL) – have lost over $1 trillion since their 52-week highs. All five found themselves in a bear market on Monday which, according to the Wall Street glossary, is a decline of 20% or more from a stock’s 52-week high. All members of the FAANG gang were down when the market opened on Tuesday as well.
The FAANG stocks’ combined market value losses crossed $1 trillion on Tuesday. Based on a report by CNBC, Amazon took the biggest hit to its market cap of $280 billion. Facebook and Apple both lost $253 billion while Alphabet saw $164 billion wiped out from its market value. Netflix was slightly better off than the others, losing only $67 billion.
Nasdaq, which is heavy on technology stocks, was dragged down to its lowest level in more than six months by Facebook and Apple. Many analysts have cut their price targets on Apple over concerns of low demand for Apple products as well as assumptions that the latest iPhone has not managed to attain the popularity level of its predecessors.
Some experts attribute the tech rout to a market correction while others believe the day of reckoning has come for several major technology companies. FAANG companies Facebook, Alphabet and Amazon have been plagued by several controversies this year related to data privacy and security issues as well as military and government projects.
From their 52-week high to Tuesday, Facebook’s stock dropped the most, over 40%, while Netflix followed close behind at 39%. Amazon’s shares fell nearly 29% while Apple and Alphabet fell 24% and 22% respectively.
As of 2:05 pm ET, Apple’s stock was down 4.4%. Netflix was down 1.4% while Amazon was down 1.2%. Alphabet was down 0.5% and Facebook was down 0.3%.