In 2021, large technology stocks promoted the US stock market to rise for the third consecutive year. Investors’ demand for technology giants such as Apple and Microsoft is still strong, almost unaffected by the economic environment.
Despite the decline at the close of the last trading day of 2021, the stock prices of the five most famous Internet and technology companies, Apple, Microsoft, Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc., Amazon, and Facebook’s parent company Meta platform, all realized in 2021 Up.
The total market value increased by 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars
Although the gains are different, Alphabet soared by 65%, and Amazon struggled to record a 2.4% increase, but their total market value increased by more than 2.45 trillion US dollars. Microsoft, Apple and Alphabet are the three major contributors to the S&P 500’s rise in 2021.
Investors have realized that these companies will continue to perform extremely well. Mark Luschini, the chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott, a US financial advisory firm, said the company manages approximately $125 billion in assets. He added that fast-growing profits, competitive moats and strong balance sheets have protected them from some risks this year.
The following is a review of the performance of the five major technology giants in 2021:
Apple: 3 trillion market capitalization is only one step away
In 2021, the iPhone maker’s stock price rose by 34%, outperforming the S&P 500 Index for the third consecutive year. Although 2021 is Apple’s worst year in the past three years – the company’s stock price has risen by more than 80% in both 2019 and 2020 – last year’s rise has put Apple just one step away from its historic $3 trillion market value. Far away. As of the last trading day of 2021, Apple’s market value is $2.913 trillion.
This year, Apple faced problems such as chip shortages and the ongoing new crown pneumonia pandemic. Recently, it even closed all retail stores in New York due to the epidemic, but the stock is still favored by investors in 2021. Apple continues to benefit from the global popularity of its products, the potential of new products, and maintain stable sales growth and strong cash reserves.
In the context of uncertainties in the US Federal Reserve’s policy and interest rate hike prospects, investors favor high-quality stocks that are considered to have long-term growth records, which means that Apple’s future prospects look bright.
With a 51% share price increase in 2021, Microsoft has entered the $2 trillion market capitalization club. Microsoft’s stock price has risen for 10 consecutive years, the longest rise so far, and has achieved double-digit returns for 9 consecutive years. Since the end of 2011, the company’s share price has risen by nearly 1,200%. Microsoft’s strong performance stems from the market’s steady demand for its cloud computing and enterprise software.
Alphabet: Best stocks of 2021
The stock price of Google’s parent company soared by 65% in 2021, becoming the best-performing company among the major Wall Street companies. 2021 is the strongest year for Alphabet’s stock performance since 2009, with a market value of US$2 trillion at one time, joining the US$2 trillion market value club of Apple and Microsoft.
Alphabet has benefited from the growth of its cloud business and the rebound in digital advertising spending, especially in key areas that will be affected by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, such as travel. Earlier this week, the research company CFRA upgraded the stock to Strong-Buy (Strong Buy) on the grounds that “compared to large technology stock peers, the valuation of the stock is attractive and believes The stock can maintain an annual revenue growth rate of 15% to 16% in the next three years.
Meta: The most turbulent year
In 2021, Facebook’s parent company Meta’s stock price rose by 23%, roughly the same as the S&P 500 index, although this was one of the most turbulent years in the company’s history. Although Meta continues to benefit from the high user engagement on its platforms and the advertising budget that continues to shift to social media, it has difficulty coping with the impact of Apple’s changes to its privacy policy and the rigorous scrutiny of its products, especially after a whistleblower announced After a batch of documents.
Last October, the company announced that it would focus on Metaverse, which is an immersive virtual reality technology. To reflect this shift, Facebook changed its name to Meta. Meta’s rise mainly occurred in the first half of 2021, because the stock has never reached a record level since September last year. However, Wall Street is optimistic about the prospects of Meta in 2022 because it is considered to have an attractive valuation and a strong profit engine. Investment bank Baird has just listed it as one of the top big Internet stocks next year.
Amazon: Slightly Inferior
Compared with other large stocks and the overall market performance, the performance of this e-commerce company in 2021 is obviously poor. The stock rose 2.4%, enough to guarantee a seventh consecutive year of gains, which is the longest rise in the stock’s history. Since the end of 2014, the company’s share price has soared nearly 1,000%.
As Amazon released two disappointing quarterly earnings reports, coupled with rising labor costs and supply chain disruptions that put pressure on the stock price, Amazon’s trading range in the second half of this year was quite narrow. On Wednesday, Jordan Klein, the managing director of Mizuho Securities, wrote in a research report that there is a clear view in the investment circle that the seller’s modeling of the stock market in the first half of 2022 appears to be wrong (because of a mistake). high). Despite this, there are still many companies that list Amazon as their top stock in 2022.