2 FAANG Stocks With Up to 79% Upside, According to a Pair of Wall Street Analysts
![2 FAANG Stocks With Up to 79% Upside, According to a Pair of Wall Street Analysts 2 FAANG Stocks With Up to 79% Upside, According to a Pair of Wall Street Analysts](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2-FAANG-Stocks-With-Up-to-79-Upside-According-to.jpg)
When volatility and uncertainty pick up on Wall Street, investors of all walks tend to turn their attention to profitable, time-tested, industry-leading businesses. For much of the past 10 years, it’s the FAANG stocks that have been investors’ safety net.
When I say “FAANG stocks,” I’m referring to:
- Facebook, which is now a subsidiary of Meta Platforms (META -4.17%)
- Apple (AAPL -1.35%)
- Amazon (AMZN -5.58%)
- Netflix (NFLX -0.60%)
- Google, now a subsidiary of Alphabet (GOOGL -9.51%) (GOOG -9.60%)
Image source: Getty Images.
Aside from handily outperforming the benchmark S&P 500 over the past decade, the FAANG stocks bring well-defined competitive advantages to the table.
- Meta Platforms owns some of the top social media “real estate” on the planet. Collectively, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger encouraged nearly 3.9 billion people to visit a Meta-owned asset each month during the June-ended quarter.
- Apple is the largest publicly traded company by market cap in the U.S. and the leading provider of smartphones domestically. It’s also the king of capital-return programs, with Apple repurchasing around $600 billion worth of its common stock since the start of 2013.
- Amazon is the world’s leading online retail marketplace and is responsible for bringing in roughly $0.40 of every $1 spent in online retail sales in the United States. Further, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the leading cloud infrastructure service provider by total spending.
- Netflix is the world’s leading streaming content provider by market share. Among streaming services, none comes close to the library of original content Netflix can offer.
- Alphabet’s Google is a virtual monopoly in internet search. It held a nearly 92% share of worldwide internet search share, as of September 2023. Alphabet is also the owner of streaming video platform YouTube, the second-most visited site behind Facebook.
But despite their dominance, Wall Street’s outlook for the five FAANG stocks differs significantly. According to the high-water price targets from a pair of Wall Street analysts, two FAANG stocks offer as much as 79% upside.
Alphabet: Implied upside of 54%
The first FAANG stock with jaw-dropping upside, at least according to one Wall Street analyst, is Alphabet. Analyst Ross Sandler at Barclays maintained a buy rating on shares of the company in September, with an aggressive price target of $200. When accounting for Alphabet’s after-hours move at the time of this writing on Oct. 24, 2023, Sandler’s price target would result in a 54% gain.
Arguably the biggest headwind that could keep Alphabet from reaching the highest-issued price target on Wall Street is the health of the U.S. economy. With a number of economic data points and predictive tools suggesting a recession is on the horizon, ad-driven businesses, like Alphabet, could struggle. Historically, advertisers are quick to reduce their spending at the first sign of economic weakness.
But the counter to this argument is that the U.S. economy spends a disproportionate amount of time expanding. Of the dozen U.S. recessions following World War II, only three have lasted at least 12 months. By comparison, almost every expansion has endured for multiple years, with one continuing for a decade. The advertising industry grows in lockstep with the U.S. economy over time.
However, Alphabet isn’t just any ad-driven business. Google hasn’t held less than a 90% share of worldwide internet search since the first quarter of 2015. Having a veritable monopoly in internet search affords the company exceptional ad-pricing power in most economic climates.
There’s also plenty of excitement for Alphabet beyond its foundational search engine. Google Cloud is the world’s No. 3 cloud infrastructure service provider (by market share), and it’s generated three consecutive quarterly operating profits following years of losses. Despite analysts being collectively disappointed by Google Cloud’s 22.5% year-over-year sales growth in the September-ended quarter, it’s important to recognize that enterprise cloud spending is still in its relatively early stages. This is a high-margin segment that’s only going to get stronger from a cash flow perspective over time.
Don’t forget about YouTube, either. In a span of roughly two years, daily views of YouTube Shorts (short-form videos often less than 60 seconds in length) catapulted from about 6.5 billion to north of 50 billion. These bite-sized videos are turning into a serious ad-growth opportunity for YouTube and parent Alphabet.
Lastly, Alphabet remains inexpensive, given its sustained moat in internet search and its rapidly growing operating cash flow. Shares are currently valued at roughly 19 times forward-year earnings and below 14 times consensus cash flow in 2024. For context, Alphabet has averaged a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 25 over the past five years, along with a cash flow multiple of 18.
Suffice it to say, a $200 price target isn’t out of the question at some point within the next year or three.
![2 FAANG Stocks With Up to 79% Upside, According to a Pair of Wall Street Analysts An Amazon delivery driver leaning out of their vehicle to interact with a fellow employee.](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2-FAANG-Stocks-With-Up-to-79-Upside-According-to.jpg&op=resize&w=700.jpeg)
Image source: Amazon.
Amazon: Implied upside of 79%
However, the FAANG stock that offers the most blistering upside, based on the price target of one Wall Street analyst, is e-commerce kingpin Amazon. In August, analyst Alex Haissl of Redburn Partners maintained his firm’s buy rating on Amazon but upped his price target from $220 to $230. If Amazon were to reach this lofty price target, its shares would increase 79% from where they closed on Oct. 24.
Similar to Alphabet, the biggest knock against Amazon will be the health of the U.S. economy. People are most familiar with Amazon for its leading online marketplace. If a recession were to take shape, the expectation would be for online retail sales to decline.
The thing is, Amazon’s top segment for revenue isn’t all that important for cash-flow generation. While e-commerce tends to be the lure that attracts a lot of consumers in the first place, it’s the company’s ancillary operations that drive virtually all of its cash flow and operating income. In short, a weaker retail spending environment may not be a big deal for Amazon.
If Amazon stock were to make a run at Haissl’s high-water price target, it would almost certainly be because of strength from AWS. As of the June-ended quarter, tech analysis firm Canalys estimated that AWS accounted for 30% of global cloud infrastructure service spending. Even though AWS generates just a sixth of Amazon’s net sales, it regularly contributes 50% to 100% of the company’s operating income.
Subscription services is another key high-margin segment for Amazon. The lure of its online marketplace, growing content library, and exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football helped push its global Prime subscriber count past 200 million in April 2021. As one of these 200 million-plus subscribers, I can somewhat confidently say that Amazon has exceptional pricing power with Prime.
Advertising services is the third and final ancillary segment that’s of importance. Amazon is one of the most-visited sites in the world, which means it offers prime “real estate” to advertisers. Excluding currency movements, Amazon has delivered eight consecutive quarters of at least 21% year-over-year sales growth from its advertising segment.
Although Amazon isn’t cheap by a traditional measuring stick (i.e., using the P/E ratio), it’s historically inexpensive when analyzed relative to its future cash flow. The latter is a far better measure for Amazon than the traditional P/E ratio, given that Amazon reinvests most of its cash flow back into its faster-growing operations. Whereas Amazon was consistently valued at 23 to 37 times its year-end cash flow throughout the 2010s, it can be purchased by opportunistic investors right now for less than 12 times Wall Street’s consensus cash-flow estimate for 2024.
Similar to Sandler’s price target on Alphabet stock, I believe Haissl’s share price forecast for Amazon can come to fruition within the next few years.
Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Sean Williams has positions in Alphabet, Amazon.com, and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon.com, Apple, Meta Platforms, and Netflix. The Motley Fool recommends Barclays Plc. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Facebook Faces Yet Another Outage: Platform Encounters Technical Issues Again
![Facebook Faces Yet Another Outage: Platform Encounters Technical Issues Again Facebook Problem Again](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/facebook-problem.jpg)
Uppdated: It seems that today’s issues with Facebook haven’t affected as many users as the last time. A smaller group of people appears to be impacted this time around, which is a relief compared to the larger incident before. Nevertheless, it’s still frustrating for those affected, and hopefully, the issues will be resolved soon by the Facebook team.
Facebook had another problem today (March 20, 2024). According to Downdetector, a website that shows when other websites are not working, many people had trouble using Facebook.
This isn’t the first time Facebook has had issues. Just a little while ago, there was another problem that stopped people from using the site. Today, when people tried to use Facebook, it didn’t work like it should. People couldn’t see their friends’ posts, and sometimes the website wouldn’t even load.
Downdetector, which watches out for problems on websites, showed that lots of people were having trouble with Facebook. People from all over the world said they couldn’t use the site, and they were not happy about it.
When websites like Facebook have problems, it affects a lot of people. It’s not just about not being able to see posts or chat with friends. It can also impact businesses that use Facebook to reach customers.
Since Facebook owns Messenger and Instagram, the problems with Facebook also meant that people had trouble using these apps. It made the situation even more frustrating for many users, who rely on these apps to stay connected with others.
During this recent problem, one thing is obvious: the internet is always changing, and even big websites like Facebook can have problems. While people wait for Facebook to fix the issue, it shows us how easily things online can go wrong. It’s a good reminder that we should have backup plans for staying connected online, just in case something like this happens again.
Christian family goes in hiding after being cleared of blasphemy
![Christian family goes in hiding after being cleared of blasphemy Christian family goes in hiding after being cleared of blasphemy](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Christian-family-goes-in-hiding-after-being-cleared-of-blasphemy.jpg)
LAHORE, Pakistan — A court in Pakistan granted bail to a Christian falsely charged with blasphemy, but he and his family have separated and gone into hiding amid threats to their lives, sources said.
Haroon Shahzad, 45, was released from Sargodha District Jail on Nov. 15, said his attorney, Aneeqa Maria. Shahzad was charged with blasphemy on June 30 after posting Bible verses on Facebook that infuriated Muslims, causing dozens of Christian families in Chak 49 Shumaali, near Sargodha in Punjab Province, to flee their homes.
Lahore High Court Judge Ali Baqir Najfi granted bail on Nov. 6, but the decision and his release on Nov. 15 were not made public until now due to security fears for his life, Maria said.
Shahzad told Morning Star News by telephone from an undisclosed location that the false accusation has changed his family’s lives forever.
“My family has been on the run from the time I was implicated in this false charge and arrested by the police under mob pressure,” Shahzad told Morning Star News. “My eldest daughter had just started her second year in college, but it’s been more than four months now that she hasn’t been able to return to her institution. My other children are also unable to resume their education as my family is compelled to change their location after 15-20 days as a security precaution.”
Though he was not tortured during incarceration, he said, the pain of being away from his family and thinking about their well-being and safety gave him countless sleepless nights.
“All of this is due to the fact that the complainant, Imran Ladhar, has widely shared my photo on social media and declared me liable for death for alleged blasphemy,” he said in a choked voice. “As soon as Ladhar heard about my bail, he and his accomplices started gathering people in the village and incited them against me and my family. He’s trying his best to ensure that we are never able to go back to the village.”
Shahzad has met with his family only once since his release on bail, and they are unable to return to their village in the foreseeable future, he said.
“We are not together,” he told Morning Star News. “They are living at a relative’s house while I’m taking refuge elsewhere. I don’t know when this agonizing situation will come to an end.”
The Christian said the complainant, said to be a member of Islamist extremist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan and also allegedly connected with banned terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, filed the charge because of a grudge. Shahzad said he and his family had obtained valuable government land and allotted it for construction of a church building, and Ladhar and others had filed multiple cases against the allotment and lost all of them after a four-year legal battle.
“Another probable reason for Ladhar’s jealousy could be that we were financially better off than most Christian families of the village,” he said. “I was running a successful paint business in Sargodha city, but that too has shut down due to this case.”
Regarding the social media post, Shahzad said he had no intention of hurting Muslim sentiments by sharing the biblical verse on his Facebook page.
“I posted the verse a week before Eid Al Adha [Feast of the Sacrifice] but I had no idea that it would be used to target me and my family,” he said. “In fact, when I came to know that Ladhar was provoking the villagers against me, I deleted the post and decided to meet the village elders to explain my position.”
The village elders were already influenced by Ladhar and refused to listen to him, Shahzad said.
“I was left with no option but to flee the village when I heard that Ladhar was amassing a mob to attack me,” he said.
Shahzad pleaded with government authorities for justice, saying he should not be punished for sharing a verse from the Bible that in no way constituted blasphemy.
Similar to other cases
Shahzad’s attorney, Maria, told Morning Star News that events in Shahzad’s case were similar to other blasphemy cases filed against Christians.
“Defective investigation, mala fide on the part of the police and complainant, violent protests against the accused persons and threats to them and their families, forcing their displacement from their ancestral areas, have become hallmarks of all blasphemy allegations in Pakistan,” said Maria, head of The Voice Society, a Christian paralegal organization.
She said that the case filed against Shahzad was gross violation of Section 196 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which states that police cannot register a case under the Section 295-A blasphemy statute against a private citizen without the approval of the provincial government or federal agencies.
Maria added that Shahzad and his family have continued to suffer even though there was no evidence of blasphemy.
“The social stigma attached with a blasphemy accusation will likely have a long-lasting impact on their lives, whereas his accuser, Imran Ladhar, would not have to face any consequence of his false accusation,” she said.
The judge who granted bail noted that Shahzad was charged with blasphemy under Section 295-A, which is a non-cognizable offense, and Section 298, which is bailable. The judge also noted that police had not submitted the forensic report of Shahzad’s cell phone and said evidence was required to prove that the social media was blasphemous, according to Maria.
Bail was set at 100,000 Pakistani rupees (US $350) and two personal sureties, and the judge ordered police to further investigate, she said.
Shahzad, a paint contractor, on June 29 posted on his Facebook page 1 Cor. 10:18-21 regarding food sacrificed to idols, as Muslims were beginning the four-day festival of Eid al-Adha, which involves slaughtering an animal and sharing the meat.
A Muslim villager took a screenshot of the post, sent it to local social media groups and accused Shahzad of likening Muslims to pagans and disrespecting the Abrahamic tradition of animal sacrifice.
Though Shahzad made no comment in the post, inflammatory or otherwise, the situation became tense after Friday prayers when announcements were made from mosque loudspeakers telling people to gather for a protest, family sources previously told Morning Star News.
Fearing violence as mobs grew in the village, most Christian families fled their homes, leaving everything behind.
In a bid to restore order, the police registered a case against Shahzad under Sections 295-A and 298. Section 295-A relates to “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs” and is punishable with imprisonment of up to 10 years and fine, or both. Section 298 prescribes up to one year in prison and a fine, or both, for hurting religious sentiments.
Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, up from eighth the previous year.
Morning Star News is the only independent news service focusing exclusively on the persecution of Christians. The nonprofit’s mission is to provide complete, reliable, even-handed news in order to empower those in the free world to help persecuted Christians, and to encourage persecuted Christians by informing them that they are not alone in their suffering.
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