Over the 12 months to 31 December the FANG[1] stocks rose on average some 50% in US dollar terms, while the broader S&P 500 rose just 23%. Asia too has its own tech leaders, colloquially known as the BAT stocks (Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent) and they, like FANGs, experienced spectacular returns in 2017 (up on average c80% in US dollars over the same time frame).
Without these ‘Dracula’ stocks (the FANGs and BATs combined), markets like the S&P 500 would certainly have been less exuberant over the past year.
The last tech bubble came at the close of the millennium. In our view, investors in the current crop of technology stocks have partied like it’s 1999 all over again. While this is fine in theory we prefer to take a less short-term view. To paraphrase the immortal words of Prince Rogers Nelson: “Life is a party but parties weren’t meant to last”. [2]
Nick Clay – portfolio manager. Newton, a BNY Mellon company
[1] The term FANG stocks refers to Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google (subsequently renamed as alphabet)
[2] From the song 1999 by Prince, released 24 September 1982, re-released 3 November 1998
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