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FAANG vs. MATANA: Looking Beyond the Glitzy Branding

With Ray Wang, Principal Analyst and the Founder of Constellation Research, upgrading FAANG to MATANA, the obvious question is which tech stocks basket is a better play? A simple price performance comparison shows that MATANA had the upper hand in one year. Further, on average, analysts see a higher upside in MATANA stocks. However, investing is not about buying fancy acronyms. According to TipRanks’ data-driven Smart Score, only Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the MATANA list have a higher potential to outperform the market. 

But before we dig deeper, let’s examine why FAANG needed an upgrade.

Why the Rebranding? 

For years, FAANG stocks – Meta (previously Facebook) (NASDAQ:META), Apple, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), and Alphabet (earlier Google) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) – symbolized big tech companies. 

However, Wang, in a video interview with Yahoo Finance Live, suggested dropping Meta and Netflix from the big tech list and advised adding Microsoft, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) to the group. Together, these stocks are now known as MATANA. 

The move follows the underperformance of FAANG stocks in 2022. Blame the base effect for the slowdown in their growth or investors losing appetite for risk amid fears of an economic slowdown, FAANG stocks have lost their sheen. 

Specifically, Meta Platforms and Netflix are struggling to stay relevant to their consumers amid their changing preferences in the post-pandemic world and heightened competition. 

FAANG or MATANA: Which Is the Better Tech Play?

Built with TipRanks’ Stock Comparison tool, here is a summary of how FAANG stocks performed in the past year and what analysts recommend. 

The graph below shows that FAANG stocks, on average, are down over 34% in the past one year. Meanwhile, analysts’ average price target reflects an upside potential of over 25% in one year. 

The Stock Comparison tool shows that a portfolio of MATANA stocks have performed better than FAANG stocks in the past one year. For context, MATANA stocks, on average, are down about 2.2% during the comparable period, significantly outperforming FAANG stocks. 

Further, analysts’ average price target shows an upside of over 28% in the next 12 months.

Bottom Line

MATANA is slightly more diversified than FAANG. However, this shouldn’t matter much as the broader industry classification is the same, with these stocks being prone to similar risks.  

Furthermore, the above graph shows that only Microsoft and Apple stock sport an Outperform Smart Score on TipRanks in the MATANA list. Meanwhile, hedge funds are also bullish on only these two stocks. 

All in all, investors should focus on diversifying their portfolio with Top Smart Score Stocks across multiple sectors to lower risk and maximize gains. 

Read full Disclosure 

Amit Singh
Amit Singh jumped into the world of stock analysis and investing after completing his Post Graduate Diploma in Finance in 2009. Before joining TipRanks in 2020, he worked as an equity research analyst for eight years. With a keen eye for identifying strategic investment opportunities, his work entails evaluating stocks, building financial models, writing company-specific research reports, and identifying the overall financial worth of companies in the consumer staples and technology sectors. In 2017, Amit found a way to combine his expertise in evaluating companies with his passion for writing. He has also worked with the financial research firm Market Realist.