What happened
Shares of so-called FANG stocks generally surged much higher on Friday. As of 3:20 p.m., EST, Facebook (FB 1.79%) traded 4.4% higher, while both of Alphabet 's (GOOG 2.62%) (GOOGL 2.98%) stock classes gained 5% and Amazon.com (AMZN 1.43%) posted a 5.1% gain. Netflix (NFLX 2.32%) led the pack with a 9.1% price increase.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
These well-known companies didn't actually do anything to earn these big gains today. The main driver behind all of these big moves came from a rosy employment report and a calm update from the Federal Reserve. These events point to solid economic trends in the U.S., possibly driving consumer spending higher in the near future.
That's great news for pretty much every stock, but particularly so in the case for consumer-facing market darlings like the FANG tickers. American consumers with open wallets should drive more shopping on Amazon, more clicks on ads published by Facebook and Google, and more time on the couch with a fresh Netflix subscription.
All of these high-growth stocks have have taken drastic haircuts in recent months due to more negative economic readings and a Chinese-American trade war, which moved them in the opposite direction. Overall, Amazon and Netflix investors still are nursing a roughly 25% loss over the last six months. You win some, you lose some. Today, the news is good and the stocks are soaring.
Now what
Netflix's extra-strong gain rests on bullish reports from at least two analyst firms citing strong risk/reward equations at this lower valuation. The same arguably could be said about all of these surging FANG tickers, but Netflix was the one that actually got the hat tip from Wall Street's pro investors today.
Buying today makes all kinds of sense because market timing is an imperfect science (and a poor investing style overall). FANG investors are buying at low prices today, hoping to sell high much later. This may or may not be the actual market bottom, and it's always good to keep some dry powder in your investing arsenal in case share prices go back to their downward trends again.
Check out the latest Facebook, Alphabet, Amazon, and Netflix earnings call transcripts.
