Netflix (NFLX) stock surged out of the gate Wednesday after the streaming giant beat top- and bottom-line expectations for its fourth quarter and announced a price hike on certain subscription tiers.

In the three months ending December 31, Netflix said its revenue increased 16% year over year to $10.25 billion, boosted by global streaming paid memberships that were 15.9% higher to 301.6 million. Its earnings per share (EPS) more than doubled from the year-ago period to $4.27.

The results cruised past analysts' expectations. Wall Street was anticipating revenue of $10.1 billion, earnings of $4.20 per share and paid memberships of 290.9 million, according to CNBC.

For the first quarter of 2025, Netflix said it expects to achieve revenue of approximately $10.4 billion and earnings of roughly $5.58 per share. For the full year, the company raised its revenue expectations by about $500 million to a range of $43.5 billion to $44.5 billion. This represents growth of about 14% to 17% over 2024.

"We enter 2025 with strong momentum, coming off a year with record net additions (41 million) and having re-accelerated growth (16% increase in revenue)," Netflix said. "Moreover, we're in a leadership position in terms of engagement (approximately two hours per paid membership per day), revenue ($39 billion), and profit ($10 billion in operating income) in a market that is continuing to expand."

Netflix is raising prices on certain tiers

Netflix also said it is raising prices on some of its services, according to CNBC. Here's a breakdown of where the increases are occurring and by how much:

• Standard plan without commercials: $17.99 (from $15.49)
• Ad-supported plan: $7.99 (from $6.99)
• Premium plan: $24.99 (from $23.99)

"When you're going to ask for a price increase, you better make sure you have the goods and the engagement to back it up," said Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said on the company's conference call. "And I feel like what we have going into 2025 is just that."

Netflix's last series of price hikes came in October 2023.

Is NFLX stock a buy, sell or hold?

Netflix has been one of the best stocks for buy-and-hold investors and this impressive price action has been on full display over the past 12 months. Indeed, NFLX share have doubled in value over the past 12 months vs the S&P 500's 26% gain. Unsurprisingly, Wall Street is bullish on the blue chip stock.

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the average analyst target price for NFLX stock is $1,020.70, representing implied upside of about 5% to current levels. Additionally, the consensus recommendation is a Buy.

Financial services firm Wedbush is one of the most bullish outfits on NFLX stock and raised its price target to $1,150 from $950 after earnings and maintained its Buy rating.

"While massive subscriber growth was the primary driver in 2024, we expect price increases to drive revenue growth in 2025 and the ad tier to drive revenue higher in 2026," wrote Wedbush analyst Alicia Reese in a January 22 note. "We think Netflix can maintain high-quality production given its healthy cash position against competitors who have to tread more carefully to achieve or maintain some level of profitability."

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A strong start to third-quarter earnings season went into overdrive, boosted by shares in many of the Magnificent 7 stocks that have done much of the bull market's heavy lifting.

Communications services and tech names led the market higher Friday, helped by two of its largest stocks. Shares in Apple (AAPL) gained 1.2% on strong demand for its new iPhone in the Chinese market. Meanwhile, Nvidia (NVDA) rose another 0.8% after analysts at BofA Global Research raised their price target on the stock.

Additional stimulus measures from the People's Bank of China also helped equities catch a bid on Friday, notes José Torres, senior economist at InterActive Brokers. At the closing bell, the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose almost 1% to 43,275, a new closing high, while the broader S&P 500 added 0.4% to 5,864. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.6% to finish at 18,489.

Housing starts in focus

Housing starts declined 0.5% in September from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.35 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Meanwhile, building permits declined 2.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.42 million.

Oliver Allen, senior U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, described the decline in starts as "trivial," and believes new residential construction is likely to flatline.

"The boom-and-bust cycle in multi-family construction, which tracked the surge and then retreat in rental growth during the pandemic, has now faded entirely," Allen writes. "This points to new residential construction having a roughly neutral, at best, impact on overall GDP growth over the next few quarters."

Stocks on the move

CVS Health (CVS) stock fell 5.2% after the healthcare company announced the appointment of a new CEO. David Joyner took over as president and CEO of CVS Health effective October 17. He replaced Karen Lynch, who had been in the position since February 2021.

The news comes less than three weeks after reports surfaced that CVS was conducting a strategic review of its business and had hired bankers to assist in exploring options, including a possible breakup of its retail pharmacy and Aetna insurance units.

Shares in CVS have lost about a quarter of their value so far this year to lag the broader market by almost 50 percentage points. Worse, CVS stock has underperformed the S&P 500 by wide margins over pretty much every standardized return period you care to measure.

American Express (AXP) stock slid 3.2% after the payments company reported mixed results for its third quarter and raised its full-year profit forecast.

As a result of its strong financial performance in the first nine months of 2024, AXP now anticipates earnings per share (EPS) in the range of $13.75 to $14.05, up from its previous forecast of $13.30 to $13.80. It still expects revenue growth of around 9%.

AXP stock is up almost 50% for the year to date, which has some analysts becoming more cautious on the name at such levels. The Dow Jones stock carries a consensus recommendation of Hold, partly as a function of valuation. However, as a long-term investment and dividend payer, AXP has been tough to beat. That's why AXP has been one of Warren Buffett's favorite stocks for half a century.

Netflix (NFLX) stock surged 11.1% after the streaming giant beat on all major metrics for its third quarter (revenue, earnings and paid memberships) and issued a strong outlook for its fourth quarter.

NFLX now anticipates Q4 revenue growth of 15% and paid net additions to be higher than in the third quarter. Given this outlook, Netflix is on pace to grow revenue by 15% for the full year, which is the high end of its previous guidance for revenue growth of 14% to 15%. For 2025, the company anticipates revenue in the range of $43 billion to $44 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 11% to 13% from its 2024 revenue forecast of $38.9 billion.

UBS Research analyst John Hodulik, who rates shares at Buy, said Netflix is "planting the seeds for double-digit growth."

Netflix stock was the S&P 500's top gainer on Friday, but then long-time shareholders should be used to such remunerative – if volatile – returns. Indeed, anyone who put $1,000 into Netflix stock 20 years ago has enjoyed outstanding outperformance.

Wall Street is mostly bullish on the blue chip stock's prospects over the next 12 months or so, too. Per S&P Global Market Intelligence, industry analysts assign NFLX a consensus recommendation of Buy, albeit with somewhat mixed conviction.

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Netflix (NFLX) stock is one of the best S&P 500 stocks Friday after the streaming giant beat top- and bottom-line expectations for its third quarter and issued a strong outlook for its fourth quarter.

In the three months ended September 30, Netflix said its revenue increased 15% year over year to $9.83 billion, driven by a 14% rise in global streaming paid memberships to 282.72 million. Its earnings per share (EPS) were up 45% from the year-ago period to $5.40. 

The results topped analysts' expectations. Wall Street was anticipating revenue of $9.77 billion, paid memberships of 282.15 million and earnings of $5.12 per share, according to CNBC.

For the fourth quarter, Netflix said it anticipates revenue growth of 15% and paid net additions to be higher than in the third quarter. Given this outlook, Netflix is on pace to grow revenue by 15% for the full year, which is the high-end of its previous guidance for revenue growth of 14% to 15%.

"We're pleased that we've reaccelerated our growth and, as we head into 2025, we expect to deliver solid revenue and profit growth by both improving our core series and film offering while investing in new growth initiatives like ads and gaming," NFLX said.

For 2025, the company anticipates revenue in the range of $43 billion to $44 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 11% to 13% from its 2024 revenue forecast of $38.9 billion. Netflix said it expects this growth "to be driven by a healthy increase in paid memberships," as well as an expansion to its average revenue per membership.

Is Netflix stock a buy, sell or hold?

Netflix has outperformed the broader market so far in 2024, up 55% vs the S&P 500's 23% gain. Unsurprisingly, Wall Street is bullish on the blue chip stock. 

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the consensus recommendation among the 48 analysts covering the Magnificent 7 stock is a Buy. However, the average analyst target price of $745.21 sits at a slight discount to the current share price. It's likely, though, that analysts will increase their price targets on NFLX following the company's strong earnings report.

Financial services firm Needham already hiked its price target on NFLX, raising it to $800 from $700 after earnings while maintaining its Buy rating.

Needham analyst Laura Martin pointed to Netflix's strong Q3 subscriber adds as well as its solid full-year revenue forecast and higher 2024 free cash flow guidance of $6 billion to $6.5 billion as things she liked in the print. These are all catalysts that can boost NFLX stock's share price down the road, she adds.

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A sharp selloff in tech and communications services stocks weighed on market sentiment Friday, though solid earnings results for a blue chip credit card company kept the Dow Jones Industrial Average above water. And the volatility could continue next week thanks to a barrage of Big Tech earnings and a key inflation update.  

At the close, the Dow was up 0.6% at 37,986 thanks to a post-earnings pop for American Express (AXP). 

Indeed, AXP was the best Dow Jones stock today, surging 6.2%, after the credit card company disclosed higher-than-expected Q1 earnings of $3.33 per share on in-line revenue of $15.8 billion. AXP also said consumer spending was up 8% year-over-year, with spending among millennial and Gen Z cardholders rising 15%.

Looking ahead, Argus Research analyst Stephen Biggar (Buy) sees "continued healthy spending volume from AXP's generally affluent cardmembers, who are less impacted by inflation, and see marketing efforts leading to good cardmember growth."

Netflix sinks after Q1 results

While the Dow managed to notch its third win of the week, the S&P 500 (-0.9% at 4,967) and the Nasdaq Composite (-2.1% at 15,282) extended their daily losing streaks to six.

Weighing on the indexes was a negative earnings reaction for Netflix (NFLX, -9.1%). While the streaming giant reported top- and bottom-line beats in its Q1 results and said subscriber growth was up 16% year-over-year, it said it will stop reporting paid membership growth in fiscal 2025. 

"The market hasn't taken kindly to news Netflix will stop reporting quarterly membership numbers," says Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. The plan was always to grow the company's customer base, but now that it's at that inflection point, "there will be nerves around what this means for Netflix's label as a higher-octane growth stock," she adds.

The weakness wasn't confined to Netflix, though. Ahead of their appearances on next week's earnings calendar, several Magnificent 7 stocks – including Alphabet (GOOGL, -1.2%) and Meta Platforms (META, -4.1%) – pulled back.

Super Micro Computer spirals 20% 

Elsewhere, Super Micro Computer (SMCI) plunged 23% to close at its lowest level since early February. While no concrete news sparked the selloff, media reports suggest investors could be skittish that the company did not preannounce its earnings report as it has done in seven of the past eight quarters. Rather, the AI server, software and infrastructure company said it will release its full fiscal third-quarter results after the close on Tuesday, April 30.

Friday's slump marks a change of pace for the recent S&P 500 addition. To be sure, SMCI has been one of the hottest stocks of 2024, nearly doubling in value for the year to date. As such, some of today's selling could be investors taking profits on the sizzling tech stock.

Inflation data, busy earnings week on deck

Several major events could spark more volatility in the stock market next week. In addition to a number of Big Tech earnings reports, the economic calendar features the March Personal Consumption and Expenditures (PCE) Price Index. The data measures consumer spending and is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge.

Larry Adam, chief investment officer at Raymond James, says investors needn't worry too much about the whipsaw price action. "While market gyrations can be concerning, remember not to panic – pullbacks and interim spikes in volatility are quite common," Adam reminds us, adding that the S&P 500 is still up 20% from its October lows. "This uninterrupted rally is uncommon as it is important to appreciate that the equity market does not go up in a straight line," he says.

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Netflix (NFLX) is a key headliner of this week's busy earnings calendar. The streaming giant reported fourth-quarter results after Tuesday's close and based on today's price action for Netflix stock, Wall Street likes what they see.

The company reported year-over-year Q4 revenue growth of 12.5% to $8.8 billion, while earnings per share surged to $2.11 from last year's 12 cents. The top-line results came in higher than analysts were expecting, though the bottom-line figure fell short of estimates. 

Despite the bottom-line miss, Netflix stock jumped more than 10% out of the gate Wednesday thanks to its stellar subscriber numbers. Specifically, the company added 13.1 million new subscribers globally – its biggest fourth quarter ever for subscription growth – easily outpacing its forecast for roughly 8.8 million.

"The meaningful growth in subscriber numbers is partly a result of password sharing crackdowns, but is also testament to Netflix's ability to keep us glued to screens" says Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. "Full year-margin expectations have been upgraded thanks in part to the higher volume of Netflix fans joining the service, and that nugget of news is being celebrated the loudest."

"We enter 2024 with good momentum," Netflix said in its earnings report. For the first quarter, the company forecasts revenue to 13% to $9.2 billion and earnings to be up 56% to $4.49 per share. 

NFLX also expects to spend roughly $17 billion on content in 2024. Part of the company's upcoming programming will include a bigger shift into sports entertainment, including its new 10-year deal with TKO Group Holdings (TKO) that will allow it to stream WWE Raw on its platform beginning in January 2025. 

"We thought NFLX might tread water in the first half of 2024 with operating income margins set, paid sharing dwindling and ads scaling," says Wells Fargo analyst Steve Cahall. But the company's "fourth-quarter outperformance indicates there's a lot of growth and margin still ahead."

Should I buy Netflix stock?

The decision over whether or not to buy a stock is a personal one, dependent on your individual risk tolerance and investing goals. 

However, Wall Street is overwhelmingly bullish on NFLX stock. Of the 50 analysts covering NFLX tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence, 22 say it's a Strong Buy, six have it at Buy, 16 call it a Hold, two have it at Sell and one says it's a Strong Sell. This works out to a consensus Buy recommendation.

It's unsurprising to see so much optimism surrounding Netflix stock, given its impressive long-term strength. True, shares lost half their value in 2022 as investors fled riskier assets. Still, NFLX bounced back sharply in 2023, surging 65% – including a nearly 30% gain in Q4 alone. Additionally, the FAANG stock has generated an annual total return of 25.1% over the past 20 years vs 9.6% for the S&P 500.

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Netflix is raising prices again for certain subscribers, the streaming service announced in its third-quarter earnings report.

Effective immediately, the monthly cost of the Netflix basic plan is $11.99, up $2, and the premium plan is $22.99, up $3. The company also announced price increases in the U.K. and France. Monthly ad-supported and standard plans will remain the same, however, at $6.99 and $15.49, respectively.

The increase is Netflix’s second in less than two years. In January 2022, it raised monthly basic plan prices by $1, to $9.99; the standard plan rose by $2, to $15.49; and the premium plan increased by $2, to $19.99. Netflix only launched its ad-supported service in October 2022.

“As we deliver more value to our members, we occasionally ask them to pay a bit more,” Netflix said in its earnings report. “Our starting price is extremely competitive with other streamers and, at $6.99 per month in the US, for example, it’s much less than the average price of a single movie ticket.”

Netflix, which has been cracking down on password sharing, also said the number of paid subscribers increased by 8.8 million in the third quarter, versus 2.4 million in the same year-ago period. The company credited "the roll out of paid sharing, strong, steady programming and the ongoing expansion of streaming globally” for the subscriber increase. 

Streaming prices on the rise

Netflix is the latest streamer to boost prices. Earlier this month, Warner Bros. Discovery hiked the price for its Discovery Plus ad-free monthly subscription in the U.S. to $8.99, from $6.99, but kept its monthly "ad-light" subscription fee unchanged at $4.99. Last month, Amazon Prime Video announced that its Prime Video streaming service will be getting ads in early 2024, although members can opt for an ad-free version for $2.99 per month.

In August, The Walt Disney Company announced a price hike for its monthly ad-free Disney Plus plan to $13.99, from $10.99, effective October 12. The cost of its monthly ad-free Hulu plan also rose to $17.99, from $14.99. Both versions of these services with ads remained unchanged at $7.99 per month.

News that Netflix was planning to raise rates was initially reported in an October 3 Wall Street Journal report citing sources familiar with the matter. The report said that the company was planning to wait until the actors' strike ended and that it was looking at several other markets worldwide. The actors' strike is ongoing, but the price hike is here nonetheless.

How you can save on your streaming services

With some of the biggest streaming platforms raising rates, you may want to check out other options. For tips on how to save money while making sure you get to watch some of the must-see releases, check out our round-up of how to save on streaming services and find streaming deals.

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Warner Bros. Discovery hiked the price this week for its Discovery Plus ad-free monthly subscription in the U.S. to $8.99, from $6.99, but kept its monthly "ad-light" subscription fee unchanged at $4.99. 

In Canada, a new Discovery Plus ad-free monthly subscription also rose to $8.99 CAD, from $6.99 CAD, and the new ad-lite rate increased to $5.99 CAD, from $4.99 CAD.

According to an October 3 Wall Street Journal report, Netflix could be next. The company plans to raise prices on its ad-free service in the U.S. and Canada a few months after the actors strike ends, and it is looking at several other markets worldwide, according to the report, which cites sources familiar with the situation.

Netflix did not respond to Kiplinger's requests for comment.

These streaming services join several others that recently announced price hikes, especially for ad-free service. These include Amazon, which last month announced plans to add commercials to its Prime Video streaming service in early 2024, unless members opt for an ad-free version for $2.99 per month.

Starting October 12, the Walt Disney Company will boost prices for its monthly ad-free Disney Plus plan to $13.99, from $10.99. The cost of its monthly ad-free Hulu plan will hit $17.99, from $14.99. Both versions of these services with ads will remain unchanged at $7.99 per month.

First increase since 2021

At Warner Bros., the monthly Discovery Plus increase became effective on October 3. The company said in a statement that this is the first increase for the service in the U.S. and Canada since it was launched in January 2021.

"This will allow us to continue to provide can’t-miss stories in the food, home, relationships, true crime, paranormal genres - plus so much more,” Warner Bros. said.

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Amazon Prime is one of the many subscriptions you likely have and is arguably one of the most popular. It's not hard to see why: It's a no-brainer for the shipping perks alone.

Amazon offers a wide range of benefits for Prime members across its many services, including free shipping on most items, Prime Video, Prime Music, the chance to get deep discounts on thousands of items during Prime Day, which runs from July 8 to July 11.

With Amazon Prime costing you $139 a year for the annual subscription, it's no surprise that consumers are wondering whether Amazon Prime is worth the price.

So, do you still need Amazon Prime? After all, anyone can buy from Amazon, you don't need to be a Prime member, unless you want to participate in Prime Day. You just won't have access to the many perks that come with the service.

Then again, there's a chance you don't even need or want some of those benefits anyway. To that end, we've listed 12 reasons you might want to cancel your Amazon Prime membership.

If you pay your Amazon Prime membership annually (which is the most cost-effective option), you're shelling out $139 each year. If you pay monthly, you'll pay $14.99 per month, or approximately $180/year.

At that price, you might ask yourself, how much are you really using Amazon Prime — and how much value are you gleaning from it?

“Because the membership has so many perks, one might assume that it’s worth it,” says Trae Bodge, smart shopping expert at True Trae. By that same token, if you're new to the service, you can try it out free for 30 days. This is a great way to test-drive the service to see if the perks are worth it to you.

“For me, because I take advantage of many of the benefits, including free two-day shipping for my frequent purchases, and enjoy the video, music and book content, I have no question that it's worth it. But if you do not shop frequently online, or don't use any of the many perks, it may not be.”

Is the membership worth it? Check out the 31 best Amazon Prime benefits to use. There are likely perks you don't even know exist.

Amazon also makes it easy to track how much you've spent and what items you've purchased (a gimmick that also works to Amazon's advantage when you want to reorder an item).

Click on “Returns & Orders” at the top of the Amazon home page after you sign in. It defaults to your orders for the last three months. On that drop-down list, you can choose yearly time frames. You can also search for an item, say pants, and you'll see only those orders.

It's the more frivolous items — the things you probably wouldn't pick up in a physical store or that you wouldn't have picked up without free shipping — that can really add up.

So here's the question? Is having Amazon Prime causing you to spend too much at Amazon throughout the year? That's just one key reason you might ask yourself: “Do I need Amazon Prime?”

Your Prime membership might get you access to free delivery and deals on electronics, groceries, clothing, everyday goods and more, but Amazon isn't the only place selling these products.

Keep an eye on Costco and Sam's Club memberships. Then, there's Walmart+. Similar to Amazon Prime, Walmart+ allows you to buy online and ship many items to your home for free, a choice between two streaming services and fuel discounts at an annual price of $98, much cheaper than Prime.

A Walmart Plus membership also entitles you to a free Paramount Plus membership (Essentials plan) or Peacock's ad-supported plan, gas, and Burger King discounts.

We've previously suggested taking advantage of the 30-day Amazon free trial option as long as you remember to quit before the monthly fees kick in — and we stand by this tip.

You're only eligible for one Amazon Prime free trial period every 12 months, so you could wait to sign up and take advantage of Prime Day deals, or join for a month or two (one free, one paid) in the winter to save some money on your holiday shopping.

Do be warned, though: If you cancel Amazon Prime before the free trial period ends, you'll lose access to any of the program's perks immediately, so be certain you don't need any of the Prime member benefits anymore before calling it quits.

Early on, the biggest bonus of a yearly Prime membership was the free two-day (then one-day, and in some places same-day) shipping, which was rare in the retail world. But that's just no longer the case.

Businesses have stepped up their game to stay competitive, with many alternative retailers offering free shipping plans, including Walmart and Target.

These retail giants also offer same-day, or in-store pickup options, that don't come with an annual $139 (or more) price tag. Both retailers have invested significantly in making drive-up pick-up easy and convenient.

“Walmart's and Target's drive-up, pick-up options provide same-day purchase convenience without having to go in the store,” says consumer savings expert Andrea Woroch. “If you need to buy something urgently, like diapers or milk, choose drive-up or pick-up options when ordering from big box retailers like Walmart and Target. This doesn't cost extra!”

Woroch makes another important point: “Not everything you need or want to buy is sold and shipped by Amazon, so it may not be available for Prime two-day shipping anyway. That means it will likely take longer to arrive in the mail. Plus, returns are often much more of a pain to deal with when they come from a third-party retailer.”

Prime's most obvious benefit is free shipping; everyone knows that. But did you know that everyone can get free shipping on Amazon — without paying the $139 a year?

“Amazon has a $35 free shipping threshold for non-Prime members,” says Trae Bodge. “If you tend to buy items over $35 or you are patient enough to combine several items into one order, do you need to pay $139 per year [for Prime membership]?”

There's another potential benefit from shopping this way; if you wait until there's at least $35 worth of items in your basket, you might cut down on impulse buys.

You can also use the Subscribe and Save program. Not only can you save on many items you use often, but you don't have to be a member to receive free shipping.

Do you own any Amazon devices? And if so, how much of their software do you use? I'm on my second Kindle reader, and I've yet to download any free publications from Prime Reading or Amazon First Reads to my device. Not to mention, if you have an older Kindle, Amazon may not support it.

The same can be said in our household for Prime Video, Amazon's streaming service. As with any service in this ever-expanding market, Prime Video has its own originals like Reacher, The Fallout, Invincible, The Chosen, and The Boys (to name a few), but you can likely find plenty of entertainment elsewhere. And, there are other, cheaper ways to get your reading and viewing fix.

“You can stream TV shows, movies and get audio/ebooks for free from your local library's digital platform,” said Woroch. “Just apply for a library card online and forget Prime Video.”

And if you're only signed up to Amazon Prime to stream the latest movies and shows on Prime Video, you could always consider just signing up for the standalone Prime Video membership option ($8.99/month, or $107.88/annually) instead.

If you want to watch Prime Video without ads, you'll have to fork out another $4.99 per month on top of the monthly price.

Amazon Photos offers unlimited cloud storage for all of your photos, a Prime perk that Amazon is constantly pushing.

“Unlimited” is pretty good — Amazon users without Prime only get 5GB of free storage — but if you're like me and you are already utilizing the Apple cloud for photo storage, Prime's offer would be redundant

You can also use Google Photos. You only get 15 GB of Google Cloud storage. But if you're a Google One member, you may get additional storage. Keep in mind, if you're inactive in Google Photos for two or more years, or if you're out of storage, your Photos content may be deleted.

Other cloud-based services offer ample photo storage for less:

Here's another big drawback to Amazon Photos. If you've taken advantage of that service and decide to cancel your Amazon Prime membership, you could, according to Amazon’s service agreement, lose some of your stored photos.

“If you exceed your Service Plan's storage limit, including by downgrading or not renewing your Service Plan or no longer qualifying for an Additional Benefit,” the policy states, “we may delete or restrict access to your files. We may impose other restrictions on use of the Service.”

In the past, Amazon tacked on a monthly $14.99 charge (even for Prime members) for its Amazon Fresh grocery delivery service. That charge was lifted, but the free delivery threshold is back for smaller orders.

Orders over $100 with a two-hour delivery window are free with a Prime membership. Customers will be charged a $9.95 fee for orders under $50 and a $6.95 fee for orders between $50 to $100.

Customers who are not Prime members will be charged $4.95 to $13.95, depending on basket size and the delivery window.

Also, per Amazon, free grocery delivery is only available to "Prime members in select regions on Amazon Fresh orders that meet the local free delivery threshold.” So you'll need to sign into your account or look up your zip code to see if you're in an eligible area.

The good news is that Amazon continues to expand its grocery service. Amazon Now delivers orders in select cities, such as Atlanta, Seattle and Dallas, within 30 minutes. Same-day delivery service is available in over 2,300 cities nationwide.

Alexa, Amazon's cloud-based voice service, is already embedded on over 100 million Echo and smart devices, both from Amazon and third-party manufacturers.

While the voice assistant might help you reorder products easily, find your favorite music and even sing you “Happy Birthday,” Alexa has its limitations — and Amazon knows it. That said, Amazon employs scientists who are currently working to develop faster, easier and more accurate information from the device. Plus, the device gets smarter with every interaction.

And while Amazon has revealed plans for new Alexa features, such as more natural conversations and call translation, there's every chance these new perks might not be of interest or relevant to your specific day-to-day rhythm.

Amazon's Prime Early Access Sale was a huge success (Prime members purchased more than 375 million items worldwide and saved more than $2.5 billion). So clearly, we spend an awful lot of money during Prime Day events. But are these sales even worth it?

It's easy to get excited about a sale event, but some of those “deals" are often Amazon's proprietary products and third-party products that likely didn't sell well at full price.

While you can find the odd gem here and there, buyer's remorse can quickly set in. If you're looking for advice on how not to approach these kinds of events, we've listed some reasons you shouldn't shop on Amazon Prime Day.

Moreover, other retailers have also added sales days. Costco, Walmart and Target all have seasonal promotions similar to Prime Days. I browse deals regularly and often find that those offered by Walmart and other retailers tend to be of better value, so comparison shop if you plan to find the best value.

If you're a Prime member, Amazon might be your first port of call for most things. You find the product you're looking for, check out, and move on… but you might not be getting the best value for your money if you shop this way.

“While Amazon has a vast selection and often very good prices, those prices aren't always the lowest,” said Trae Bodge. “If you have a renewal coming up, try installing a browser extension that compares prices on Amazon versus other sites, like Cently from CouponFollow.”

Likewise, Capital One Shopping automatically applies coupons to your cart, gives you price drop notifications, shopping rewards and more and is free to sign up.

Bodge suggests the following strategy to see whether Amazon Prime is really worth it for your regular purchases:

“For your next several orders, pay attention to the Cently alert as you browse. If you're consistently getting the best price on your chosen items on Amazon, you might want to hang onto your Prime membership, but if you find that other sites have better prices on what you're shopping for, think about canceling.”

“You can often find better prices at competitors, and most big-box retailers will even price-match Amazon if they do have a lower price — including Walmart, Target and Best Buy,” says Woroch. “So why pay for Prime when you can get Amazon's low prices at a regular retailer anyway?”

If you can't or don't want to install a browser extension, you can still do your own price comparisons the old-fashioned way. This is particularly valuable when Amazon starts pushing personalized recommendations your way to try and tempt you into picking up additional items.

If you're struggling to make ends meet, you may scoff at Amazon's founder, Jeff Bezos, who transformed the online-only bookstore into the world's biggest online retailer that now sells electronics, household goods, books and basically anything else you can think of.

Amazon has made Bezos an astonishing amount of money, with a total net worth of $284 billion. He's put his wealth to use over the years by acquiring companies such as Audible, Ring and Whole Foods Markets.

Plus, he's snapped up The Washington Post, launched a commercial aerospace venture — Blue Origin — and acquired MGM Movie Studios for a cool $8.5 billion in 2022.

Given how big Amazon is, some consumers might prefer to support smaller, independent or local businesses rather than buy from such a large corporation.

The smartest way to ensure you're getting a fair deal is to buy mostly brand-name products from Amazon. The reason? Because some third-party products are of varying quality.

This is why, if you find an item you like and it isn't through Amazon directly or a brand name you know, you'll want to research the seller. Check their reputation over the past 12 months and read customer reviews.

I recommend starting with the three-star ones. Look for any commonalities in complaints, as this can clue you into problems you might also encounter.

Netflix (NFLX) stock is notoriously volatile. Shares lost about a quarter of their value over the second half of 2025 alone. And that was before the streaming giant made its $83 billion bid (including debt) for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).

While some nimble traders have surely used NFLX's gut-wrenching swings to their advantage over the years, plenty of punters with less fortunate timing have just as assuredly had their faces ripped off.

Happily for the company's truly long-time shareholders, they're in another class entirely.

Those who bought stock in the streaming media giant two decades ago – and then held and held and held through NFLX's many vertiginous ups and downs – have enjoyed outstanding returns vs the broader market.

As successful as Netflix has been – and may continue to be – it remains at its core a somewhat insecure business model. (Just look at NFLX stock's volatility for proof.)

On the plus side, Netflix is the king of on-demand streaming entertainment, serving TV series, films and games via 300 million paid memberships in more than 30 languages and 190 countries. It furthermore lays claim to arguably the best brand in the industry.

On the downside, Wall Street puts relentless pressure on the company to grow its subscriber base. As a consequence, Netflix must spend tens of billions of dollars on content to attract and retain viewers.

Competition from the likes of Walt Disney (DIS), Apple (AAPL), Paramount (PSKY), Amazon.com (AMZN) and others have forced Netflix to splurge on efforts to acquire, license and produce content over the past several years.

After peaking at $17.7 billion in 2021 – a whopping 50% increase vs the previous year – Netflix managed to cut spending on content.

The company spent about $13 billion on content in 2023, another $16 billion for programming in 2024 and plans to spend $18 billion in 2025.

Investors are counting on the company to keep leveraging those investments into the kind of outsized subscriber growth NFLX enjoyed at the tail end of last year.

After all, nothing hurts NFLX stock like losing subscribers. Recall that in April 2022, shares plunged after Netflix reported its first loss of subscribers in more than a decade. The company shed in excess of $50 billion in market value overnight.

It's also worth recalling that Netflix stock was already in a steep decline at that point. Sluggish subscriber growth and rising costs had long knocked it off its perch. Indeed, shares topped out above a post-split peak of $69 back in November 2021 before plummeting below the $20 price point by mid-2022. (Netflix underwent a 10-for-1 stock split in November 2025.)

The bottom line on Netflix stock?

Which brings us to what you would have today if you had invested $1,000 in Netflix stock 20 years ago.

The good news is NFLX stock has clobbered the broader market over the long term, generating an annualized total return of 31.9% over the past two decades vs 11% for the S&P 500.

Netflix stock also outperforms the broader market over every standardized time frame past one year.

To see what these sort of returns look like on a brokerage statement, check out the chart below.

If you put $1,000 in NFLX stock 20 years ago, today it would be worth about $253,000.

By comparison, $1,000 invested in the S&P 500 over the same time frame would theoretically be worth about $8,000 today. (The broader market's return includes dividends, which Netflix doesn't pay.)

As for where Netflix goes over the next 12 to 18 months, the Street's consensus recommendation on this communication services stock is highly bullish.

Of the 45 analysts issuing opinions on NFLX stock surveyed by S&P Global Market Intelligence, 23 rate it at Strong Buy, eight say Buy, 12 call it a Hold, one rates it at Sell and one says Strong Sell. That works out to a consensus recommendation of Buy, with high conviction to boot.

More Stocks of the Past 20 Years

• If You'd Put $1,000 Into Apple Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have Today
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• If You'd Put $1,000 Into Microsoft Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have Today

Netflix is feeling the heat. Since 2020, the global streaming giant has slowly returned to the pack, after previously dominating the market throughout the 2010s. Despite viral hits like Stranger Things and Wednesday, Netflix continues to cede ground in the streaming wars to rivals including Disney Plus, HBO Max, and Apple TV Plus. We've got more on Netflix’s steady market share decline and what that means for streaming customers. 

Netflix market share falls back to earth

Based on data from the streaming guide JustWatch.com, Netflix has lost 13% of its streaming video-on-demand (VOD) market share to competitors since January 2020. The following chart demonstrates steadily declining interest in Netflix programming among 30 million JustWatch users in 120+ countries, over the past three years. As search volume for Netflix content wanes, interest is increasing steadily in Disney Plus, HBO Max, and Apple TV Plus.

Netflix’s market share among JustWatch users has declined from roughly 46% to 33% since January 2020. Disney Plus has risen from 10% to roughly 18%. After its May 2020 launch, HBO Max has increased from 0% to nearly 10% market share. Apple TV Plus has increased from 4% to 6%. Meanwhile, Amazon Prime Video and “other” services like Hulu and Peacock have either stayed flat or declined slightly in market share. 

To cut costs in the face of mounting challenges, Netflix launched two rounds of layoffs in 2022, firing a total of 450 employees across the United States. According to Variety, these cuts amounted to roughly 4% of its roughly 11,000 global employees. Despite that, Netflix maintained an aggressive $17 billion budget for new content in 2022, matching its 2021 content spending.

Netflix subscription deals

ABC News reports that Netflix lost nearly 1.2 million subscribers during the first half of 2022. This dramatic loss drove the company to introduce an ad-supported subscription plan that costs $7 per month in the U.S. The new price point is less than half the price of its most popular plan. This ad-supported option has proved extremely popular at a time of high cost of living, helping Netflix add 10 million subscribers in the second half of 2022.

Netflix also recently cut subscription prices in 30 of its smaller markets to lure customers back. These Middle Eastern, Eastern European, and Sub-Saharan African countries represent a small part of Netflix’s overall business, but product and pricing tests in smaller markets often make their way to larger markets like the U.S. later.

Competitor streaming deals

• HBO Max jumped into the price cuts game in 2022 by offering a 40% discount for a year's subscription to new and returning customers. The deals came after parent company Warner Bros. Discovery announced they would merge HBO Max and Discovery Plus into one combined streaming service by mid-2023. Although they may be back-tracking on that plan now...
• Disney Plus followed Netflix with its own ad-supported packages at $7.99 a month in December 2022. Disney launched major changes — including bringing back legendary former CEO Bob Iger — in a bid to boost revenue in the face of Disney Plus’ profitability problem. 
• Apple TV Plus has sought to undercut Netflix and others with high-gloss content at a surprisingly low price. A monthly subscription with no ads currently sits at $6.99, making it the cheapest ad-free streaming experience. Apple offers various promotions for Apple TV Plus, including a free year with major Apple product purchases, as well as a similar deal for LG Smart TV owners.
• Meanwhile, Amazon Prime Video still offers probably the best streaming deal on the market, at the cost of free with an Amazon Prime subscription. Surprisingly, this package deal has made Prime Video the most subscribed-to streaming service in the U.S., according to data from streaming service tracker FlixPatrol.

Netflix password crackdown

Netflix’s dropping market share and increased sector competition necessitate higher programming and marketing costs to stay ahead of its rivals. Netflix is searching for ways to increase revenue, without driving off customers by dramatically increasing monthly subscription fees. So Netflix has moved to address its longtime “free rider” problem with a password-sharing crackdown on accounts logged in outside a subscriber’s geographical household. 

Since March 2022, Netflix has rolled out several tests of its new “Paid Sharing” feature in several markets outside the United States, according to CBS News. The program uses technology to track user IP addresses and logins to nudge chronic password sharers into paying for the service. 

Up to 30 million users in the U.S. and Canada, and 100 million globally, will be affected once the program goes live in all Netflix markets by mid-2023.

The bottom line

Netflix’s market share woes have led to attractive deals for streaming video customers, as well as higher costs for chronic password sharers. Expect Netflix and other streaming giants to make more moves to keep subscribers happy, as Americans incur increasing household debt and evaluate their discretionary spending in light of persistent inflation.

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It looks as though the days of Netflix password sharing are numbered, as the streaming giant has apparently had enough of people splitting their accounts with friends and family that don’t live in their households. Netflix has indicated it will soon introduce a new system that will block certain types of password sharing in order to protect its bottom line, perhaps even monitoring your home Wi-Fi network usage. 

The streaming giant appears well aware the new password regime will be unpopular with many users, but it's determined to follow through anyway. So when will this shift happen, and what can you do if you're among the 100 million affected users?

Netflix password sharing: Why the crackdown?

Netflix has always disliked password sharing from a revenue perspective — they’d much rather have every user pay them for an individual account. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Netflix identified password sharing as a major revenue sink as far back as 2019, but company leadership was concerned about possible user backlash to any changes. 

The issue of password sharing sat on the back burner until early 2022, when Netflix suddenly faced stronger streaming competition (from the likes of Disney Plus and Amazon's Prime Video), hefty content creation expenses, and, the real kicker, dropping almost a million subscribers post-pandemic. 

So, along with innovations like introducing a new subscription plan with ads,  Netflix felt it had no choice but to claw back some much-needed revenue by cracking down on password sharing across all global markets. Since March 2022, the company has since rolled out several tests of its new “Paid Sharing” feature in several markets outside the United States, according to CBS News. Reports from these countries suggest a slow ramping up effort to deter password sharing —relying on technology and user conscientiousness to nudge chronic password-sharers into paying for the service. 

In a January 19, 2023 letter to shareholders, Netflix backed up its Paid Sharing rollout with the explanation that “today’s widespread account sharing (100M+ households) undermines our long-term ability to invest in and improve Netflix, as well as build our business.” 

WSJ reported that there are about 30 million password sharers in the U.S. and Canada, representing $721 million in additional revenue for Netflix from those markets alone under the new Paid Sharing regime. 

When will the password crackdown happen?

In its January 2023 shareholder letter, Netflix explained that Paid Sharing will roll out in its remaining global markets “later in Q1” — which meant at the time these password sharing changes would kick in for affected U.S. users by the end of March 2023. 

However, on May 18, TechRadar reported that Netflix had kicked the can to the end of June 2023 for full implementation, ostensibly to better soften the ground for the Paid Sharing rollout. The Financial Times recently reported that Netflix has been discreetly warning its internet provider partners in the UK that they should "expect angry calls and support questions." So the streaming giant is aware of the coming subscriber backlash - and they're ready to plow through it nonetheless.

And earlier today, Netflix posted on its official blog that it had begun emailing all U.S. subscribers sharing Netflix outside their household in the United States with the following message:

"Your Netflix account is for you and the people you live with - your household...If you want to share Netflix with someone outside your household, you can transfer a profile to a new membership that they pay for, or share your Netflix account with someone who doesn't live with you for $7.99/month more."

Netflix rolled out several related changes on February 8th in Canada, as well as Portugal, Spain and New Zealand. Going forward, passwords and accounts will be for one household and one primary location. You can still share passwords, but only with up to two people you don’t live with, at the cost of the equivalent of U.S. $5.88 extra per person.

Subscriber numbers from the Canadian market show that the password crackdown may be having a significant effect on user signups. Bank of America securities analyst  Jessica Reif Ehrlich expects Netflix's first quarter Canadian subscriber numbers to soundly beat expectations of 100,00, based on surprising third party data, according to MarketWatch. Ehrlich predicts "a greater number of subs and revenue as primary account holders or those sharing accounts become full subscribers." 

Shorter version: The password crackdown is good for shareholders, but not so good for account holders. 

What Netflix users can expect

Netflix FAQs state that the company will use "IP addresses, device IDs, and account activity from devices signed into the Netflix account" to determine which devices are in the same household. It also says “People who do not live in your household will need to use their own account to watch Netflix,” but that “Netflix will not automatically charge you if you share your account with someone who doesn’t live with you.”

If you’re the account holder lending out your password, you won’t get a bill or have your programming disrupted. But if you’re the one free riding on the account, Netflix will first use various technical signposts to determine if you actually live in the house. The page's FAQ page lists the following process for regularly verifying users logged in outside the account's home address: 

"To verify a device:

1. Netflix sends a link to the email address or phone number associated with the primary account owner.
2. The link opens a page with a 4-digit verification code.
3. The code needs to be entered on the device that requested it within 15 minutes.
   • If the code expired, you will need to request a new verification code from the device.
4. Once successful, that device can be used to watch Netflix.
5. Device verification may be required periodically."

If the platform determines that you don’t live there, by the end of June 2023 you’ll likely be blocked from signing into the shared account. That is until you or the account holder pay a small fee to keep sharing.

Be ready for confusion and technical glitches, too. Global tech site Rest of World reported that Netflix’s 2022 Paid Sharing test in Peru was a big mess. Many Peruvian users were able to avoid the extra charges, while others were prompted to pay more and responded by canceling their accounts.

On January 31st, 2023, Netflix updated its FAQ page with new details on the password sharing crackdown:

"Who can use a Netflix account: Anyone in your household (those who live with you at your primary location) can use your Netflix account. To ensure that your devices are associated with your primary location, connect to the Wi-Fi at your primary location, open the Netflix app or website, and watch something at least once every 31 days."

This suggestion of having to return to a home Wi-Fi network once a month to simply continue to use Netflix prompted anger from people who travel for work, college students living away from home, people with multiple homes. Netflix has since removed the update from the FAQ page. A company spokesperson told The Streamable that the latest update was a mistake and that the aforementioned Wi-Fi network policy only applies to the Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru markets.

Still, it's hard to ignore the writing on the wall.

What affected Netflix users can do

The 100 million password borrowers users worldwide (and 30 million in North America) who suddenly find themselves blocked from their favorite Netflix shows have a few options: 

• Buy an extra member slot for each out of household user for $7.99 per month. 
• Get your own Netflix account, starting with the “Basic with ads” plan for just $6.99 per month.
• Switch to a competing streaming service that doesn’t look over your shoulder... Yet. Disney Plus offers reasonable monthly packages and doesn’t crack down on password sharing - yet. Ditto Amazon Prime Video, which is probably the best streaming deal on the market, at the cost of free with Amazon Prime.

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Stocks ended the week on a high note. And while the buying was widespread on Friday, tech stocks were the clear winner as investors cheered impressive subscriber growth from streaming giant Netflix (NFLX) and news that Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) is undergoing its biggest round of layoffs ever. 

Last night, Netflix reported fourth-quarter earnings of 12 cents per share, much lower than the 45 cents per share analysts were expecting, due to forex headwinds. Revenue of $7.85 billion matched the consensus estimate. But the real number investors were looking for was the subscriber growth, and Netflix blew that out of the water. Specifically, the company added 7.66 million paid subscribers over the three-month period – a time frame that included the launch of a lower-price, ad-supported tier. This compared to Wall Street's expectation for 4.57 million additions. Netflix also said founder Reed Hastings will step down as co-CEO, and will be replaced by Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters. The stock rose 8.5% as a result.

"Netflix has had a show-stopping end to the year, in a performance even its worst critics can't argue with," says Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. "While Wall Street sags with the weight of recession fear and Federal Reserve jitters, Netflix's huge beat on subscriber numbers has injected some much-needed optimism into the mix." 

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Elsewhere in the tech space, Alphabet said it is cutting roughly 12,000 positions, which works out to be about 6% of its global workforce, sending its shares up 5.3%. "Over the past two years we've seen periods of dramatic growth," Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, wrote in a memo to employees. "To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today." This follows similar layoff announcements from several big tech companies in recent months, most notably Amazon.com (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META) and Microsoft (MSFT).

Big gains for Netflix and Alphabet stocks helped the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite outperform today (+2.7% at 11,140), though the broader S&P 500 (+1.9% at 3,972) and the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.0% at 33,375) still notched robust gains. 

3 Hot Earnings Reports to Watch

So what's in store for next week? Lots of chatter around what the Federal Reserve may or may not do at its upcoming two-day policy meeting, set to kick off on Tuesday, Jan. 31. Ahead of this, Wall Street will get more data on how the economy is holding up amid the central bank's efforts to tame inflation through aggressive interest-rate hikes, with the first reading on fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) due out on Thursday. Additionally, December's personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index – the Fed's preferred measure of inflation that tracks consumer spending – will be released Friday. 

And throughout the week, investors will sift through a jam-packed earnings calendar. Among the notable names set to report quarterly earnings are Dow Jones stocks Microsoft and Visa (V). Electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA) is also on the docket. Despite a dismal end of the year for Tesla stock, analysts still expect solid growth in the company's Q4 financial results. 

Wall Street analysts are high on Walt Disney (DIS, $100.43) stock ahead of the media conglomerate's earnings report due after Tuesday's closing bell.

Disney stock, a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, is off 35% for  the year-to-date, hurt by everything from inflation and recession fears to the streaming wars and lockdowns in China.

But analysts say the selloff has made Disney stock a long-term bargain at current levels. And they are especially keen to see what the company has to say about its streaming and theme parks businesses.

Disney+ is an important driver of the company's long-term growth, analysts note. Netflix's (NFLX) subscriber stumble earlier this year – and NFLX's big third-quarter rebound – only underscore how volatile the streaming business can be.

"The fierce competition over subscribers in the sector is at fever-pitch, and high inflation means convincing customers to stay logged in is a tall order," writes Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Sophie Lund-Yates. "That's something Netflix knows only too well."

Meanwhile, although strong U.S. consumer spending and pent-up demand for travel bode well for Disney's theme parks business, COVID-19 lockdowns in China have shuttered Shanghai Disney. 

The bottom line is that analysts forecast Disney to report adjusted quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of 56 cents, up from year-ago adjusted earnings of 38 cents per share, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Revenue is projected to rise to $21.4 billion from $18.5 billion a year ago, driven by growth in the streaming and theme parks divisions.

A nasty surprise or two in the Disney earnings report could change some minds, but for now analysts believe DIS stock has been beaten down beyond reason.

Morgan Stanley analyst Ben Swinburne, for one, estimates that theme parks and streaming will lift Disney's adjusted EPS back above prior peak levels in fiscal 2025. That should support upside of roughly 40% in Disney stock over the next two years, he says.

Swinburne, of course, rates DIS at Overweight (the equivalent of Buy), and he has plenty of company on the Street. Of the 30 analysts issuing opinions on Disney stock tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence, 18 rate it at Strong Buy, seven say Buy and five call it a Hold.

That works out to a consensus recommendation just shy of Strong Buy, with analysts frequently citing Disney stock's valuation as a key reason to be constructive on the name. 

And shares do indeed look cheap at current levels. 

Disney stock currently changes hands at not-quite 19 times analysts' fiscal 2023 EPS estimate. That's an attractive price to pay for a company expected to grow EPS at an average annual pace of more than 33% over the next three to five years. 

Bullishness abounds in analysts' price targets, as well. With an average price target of $140.08, the Street gives Disney stock implied upside of almost 40% in the next 12 months or so.

Walmart is introducing The Netflix Hub, already active online, into 2,400 of its stores. At The Hub, shoppers can browse items including clothing, collectibles, music, games and seasonal items related to Netflix streaming series and movies. Shoppers can also buy a Netflix Streaming gift card, which will allow its owner to stream top Netflix shows without needing a credit or debit card. It's $19.99 for one month of unlimited service, same as regular Netflix premium service billed to a card. Walmart says that streaming gift card is an exclusive.

The Hub merchandise spins off Netflix hits including the blockbusters Stranger Things and Squid Game as well as The Witcher, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery and more. 

And it’s Stranger Things, with its 1980s setting, that drives the nostalgia vibe at The Hub. Like in the old Blockbuster stores, The Hub will feature a collection of “curated kits” that will feature popcorn, candy and collectible cups. The Stranger Things curated kit is filled with ‘80s-echoing snacks, including Funables fruit snacks and an Icee blue raspberry drink.

You’ll also find Surfer Boy frozen pepperoni pizza and Hawkins Homestyle Eggo frozen waffles (with “Eggo” written upside down, of course), plus clothing, games, greeting cards and toys related to the series. And a Stranger Things Advent calendar and Christmas cards because … actually, we have no idea.

Beyond Stranger Things, how about a 10-pack of Schitt’s Creek women’s low-cut socks? (“Ew, David”!) Perhaps a Netflix Squid Games board game will suit your need for a little “Red Light, Green Light.” And for toddlers, there’s no shortage of CoComelon-related clothing and toys.

The in-store rollout of The Netflix Hub at Walmart comes at a time when Netflix stock appears to be on the mend and subscriber growth is trending upward again. Netflix is also experimenting with a less-expensive ad-supported monthly subscription option. 

Stocks closed lower Wednesday as rising government bond yields offset a round of well-received corporate earnings reports.

On the earnings front, Netflix (NFLX) stock rallied 13.1% after the streaming giant unveiled better-than-expected third-quarter results and gave details on its planned crackdown on password sharing. Additionally, "Netflix's ad-supported tier, the launch of which has been moved up several months, seems to be showing promising signs," says Chris Legg, senior managing director of investment bank Progress Partners. "The savior to long-term negative trends is to pick up new subscribers with the lower cost ($6.99 per month) ad-supported model set to launch next month."

This sentiment is echoed by Wes Gottesman, market advisor at Web3 trading platform TradeZing. "I believe this will be a major hit for budget-conscious consumers, as Netflix proposes they will be adding another 4.5 million subscribers during the first fiscal quarter," Gottesman says. "Not only will Netflix continue to be paid a monthly subscription fee, but they will also generate ad revenue, along with their ad-free tier."

"Netflix also said they will cut down on password sharing," says Doron Gerstel, CEO of global advertising technology firm Perion. "This limiting of access will  mean that consumers who need their 'Netflix fix' are likely to opt for the lower-cost ad-supported model. So the password effort is also a new user harvesting initiative in disguise."

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It wasn't just NFLX gaining ground on solid quarterly results. Consumer staples giant Procter & Gamble (PG, +1.0%) and air carrier United Airlines Holdings (UAL, +5.0%) both jumped on Q3 beats.

However, the major market indexes finished in the red as the 10-year Treasury yield rose 12.9 basis points to 4.127% – its highest level since late 2008. (A basis point = 0.01%.) The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% to 30,423, the S&P 500 Index gave back 0.7% to 3,695, and the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.9% to 10,680.

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Earnings will continue to roll in over the next few weeks. In the near term: results from Tesla (TSLA), Snap (SNAP) and American Express (AXP), which are all on this week's earnings calendar. 

"The earnings season floodgates officially opened over the last twenty-four hours. Thus far broadly speaking, like Q2, the numbers have been coming in better than feared," says Michael Reinking, senior market strategist at the New York Stock Exchange. "It is still early but we are not seeing the widespread guidance cuts that markets were looking for and it seems like we are once again kicking the can down the road to next quarter (if it does in fact eventually happen)." 

And with expectations so low that companies are actually beating them, this could result in short-term upside for stocks. That was certainly the case with several big bank stocks, as well as Netflix. But what about the lesser-known names? The stock market is rife with undiscovered gems boasting stable fundamentals and solid growth prospects. Here, we take a look at 10 of the best ones.  

It appears that reports of Netflix's (NFLX, $275.13) demise were greatly exaggerated.

Netflix stock gapped up more than 15% in early Wednesday's trading after the streaming leader easily topped both Wall Street's and its own forecast for subscriber growth. 

The market pretty much always overreacts, both to the upside and downside, in the immediate aftermath of news events like earnings. But there's no doubt Hollywood is breathing a huge sigh of relief on the subscriber news – to say nothing of long-suffering Netflix shareholders.

NFLX has always been an exceedingly volatile stock, but the current drawdown has been longer and steeper than most. Shares hit a closing peak of $691.69 on Nov. 17, 2021 and had lost 65% of their value before Wednesday's rally.

The fact that Netflix stock traded essentially sideways since its disastrous April earnings release – the one in which the company disclosed its first loss of subscribers in a decade – leaves open the possibility that this latest report could be just the catalyst the stock needs to start grinding higher again.

At least that's what the NFLX bulls contend. They're pinning their hopes on the company's launch of a lower priced, ad-supported tier of service and a crackdown on password sharing.

What the Pros Are Saying

Deutsche Bank analyst Bryan Kraft, for one, upgraded Netflix to Buy from Hold, and raised his price target to $350, in response to the quarterly results.

"We believe we now have visibility into a subscriber growth inflection point next year given that Netflix management has confirmed both the early 2023 introduction of its new measures designed to better monetize account sharing, and the early November timing of its AVOD tier launch in 12 top markets," writes Kraft in a note to clients. "The 100 million 'account borrowers' Netflix has counted represent a clear and present growth opportunity that Netflix will soon be in a position to exploit."

Other analysts, while encouraged by management's initiatives, were less impressed, and remain concerned about intense industry competition and looming recession next year.

"While investor optimism is built with respect to the ad supported tier (correlated with the recent stock outperformance in the run-up to Q3 earnings), we still see an elevated competitive industry level against a post-pandemic backdrop while a potential for a weaker consumer spending dynamic remains into 2023," writes Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan, who slaps a rare Sell recommendation on the stock. 

Splitting the difference is Raymond James analyst Andrew Marok, who, like most of the Street, rates Netflix stock at Market Perform (the equivalent of Hold). 

"This quarter's report goes a long way toward calming fears spurred by first-half 2022 subscriber declines," notes Marok. "While we still have some reservations around the scaling of new monetization initiatives and the competitive environment, the path to upside looks more feasible now than three months ago."

As noted, Raymond James is very much in the majority on the Street. Of the 42 analysts issuing opinions on NFLX tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence, 22 call it a Hold. Of the remaining analysts, 14 rate it at Strong Buy, one says Buy, three call it a Sell and two have it at Strong Sell.

That works out to a consensus recommendation of Buy, albeit with mixed conviction. And we'll have to wait and see how NFLX recommendations shake out over the next few days. After Wednesday's rally, Netflix stock shot past the Street's average target price of $261.33. 

As for the valuation, the stock does appear compellingly priced on a forward earnings basis. Shares in Netflix change hands at less than 24 times analysts' 2023 earnings per share (EPS) estimate. That's not a bad price to pay for a company expected to generate average annual EPS growth of 24% over the next three to five years.

Valuation, however, only tends to work its magic over the longer term. If you go by the wisdom of the analyst crowd, the outlook for Netflix over the next 12 to 18 months is something of a coin flip. 

The Bottom Line

The good news is that the bottom for Netflix stock looks to be solidly in the rearview mirror. Whether shares can get back to their market-beating ways over the intermediate term remains to be seen.

That said, Netflix is armed with a credible plan to reinvigorate growth, and some early results to back it up. If nothing else, the outlook for NFLX stock hasn't been this bright in a while. 

If that ever-growing cable and streaming services bill has you thinking twice, the latest news out of media giant Warner Bros. Discovery may put you over the edge – and considering cutting back on your media consumption.

Right now, Warner Bros. Discovery has two streaming services as it competes against Netflix, Disney+ and others: Discovery + and HBO Max. By summer 2023, the two will be folded together. No name has been announced – and neither has a monthly subscription price for the combination.

As it stands now, HBO Max customers pay $9.99-$14.99 a month to get HBO products, including HBO Max, with or without commercials. To fans of newer and classic movies on demand, as well as original scripted continuing and limited series – including “Succession,” “The Flight Attendant,” “Euphoria,” “Station Eleven,” “Hacks” – HBO Max is a haven.

Currently, Discovery+ subscribers pay $4.99 a month (with limited ads) to $6.99 a month (ad-free) for the app. Discovery+ is home to popular HGTV, Food Network, and Discovery channel reality series, as well as Magnolia Network with its shows from fixer-uppers Chip and Joanna Gaines. It is also home to a slew of nature shows as well as paranormal series. Combined, the services have 92 million subscribers.

The merger of the two streaming services HBO Max into Discovery+ was a bombshell announcement in a call about the parent company’s second-quarter earnings. Another announcement that rattled the entertainment world: Warner Bros. Discovery said it was removing “Batgirl” from its release schedule – after spending roughly $90 million in its production.

So how does this all play out for you? It will be a year of waiting and wondering if the combined offering will be worth it to you. Expect scattershot announcements about the new app coming from Warner Bros Discovery. But the announcement of the marriage and Warner Bros. Discovery’s willingness to axe product has series producers on edge, though David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, praised the high quality of HBO Max.

Tech stocks were the clear Wall Street winners on Wednesday – thanks to a well-received earnings report from Netflix (NFLX). Its shares added to Tuesday's big gains, jumping 7.4% after the video streaming giant reported a bottom-line beat in the second quarter, as well as a slimmer-than-expected subscriber loss.

And NFLX's strong rally lifted its fellow growth stocks, with names like Amazon.com (AMZN, +3.9%) and Meta Platforms (META, +4.2%) seeing solid upside.

As such, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.6% to 11,897 – easily outpacing the S&P 500 Index (+0.6% at 3,959) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.2% at 31,874) in today's trading.

While most eyes were on Netflix, there were other notable headlines, including a report from the National Association of Realtors that showed sales of existing homes fell 5.4% sequentially in June to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.12 million. This marked the fifth-straight monthly decline in existing homes sales and the weakest rate since June 2020.

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But home prices rose. Specifically, the median home price in the U.S. rose 13.4% year-over-year in June, to a record $416,000.

"Existing home sales continue to slide as the consumer pulls back amid multi-decade lows in affordability," says Peter Essele, head of portfolio management for Commonwealth Financial Network. "The combined effect of rising financing costs and home prices is starting to have a real impact on the real estate market, with upward price momentum likely to stall in the second half of the year as supply greatly outpaces demand. Budgets are tighter than ever as the consumer combats runaway inflation, and housing is one area that's falling victim to waning demand."

Other news in the stock market today:

• The small-cap Russell 2000 gained 1.6% to 1,827.
• U.S. crude futures fell 0.9% to finish at $99.88 per barrel.
• Gold futures slipped 0.6% to settle at $1,700.20 an ounce.
• Biogen (BIIB) fell 5.8% following its earnings report. In the second quarter, BIIB saw revenue fall 7% year-over-year to $2.6 billion as sales of the company's spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) drug Spinraza declined 14% amid increased competition. Additionally, Biogen's Alzheimer's treatment, Aduhelm, took in just $100,000 in sales over the three-month period, down from $1.6 million in sales one year ago. Still, total revenue beat analysts' consensus estimate, as did BIIB's earnings of $5.25 per share.
• Baker Hughes (BKR) was another post-earnings loser, shedding 8.3% in the wake of its results. The oil and gas equipment company posted adjusted earnings of 11 cents per share, well below the 22 cents per share analysts, on average, were expecting. Revenue of $5.1 billion also fell short of the consensus estimate. "The demand outlook for the next 12 to 18 months is deteriorating, as inflation erodes consumer purchasing power and central banks aggressively raise interest rates to combat inflation," said Lorenzo Simonelli, CEO of Baker Hughes, in the company's press release.

Bitcoin's Back, Baby!

Also drawing attention today was Bitcoin, as the cryptocurrency continued its recent rally. Bitcoin hit a one-month peak of $24,265 today before easing back to the $23,665 price point. (Bitcoin markets don't close; price taken at 4 p.m. ET.) It is now up 26% from its late-June low near $18,800.

"The last week has seen Bitcoin shrug off bouts of risk aversion in the broader markets and then outperform in periods of positivity," says Craig Erlan, senior market analyst at currency data provider OANDA. "Perhaps it's a relief rally at the newsflow not deteriorating further. Or a final push at creating a bottom. Whatever it is, Bitcoin has hit a five-week high and that may start tempting people back in."

The recent volatility in Bitcoin reminds us that it and other digital currencies remain highly speculative assets that only those with strong stomachs for risk should consider. Still, for those who want to get more acquainted with the space, try brushing up on the most popular cryptocurrencies or the top crypto mining stocks.

Investors will also want to learn the ins and outs of decentralized finance, also known as DeFi, which is a growing collection of financial tools built on top of the blockchain, the same technology that powers crypto. Here, we've compiled a "DeFi Dictionary" – a primer to help you become familiar with this new frontier of finance. Check it out.

Karee Venema was long AMZN as of this writing.

First-quarter earnings season keeps rolling on. Headlining this week's earnings calendar will be entertainment giant Walt Disney (DIS, $110.71), oil name Occidental Petroleum (OXY, $62.97) and buy now, pay later company Affirm Holdings (AFRM, $25.04).

Through April 29, the percentage of S&P 500 companies reporting higher-than-expected earnings per share (80%) is above the five-year average (77%). However, the magnitude of the earnings beats (3.4%) is below the five-year average (8.9%), according to John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet.

At the sector level, Butters says industrials and consumer staples have had the highest percentage of earnings beats at 91% and 89%, respectively. At the low end, real estate and consumer discretionary have the smallest amount of companies reporting earnings above estimates at 63% apiece.

Can Earnings Give Walt Disney Stock a Boost?

Walt Disney will report its fiscal second-quarter earnings results after the May 11 close.

It has been a rough stretch for the Dow Jones stock, which is off more than 28% for the year-to-date, but another well-received earnings report could give DIS a boost.

In February, shares popped more than 3% after the company reported higher-than-expected earnings, revenue and Disney+ subscriptions.

Disney's streaming service will be in focus this time around too, especially after Netflix (NFLX) stock sold off sharply when its latest earnings report showed the company's first quarterly subscriber loss since 2011. However, unlike NFLX, Walt Disney "can monetize content through a variety of other channels, like merchandise and theme park revenue," says David Trainer, CEO of Nashville-based investment research firm New Constructs.

And in addition to direct-to-consumer subscriber growth across Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, which will help DIS stock outperform its peers, BofA Global Research analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich says the company's theme parks are on the upswing.

"Despite achieving near record results in its fiscal first quarter, international visitors still represent a minimal percentage of total attendance, hotel room occupancy remains well below peak levels as all hotels have not been reopened yet, cruise ship capacity remains below pre-pandemic peaks and parks are still operating below peak capacity levels," Reif writes in a note to clients. "These should all be additional tailwinds over the next 18-24 months."

As for Disney's fiscal second quarter, consensus estimates are for earnings per share (EPS) of $1.06, up 34.2% year-over-year (YoY) and revenue of $18.8 billion (+20.1% YoY).

Occidental Petroleum Earnings in Focus After Big Buffett Buy

Occidental Petroleum has been in the limelight in recent weeks following news that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) increased its stake in the energy stock.

OXY first became a member of the Berkshire Hathaway equity portfolio in 2019, but the holding company more recently bought 91 million shares amid Buffett's big spending spree.

The integrated oil and gas company will once again be in the spotlight when it unveils its first-quarter earnings results after Tuesday's close.

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OXY ended 2021 in a strong position, returning to profitability on an annual basis after two years of losses and recording its highest free cash flow – or the money available after a company has met its financial obligations – ever.

The company no longer resembles the debt-ridden firm of fiscal 2020 following its "record-shattering fiscal 2021," says Raymond James analyst John Freeman (Strong Buy).

"Leverage, which stood at around 4.8x at year-end 2020 – nearly double the Raymond James large-cap average – is estimated to fall below 1x by year-end 2022. The company, who remains completely unhedged in fiscal 2022, stands to generate a whopping $12.3 billion in free cash flow on our estimates of production of around 1.6 millions of barrels of oil equivalent per day (in-line with Street)," Freeman adds.

Underscoring this financial strength, analysts, on average, are expecting OXY to report earnings of $2.03 per share in Q1 versus a per-share loss of 15 cents in the year-ago period. Revenue is projected to jump 47.3% to $8.1 billion.

Affirm Selloff Creates Opportunity, Says Analyst

Affirm Holdings has not been immune to broad-market troubles in 2022, with shares down more than 75% for the year-to-date.

The reaction to the buy now, pay later (BNPL) stock's mid-February earnings report – where AFRM shares slid nearly 21% the day after the results were released – only exacerbated these headwinds.

"AFRM has been pressured since reporting fiscal second-quarter results," says Truist Securities analyst Andrew Jeffrey. This, according to Jeffrey, is due to a general multiple contraction, liquidity concerns and the perception of rising competition.

However, the analyst, who has a Buy rating on AFRM stock, isn't worried. While the recent selloff creates an opportunity, "rising BNPL demand, driven by changing consumer demographics and tastes, creates opportunity for several providers." And secular demand for BNPL "will outpace any cyclical headwinds."

So what's in store for Affirm's fiscal third-quarter earnings report, due out after Thursday's close?

Consensus estimates are for the company to record a per-share loss of 53 cents for the three-month period, an improvement over the $1.06 per-share loss it reported in the year-ago period. Revenue, meanwhile, is expected to climb 73.6% YoY to $344.0 million.

The earnings calendar was front and center Wednesday as a mixed session for the broader indexes was easily overshadowed by a plunge in of Wall Street's most notable mega-caps.

Netflix (NFLX) suffered its worst single-day decline in 18 years – a 35.1% nosedive eroding roughly $55 billion in market value – triggered by the company's first quarterly subscriber loss since 2011.

The streaming giant, which expected to add 2.5 million net subscribers during the first quarter, announced it had lost 200,000, triggering a flurry of analyst downgrades despite an easy earnings beat. The shortfall was in part caused by Netflix's decision to pull out of Russia, which cost it 700,000 subscribers, but inflation is also forcing customers worldwide to make tougher spending choices.

CEO Reed Hastings also said NFLX was planning to launch an advertising-supported version.

"The initial allure of Netflix was that it didn't have any ads; it's unclear if Netflix fans will be amenable to advertisements," says David Trainer, CEO of investment research firm New Constructs. "Rivals like Disney can monetize content through a variety of other channels, like merchandise and theme park revenue. Netflix doesn't have the infrastructure for those kinds of revenue streams."

Ripples were felt throughout the streaming industry. Rivals including Disney (DIS, -5.6%), Amazon.com (AMZN, -2.6%), Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD, -6.0%), Paramount Global (PARA, -8.6%), Roku (ROKU, -6.2%) and even Chinese streamer iQiyi (IQ, -6.7%) all finished well in the red.

These losses weighed heaviest on the Nasdaq Composite, which declined 1.2% to 13,453. Faring relatively better were the S&P 500 (down marginally to 4,459) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.7% to 35,160), which were buoyed by more positive earnings news.

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International Business Machines (IBM, +7.1%) was the Dow's top component after it reported a 24% pop in profits and beat top- and bottom-line expectations.

"Stringing together consecutive quarters of outperformance illustrates that there is a clearer path to accelerating growth in 2022," says Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring (Overweight, equivalent of Buy).

Meanwhile, price hikes helped Procter & Gamble (PG, +2.7%) offset inflation-pressured margins and deliver better-than-expected sales and profits.

Tesla (TSLA), off 5.0% during Wednesday's session, was up by roughly the same percentage following a Street-beating Q1 report. Earnings of $3.22 per share easily cleared estimates of $2.26, while revenues of $18.76 billion topped the consensus mark of $17.80 billion.

Other news in the stock market today:

• The small-cap Russell 2000 managed a 0.4% improvement to 2,038.
• U.S. crude futures edged up 0.1% to settle at $102.19 per barrel.
• Gold futures slipped 0.2% to finish at $1,955.40 an ounce.
• Bitcoin was relatively calm, sliding 0.3% to $41,243.10. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m.
• Rite Aid (RAD) stock was up more than 38% at its intraday peak before paring its gain to 10.8%. Sparking the surge was a report in the New York Post that suggested the pharmacy chain rejected a late-March buyout bid from Spear Point Capital Management. According to the article, the private-equity firm offered to buy Rite Aid for $815 million, or $14.60 per RAD share – a 56% premium to its March 30 close at $9.36.
• Omnicom Group (OMC) jumped 4.5% after the advertising firm reported earnings. Despite suspending operations in Russia during the first quarter, OMC reported earnings $1.39 per share and revenue of $3.41 billion – more than the $1.30 per share and $3.29 billion analysts were expecting. CFRA Research analyst Janice Quek maintained a Buy rating on OMC stock, citing the company's "good cost control" and an upward revision to its organic growth forecast.

The Time to Buy Emerging Markets?

Inflation is hardly just an American problem.

Yesterday, the International Monetary Fund said inflation was a "clear and present danger" as it lowered its 2022 global GDP forecast by 0.8 percentage points, to 3.6%. And emerging markets are expected to struggle even more than developed economies as higher prices weigh heavy on commodity importers.

That in turn has meant even worse year-to-date returns for many emerging market (EM) stocks compared to their still struggling U.S. counterparts.

But this dip might prove an ideal buying opportunity for those wishing to brave the high potential (and high volatility) of EMs, especially given expectations for emerging market growth to recover in 2023.

If you want to take the plunge, you can spread out your risk across dozens or even hundreds of stocks from numerous countries through exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Or you can narrow your bet to a single region – for instance, these five stocks and funds allow you to harness the growth of Africa.

If you're looking for some of the most potent individual picks across the globe, however, look no farther than this cluster of 11 emerging-market stocks. We explore the opportunity each presents, and what about them stands out to stock-research experts.

First-quarter earnings season starts to heat up this week. Among the notable names on the earnings calendar are electric carmaker Tesla (TSLA, $986.01), pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, $180.05) and streaming name Netflix (NFLX, $343.38).

Results from JPMorgan Chase (JPM) last week underscored how macro factors are impacting publicly traded corporations. "The firm cited higher probabilities of downside risks driven by the war between Russia and Ukraine as well as elevated inflation," says Dan Eye, chief investment officer at asset manager Fort Pitt Capital Group.

"It feels like there is more uncertainty heading into this quarter's earnings season than there has been in some time," says Michael Reinking, senior market strategist at the New York Stock Exchange.

While Reinking expects first-quarter earnings to remain strong, guidance will likely fall on the conservative side.

"Investors will be looking to conference calls for a better understanding of how the environment is shaping up," Reinking adds. "The margin story will remain a focal point with the main questions centered around whether price increases have been tolerated, are they impacting demand and has that changed in the back half of the quarter as the consumer is now getting hit on multiple fronts."

Tesla Earnings to Show Strong YoY Growth

Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch (Outperform) thinks Tesla's ability to pass on higher supply-chain costs to consumers will help drive margins for the automaker. The company has "substantial pricing power," Rusch says, "as demonstrated on recent price increases across models and commentary that the company is sold out through the end of the year in certain geographies."

It's already been a busy news cycle for Tesla. In addition to headlines signaling a potential second TSLA stock split in just two years, CEO Elon Musk followed up reports that he took a sizable stake in Twitter (TWTR) with an offer to buy out the microblogging site.

But this week, attention will be back on Tesla's fundamentals, with the company scheduled to report its first-quarter results after Wednesday's close.

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Earlier this month, the company said it delivered more than 310,000 in the first three months of the year. "TSLA's growth stands in stark contrast to other automakers who posted steep declines in U.S. sales in Q1," says CFRA Research analyst Garrett Nelson. He adds that the startup of the company's new factories in German and Texas will accelerate deliveries going forward.

The analyst also believes that "supply agreements signed with mining companies position the company to navigate battery raw materials shortages more successfully than competitors." Nelson has a Buy rating on TSLA stock, saying the company's "first-mover and cost of capital advantages, as well as future demand from the rental car and commercial truck markets, remain underappreciated by investors."

For TSLA's first quarter, analysts, on average, are targeting earnings of $2.26 per share – a marked improvement over the 93 cents per share it reported in Q1 2021. On the top line, the consensus estimate is for $17.8 billion, up 71.2% year-over-year (YoY).

Johnson & Johnson Earnings Could Get Hit By Forex Headwinds

Inflation will certainly be in focus when Johnson & Johnson reports its first-quarter earnings report ahead of Tuesday's open.

In JNJ's fourth-quarter earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Joe Wolk acknowledged that the company was "experiencing the impact of inflationary pressures, including higher input costs across our business and more significantly with respect to consumer health." According to Wolk, this included the "availability and cost of certain commodities, labor and transportation."

To counter these cost pressures, the executive said JNJ was initiating price increases across its consumer health portfolio in 2022.

Meanwhile, "The 'macro' has engulfed the med tech narrative and added to the near-term uncertainty," writes Raymond James analyst Jayson Bedford. However, he still sees plenty of demand for the industry.

Bedford has an Outperform (Buy) rating on the Dow Jones stock. He believes the company's "growth profile" is supported by gains in both its pharmaceutical and medical technology segments, as well as the spinoff of its consumer health business.

But he recently lowered his first-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) estimates (to $23.7 billion and $2.50 per share, respectively) due to forex-related headwinds. Consensus estimates are for Johnson & Johnson to report revenue of $23.7 billion (+7.7% YoY) and earnings of $2.61 per share (+0.8% YoY).

Netflix Price Hikes Could Offset Slowing Subscriber Growth

It's been a rough year for communication services stocks and Netflix is no exception. Shares are off around 43% so far in 2022 to erase all of their pandemic-related gains.

In addition to broad-market headwinds, Netflix has been hampered by slowing subscriber growth. In late January, NFLX stock plunged almost 22% the day after reporting lower year-over-year subscriber additions in the fourth quarter and guiding for even slower growth in the first quarter.

And this metric was likely pressured even more so after Netflix joined the growing list of companies pulling out of Russia by suspending service in the country.

Still, Netflix's "first-mover advantage and large subscriber base provides the company with a nearly insurmountable competitive advantage over its streaming peers," says Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter (Neutral). He adds that the firm's mid-January price hikes on U.S. plans will offset slowing user growth.

NFLX will unveil its first-quarter earnings report after April 19 close. Analysts, on average, are looking for earnings of $2.90 per share (-22.3% YoY) and revenue of $7.9 billion (+10.7% YoY).

Tech stocks have traversed a rocky road since we turned the calendar over to 2022.

General fears that the pandemic recovery was fully priced in heading into the new year, coupled with concerns about inflation and higher interest rates, caused many of the biggest and most widely held names out there to take a spill.

And the equities market has become even more volatile lately amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine – creating even bigger headwinds for already struggling tech stocks.

Sure, there are times when a stock takes a beating for good reason. One-time growth darling Netflix (NFLX), for instance, waved red flags in its January earnings report about future subscriber growth, sending shares tumbling to a nearly 22% single-session loss as a result.

However, some of the best tech stocks have been beaten down without the same kind of headlines to blame. And in some cases, popular tech stocks have seen declines despite earnings reports that show a decidedly positive outlook.

If you're interested in looking beyond the day-to-day volatility, here are 10 beaten-down tech stocks trading at stiff discounts relative to where they started the year. The names featured here will likely be familiar to most investors and all have solid growth prospects over the long term.

Data is as of March 7.

• Market value: $1.7 trillion
• Year-to-date decline: -12.8%

Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL, $2,527.57) announced earlier this year it would execute a 20-for-1 stock split in July, taking its share price down significantly to allow for greater liquidity in trading. But investors might not want to wait until that restructuring, because in many ways, GOOGL stock could already be "cheap" – despite its price tag of roughly $2,500 a share at present.

That's in part because Alphabet is humming along quite nicely, with projections of an 18% increase in its top line this fiscal year and another 15% rise in fiscal 2023. Part of this improvement is because Google's ad network remains the go-to platform for digital marketing, and we continue to see brisk growth in this category. Consultancy firm Zenith Media has estimated that of all global ad spend, 60% of marketing budgets are dedicated to digital channels.

But it's also because Alphabet's only serious rival to reach digital channels is social media giant Meta Platforms. And FB has been hard hit by a series of missteps that have weighed on both user engagement as well as advertisers' willingness to put their cash on channels such as Facebook and Instagram.

There is certainly a "risk-off" environment in early 2022, but there's not a lot of risk in the assertion that Alphabet will remain the dominant venue for digital ad spend going forward. That may make this a solid choice for patient investors seeking out discounted tech stocks.

• Market value: $1.4 trillion
• Year-to-date decline: -17.8%

Aside from the fact that it's down roughly the same amount as the broader stock market since Jan. 1, what's not to like about tech giant Amazon.com (AMZN, $2,749.06)?

It's the go-to name in e-commerce, with an estimated 40% of all dollars spent online, according to a 2021 analysis conducted by research firm eMarketer. What's more, AMZN continues to grow as consumers increasingly spend their cash digitally thanks to long-term uptrends in this category.

Digital transformation research company Insider Intelligence estimates that even after the exponential growth in e-commerce seen during the pandemic – a trend that is now baked in to consumer behavior – we'll still see online retail sales jump an additional 16% in the U.S. in 2022.

If that wasn't enough, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is an equally compelling reason to love AMZN stock. This platform is the leader in the space, with roughly a third of global cloud infrastructure spend going to Amazon, according to software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm ParkMyCloud.

And it's telling that CEO Andy Jassy, who was brought up in the organization running AWS, took over the reins from founder Jeff Bezos last July. That shows investors the company is looking to this high-growth, high-margin division to carry it forward.

Inflationary pressures are not always good for spending trends in the short term, but Amazon has what it takes to thrive for many years to come, so it might be premature to write off this discounted tech stock just because of volatility caused by a broad "risk-off" environment in 2022.

• Market value: $2.6 trillion
• Year-to-date decline: -10.3%

The fact that many major stock market indexes weight their components by size has undeniably worked against Apple (AAPL, $159.30) lately. As the largest U.S. corporation – with a current market capitalization of roughly $2.6 trillion – it is in many ways the stock most affected by broad-market sentiment instead of its own fundamentals.

Consider that Apple represents about 7% of the popular S&P 500 Index and 12% of the Nasdaq-100. And technology sector funds like the popular Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) are even more Apple-heavy. For instance, while this fund is ostensibly spread across 360 tech stocks, AAPL represents a staggering 23% of the entire fund at present!

Simply put, when investors sell off their ETFs, they are likely punishing Apple more than any other stock on the market simply because of its dominance in market-cap-weighted funds.

However, the fundamentals of Apple are simply too attractive to pass up despite these structural pressures. The iPhone maker nets over $100 billion in annual cash flow and according to its 10-K in September boasted $172 billion in cash equivalents and marketable securities. And despite its already impressive scale, analysts expect 8% revenue growth and a roughly 10% increase in earnings per share this fiscal year.

What's more, AAPL stock has been one of the biggest wealth creators over the past 30 years.

There is no way Apple is going away anytime soon, and it continues to show strength. And more importantly, the index weightings that have held it back because of broad selling in early 2022 can and will reverse – and might deliver outsized gains for investors who choose to pick up this tech stock at a discount to where it was trading not long ago.

• Market value: $56.6 billion
• Year-to-date decline: -39.6%

Technically, the company is Block (SQ, $97.51), but the ticker comes from its dominant mobile payments platform Square – which, by the way, continues to drive performance. In fact, some stubborn investors refuse to call it Block just as they won't call Alphabet (GOOGL) anything but Google, or Meta Platform (FB) anything other than Facebook.

Investors haven't been fooled by the rebranding as Block back in December 2021, but they have been fooled in another more material sense lately. That's evident by the fact that shares have cratered since Jan. 1 for seemingly no particular reason other than the rebranding itself. Unfortunately, the effort was a rather ill-timed exercise by management to align themselves with the emerging technology of blockchain. As a result, SQ stock has been punished in 2022 as volatility in cryptocurrencies has been the norm.

But let's be clear: While there may be limited crypto on the balance sheet of this company, this is fundamentally a mobile payments play. Consider that when Block reported earnings in February, it gapped up more than 26% in a single session thanks to spectacular results. These included gross profit of $1.18 billion in its fourth quarter, up 47% over the prior year, driven by 37% growth in its Cash App arm and an impressive 54% increase in its previously prominent Square ecosystem.

With continued growth projected in both earnings and sales going forward, the poorly timed choice to focus attention on blockchain shouldn't detract from the long-term value proposition of this mobile payments firm. And SQ's recent pullback allows investors the opportunity to pick up a solid play among beaten-down tech stocks.

• Market value: $230.9 billion
• Year-to-date decline: -12.3%

Admittedly, Cisco Systems (CSCO, $55.59) isn't quite as dynamic as some of the other tech stocks on this list. The infrastructure platforms company has seen plenty of ups and downs over the years on concerns about "disruption" by evolving technology and hungry competitors, and, in many ways, that remains the same as it ever was.

However, Cisco used the already disruptive events of the pandemic to embark on another round of restructuring that included $1 billion in planned cost reductions. These included an accelerated exit from unprofitable IT markets and a revamp of the financial team that included the departure of its chief financial officer.

That decision was pretty well-timed, and CSCO notched its fourth straight quarter of year-over-year revenue growth in its most recently reported quarter, with sales up 6% over the year prior. It also beat Wall Street expectations on profits to boot.

What's more, Cisco just authorized another $15 billion stock buyback plan. The company also raised its quarterly dividend 2.7% to 38 cents per share, marking its 12th dividend hike since instituting payouts back in 2011.

Sure, the Dow Jones stock might not set the world on fire like a disruptive start-up. But it has solid operations and a generous 2.7% yield at current pricing to provide peace of mind.

Shares had climbed to new multi-year highs in December in part because the stock seemed to be on the right track. And the pullback we've seen in the last few months could be an opportunity for patient investors to jump in and enjoy continued dividend growth in the coming years.

• Market value: $12.0 billion
• Year-to-date decline: -19.3%

Ride-sharing service Lyft (LYFT, $34.48) was one of the hottest names out there at the time of its 2019 IPO. And after some initial struggles and the disruptions of the pandemic, it seemed like things were getting back on track in 2021. But as Wall Street started to get risk-averse in the new year, LYFT stock's struggles resumed.

Still, Lyft is clearly in recovery mode and getting back to the previously planned successes that made investors enthusiastic about the company before the pandemic. Namely, fiscal 2022 revenue is predicted to hit nearly $4.3 billion, up 32% from fiscal 2021 and easily eclipsing the $3.6 billion in revenue from back in fiscal 2019 – before social distancing put a damper on ride sharing and travel trends.

Additionally, unlike rival Uber Technologies (UBER), Lyft is projected to be comfortably profitable this year – and if projections hold, should see 62 cents per share in earnings in fiscal 2022, which is projected to more than double to $1.45 per share in fiscal 2023.

There's a reason the long-term growth narrative in ride-sharing stocks was all the rage a few years ago: Demographic trends show more people are living in urban areas and fewer people are eager to own their own cars. Between a resurgence in travel as the worst of COVID-19 is behind us and this multiyear megatrend toward ride sharing, it might be worth looking beyond the recent declines and enjoying a leisurely ride on Lyft for the long term.

• Market value: $2.1 trillion
• Year-to-date decline: -17.1%

Second only to Apple, Microsoft (MSFT, $278.91) clocks in at $2.1 trillion in market value. And similar to its fellow Dow stock, MSFT faces structural challenges thanks to being overweight in index funds. The stock accounts for roughly 6% of the S&P 500, compared with 7% for Apple.

It's also important to recognize Microsoft also shares many of the same dominant balance-sheet characteristics that AAPL does. Last year, the software provider reported cash and investments worth $130 billion, on top of net operating cash flow of $77 billion.

But Microsoft somehow has been punished even more than Apple despite its staying power. Part of that might be because MSFT at the end of last year dipped into its war chest to buy embattled video game studio Activision Blizzard (ATVI) for $69 billion. The deal not only reduces its cash cushion, but has also been the target of shareholder lawsuits and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) review.

However, it's not like the core business of Microsoft has been struggling. In January, it posted great earnings that featured year-over-year revenue growth of 20% and a 22% increase in earnings per share. What's more, it is increasingly important that Microsoft's cloud segment surpassed $22 billion to see an even faster growth rate of 32%.

Microsoft remains the dominant name in enterprise technology, and no geopolitical tensions or inflationary pressures will change that. As such, the recent decline in share price allows investors the opportunity to scoop up one of Wall Street's favorite stocks at a much lower price than where it was to start the year.

• Market value: $532.1 billion
• Year-to-date decline: -27.4%

For much of the past few years, it seemed like Nvidia (NVDA, $213.52) could do no wrong. The high-growth chipmaker had been trading at less than $40 per share as recently as late 2019 before surging to an all-time high of about $350 at the end of 2021 – prompting some billionaire investors to take profits off the table in Q4.

Of course, the story has been much different lately as shares have rolled back in a big way thanks to the general volatility on Wall Street that has hit many tech stocks. Exacerbating headwinds are NVDA's perceived exposure to negative cryptocurrency trends thanks to its mining-related hardware.

Strangely enough, however, the narrative that drove Nvidia to prior highs has persisted even if Wall Street seems to be distracted by other things. Current fiscal-year projections are for 29% revenue growth, followed by 17% growth next year. Similarly, earnings per share are set to expand at 26% and 20% each year, respectively.

Yes, there's a bit of crypto exposure here thanks to its mining hardware. But NVDA is not a direct play on bitcoin or ether or anything else, as it has other very lucrative chips in its arsenal too. Consider that in Nvidia's most recent quarter, video game graphics card sales jumped 37% and data center revenue exploded 71% over the year-ago figures.

If the investing thesis before was that NVDA is a dominant semiconductor stock that has in-demand branded designs offering continued growth and high margins, then that hasn't changed at all. So perhaps it's worth taking a look at this beaten-down tech stock after its recent stumbles.

• Market value: $70.9 billion
• Year-to-date decline: -59.3%

If investors are asked to think of a publicly traded company down more than 50% this year, they would likely name a state-owned Russian oil company. But oddly enough, e-commerce platform Shopify (SHOP, $560.80) is among the worst performers since Jan. 1, with a staggering 59% decline over less than three months' time.

And it's hard to see why such a gut-wrenching drop is warranted. Yes, perhaps the valuation of this high-flying tech stock was a little out of whack. Investors piled in during the pandemic and bid up shares from about $300 at the firm's March 2020 lows to a short-lived high north of $1,700 late last year.

But now SHOP stock is back in the mid-$500s, despite predictions of 30% revenue growth to $7.7 billion this fiscal year. And while profitability has taken a hit compared with the juicy pandemic margins, it's not like this is a company bleeding cash as it grows at such a rapid rate. Earnings are still expected to arrive at $4.60 per share in fiscal 2022 and rise to $6.42 per share in fiscal 2023.

It's clear that consumers are only going to be spending more cash on e-commerce and digital platforms in the future too. And while small or local businesses may never unseat online retail behemoth Amazon.com (AMZN), it's dangerously naïve to think they can operate without a digital storefront at all. That means built-in demand for Shopify's services for many years to come; particularly as its software-as-a-service (SaaS) model isn't just a one-time fee, but a subscription for ongoing maintenance.

As with many of the other cheap tech stocks on this list, SHOP's volatility is certainly extreme right now in the wake of its late-2021 high. But seeing as the stock is back to levels not seen since the beginning of the pandemic, it could be worth considering whether the long-term promise of Shopify is the same as it was back in 2019 and early 2020 before COVID-19 or Russia's invasion of Ukraine or inflation fears.

If your answer is "yes," and you are able to stomach the day-to-day gyrations, this beaten-down tech stock could be an aggressive buy.

• Market value: $831.5 billion
• Year-to-date decline: -23.9%

Tesla (TSLA, $804.58) has crossed many milestones since selling its first Roadster electric vehicle back in 2009. Any while naysayers sometimes like to pooh-pooh this dynamic manufacturer as a niche play, 2021 brought a very important development as TSLA actually sold more units in the U.S. than popular luxury car nameplate BMW, according to research firm Cox Automotive.

This is proof that Tesla continues to offer unrivaled growth as it eats into the market share of old school automakers. And looking forward, it seems very unlikely anything will stop TSLA stock. The company has forecast vehicle delivery growth of more than 50% in 2022 on top of its already impressive expansion so far and despite lingering supply-chain issues.

The stock has grown rapidly since its 2010 initial public offering (IPO) to become one of the top seven U.S. stocks as measured by market capitalization for a reason. And structurally, it benefits from the fact that its CEO Elon Musk is sitting on roughly 170 million shares – about 17% of the 1.0 billion shares publicly available for trading – that he has no intention of selling.

You can sometimes make money betting against Tesla based on short-term sentiment. But long term, this is a name to be reckoned with and could be a buy among beaten-down tech stocks.

Amazon.com is raising the annual Amazon Prime cost for membership on its estimated 126 million U.S. Amazon Prime subscribers.

The price will rise to $139 in 2022, a $20 hike from the current $119 annual membership, in place since 2018. For those who pay by the month, fees climb from $12.99 to $14.99.

The online retail powerhouse announced the 17% increase alongside its fourth-quarter financial results. Amazon outlined its case for the $20 bump – the typical hike when it boosts Amazon Prime subscription fees:

"In the last few years, we’ve added more product selection available with fast, free, unlimited Prime shipping; more exclusive deals and discounts; and more high-quality digital entertainment, including TV, movies, music, and books," Amazon Prime vice president Jamil Ghani said in the Q4 press release.

The Amazon Prime subscription price increase goes into effect Feb. 18 for new members and March 25 for current members.

We wrote back in January that Amazon, which tends to hike subscription costs in four-year cycles, was largely expected to raise membership fees this year.

Of course, the retail picture in 2022 versus 2018 is a lot different – and a lot darker. Amazon and other retailers are facing plenty of challenges: supply-chain issues, worker shortages and wage increases for employees.

Also, when Amazon last raised its Prime membership cost, Walmart’s alternative, Walmart+, wasn’t around. It is now, offering free next-day or two-day delivery, prescriptions and gasoline discounts among its perks, all for $84 a year. Plus, given the general tension about inflation, Amazon risks a wave of consumer anger over this latest Prime price increase.

Amazon isn't the only popular subscription service that has upped its prices in recent years. Netflix has increased fees charged to its users three times since 2018, including a $1 to $2 hike this year, and Hulu has raised fees for its services multiple times in the past three years.

Stocks ended the holiday-shortened week (markets were closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day) how they started it – deep in the red.

And, as with Tuesday's trading, the bearish catalyst today was corporate earnings; specifically, dismal results from streaming giant Netflix (NFLX, -21.8%), which reported lower-than-expected subscriber numbers for its fourth quarter and forecast slowing subscriber growth in Q1.

"Investors are finally recognizing a huge risk that has been lurking around Netflix for years and that is increased competition in the streaming space," says David Trainer, CEO of Nashville-based investment research firm New Constructs. "Netflix has lost its first mover advantage in the streaming space and Disney (DIS) is its biggest threat."

Another possible culprit behind today's huge volatility is options expiration. "The options market has become critically important to stock investors, even if they don't trade options," says Michael Oyster, chief investment officer for asset-management firm Options Solutions.

"Friday's options expiration was the second-largest on record as $1.3 trillion of equity options expired. This impacted how stocks behaved and drove many prices higher or lower based on options action."

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Despite a brief midday pop into positive territory, the Nasdaq Composite ended the day down 2.7% at 13,768 – marking its first close below 14,000 since June 9 – the S&P 500 Index was off 1.9% at 4,397 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.3% lower at 34,265.

What's more, the Nasdaq suffered its worst weekly loss since March 2020 (-7.6%), while the S&P 500 and Dow also ended sharply lower on a weekly basis (-5.7%, -4.6%, respectively).

Other news in the stock market today:

• The small-cap Russell 2000 fell 1.6% to land at 1,987.
• U.S. crude oil futures followed equity markets lower, though they still finished with just a modest 0.5% decline to $85.14 per barrel. Oil futures also secured a fifth consecutive weekly gain.
• Gold futures similarly notched a weekly finish in the green despite slipping 0.6% to $1,831 per share.
• Bitcoin continued its 2022 slide, suffering a severe 10.3% plunge to $38,328.63, its lowest level since August 2021. "It is already difficult to interpret the trend of traditional currencies, let alone that of cryptocurrencies that, historically, have always been characterized by very strong volatility. Sometimes a tweet is enough to hit a record," says Eloisa Marchesoni, an angel investor and cryptocurrency consultant. She cites the Federal Reserve's interest-rate signaling, as well as the worsening situation in Kazakhstan (the second-largest Bitcoin miner behind the U.S.), among Bitcoin's woes, but adds that "these are exogenous events that have nothing to do with the structural resilience of the crypto market, so we should be patient and wait for the consequences of such events to unroll." (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m.)
• A host of mega-cap stocks took outsized responsibility for Friday's broad-market declines. Among companies worth $200 billion or more by market cap that lost at least 3% today? Wells Fargo (WFC, -2.4%), Meta Platforms (FB, -4.2%), Tesla (TSLA, -5.3%), PayPal Holdings (PYPL, -5.6%), Amazon.com (AMZN, -6.0%) and Walt Disney (DIS, -6.9%).
• If there's any glimmer of hope for the rest of the stock market (eventually), it might be Friday's violent rebound in Peloton Interactive (PTON, +11.7%). The stock finally bounced after a painful 2022 that saw the workout-equipment company lose as much as a third of its value through Thursday, driven partly by yesterday's news that it would stop producing exercise bikes and treadmills amid slowing demand. Of course, whether Friday's performance is merely a dead-cat bounce remains to be seen, and PTON shares are still off by a painful TK% year-to-date through today's close.

Tech Earnings, Fed Ahead

Next week could bring a fresh bout of volatility to the markets. In addition to Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) headlining a tech-heavy earnings calendar, there's also the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy-setting meeting, set to kick off on Tuesday, Jan. 25.

While the Fed isn't expected to raise rates until at least the March meeting, anxiety about the start of the central bank's rate hikes has served as a spark for the recent market selloff, so that even just a gathering of central bankers could spook markets.

But while stock volatility may be exacerbated in the short term, the current rate cycle is needed in order for "a return to normal," says Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for registered investment advisor Commonwealth Financial Network. Yes, higher rates will likely mean slower growth and lower stock valuations, but "the economy and markets can and do adjust to changes in interest rates." he adds.

One way for investors to "keep calm and carry on," as McMillan advises they do, is to focus on the long term and make sure their portfolio is full of stable, dividend-paying stocks.

There are plenty of income-producing ideas across the market, with real estate investment trusts (REITs), utilities and consumer staples among the most generous payers – many of which show up on our list of the 22 best retirement stocks for 2022. The names featured here offer secure dividends based on solid fundamentals and have strong potential to keep increasing their payouts over the long term.

Sure, you’ve heard the warnings about shopping early because of supply chain issues this year, but chances are there are still some folks on your gift list who you haven’t yet figured out what to get. Have no fear. Even in the 11th hour of the holiday season, you can pull a great idea out of your Santa hat. Plus, you can give the gift of purchasing power in a way that’s more fun, thoughtful (and prudent) than a stocking full of cash.

Most of the items on our annual list of personal gifts will save the recipients money in the long run—either by eliminating some of their recurring expenses or boosting their earning power. Your friends and family will be sure to remember your generosity all year long as the savings keep rolling in.

But even at Kiplinger, we know that saving money isn’t the only thing in life. COVID-19 has inspired us to include some ideas that are just plain fun and activities that can be done at home.

Stocks as stocking stuffers couldn’t be easier with gift cards from Stockpile, a self-directed online brokerage. You pick a company like Google (GOOGL) or Netflix (NFLX) to purchase a gift card that can be redeemed for its stock. You can choose from hundreds of stocks, or give a multi-company card that comes with a list of picks available to the recipient and let your recipient build a portfolio. Cards for exchange-traded funds are another option. Or you can just gift an amount of money and let the recipient do the picking.

To redeem the card, the gift card recipient must open a free Stockpile brokerage account online. She can choose to invest in the company you picked or select another. If she redeems the gift for stock by 3:00 p.m. (Eastern) on a regular trading day, she gets the shares at that day’s closing price. After that time or on a day the market is closed, the trade will be executed at the closing price on the next day the market is open. Depending on the value of the card and the stock, she may wind up with fractional shares.

But you don’t have to use Stockpile to give stocks or funds. If your recipient already has their own brokerage account, you can buy for them directly—or directly gift them your own shares—if you have the account information.

Cost

At Stockpile, gift cards can be found in denominations of $1 to $1,000 and can be sent via email or text on a specified delivery date at a designated time. They can also be printed out with a redeemable QR code.

How would the recipient of your present like to learn about science from Bill Nye, the Science Guy, or about cooking from tv chef Gordon Ramsay? How about chess lessons from Gary Kasparov or writing guidance from Margaret Atwood? Alicia Keys teaches songwriting and Herbie Hancock teaches jazz. My goodness, Itzhak Perlman gives violin lessons. And Hillary Rodham Clinton teaches a class called "The Power of Resilience."

Perhaps more on-brand for our readers, they can learn business leadership lessons from Disney’s Bob Iger or former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz or economics from Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman. All this and much more is available through Master Class, an online platform that sells video lessons from some of the most well-known subject experts in the country.

Cost

The cost starts at $15 a month, billed annually.

You can freshen up a loved one’s living space while trimming their grocery costs by giving her a kitchen herb garden. Your gift recipient doesn’t need a particularly green thumb in order to grow herbs. But you may want to consider the amount of sun exposure the garden’s new home might get in order to pick the right herbs. For example, basil, rosemary and sage need six hours or more of full sun each day to thrive, according to Home and Garden America. Chives, coriander and mint are less demanding.

Cost

Again, prices vary. You can get a window starter kit at Amazon for about $30.

If your gift recipient likes a particular celebrity, you might pay that star to record a personalised video through Cameo. Celebrity options range from Thomas the Tank Engine to Pee-wee Herman and include athletes like Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas and football legend Joe Montana. There are also musicians like Gloria Estefan and Kenny G, some astronauts and even some political figures like Anthony Scaramucci or Donald Trump Jr. You can even get a video from Iron Chef Jose Garces for the reality show foodie in your life. Or, for those who believe, how about a phone call from Santa Claus?

Cost

Prices range all over the map from $2 for a video from stuntman/actor Preston Corbell to $10 for a conversation with Santa to starting at $2,500 for a video from Caitlyn Jenner.

According to JD Power, the average U.S. household spent $55 a month on streaming tv services, up from $47 just six months before and double the amount spent last year. With so many new options becoming available and prices being hiked all the time as more people stay home for entertainment during the pandemic, it’s easy to see how the cost of entertainment can drag down a family budget.

You can help your tv-watching friends and family with those costs by footing the cost of a subscription to Netflix, Apple TV, HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus or one of any other of the constantly emerging streaming services.

Gift cards for streaming service are available at participating retailers, including Walmart, Target and Best Buy. You can also buy them online through Amazon.com, Target.com and Walmart.com. The gift-card recipient can use it to create a new subscription or add the value of the card to his existing account.

Cost

Physical Netflix gift cards are available for $30, $60 or $100. You’re free to select the amount for electronic gift cards. (Subscriptions start at $8.99 a month.)

You know that trope about how daily lattes from the coffee shop are the impediment to wealth? It’s more complicated than that. But, if you’d like to press the point, give your favorite coffee lover the means to make the caffeine she craves on her own. Depending on her tastes, you could get her a French press, a drip pot, a single server or an espresso maker. If your budget allows, you might also throw into her stocking your (or her) favorite brand of joe.

Cost

Prices vary. The popular single-serving Keurig machines cost from about $55 to about $200. Tom’s Guide says the best coffee makers can run $300, but you can get a really good one for much less. Tom’s top overall pick, for example, a Braun BrewSense was on sale recently at Best Buy for $76, marked down from $95.

The gift of wisdom can pay off for a lifetime. Fortunately, you can buy some online. Educational software, such as Rosetta Stone for languages or The Great Courses for a variety of subjects including sciences and the fine arts, can be a great gift for your favorite knowledge-seeker. Fun and functional, educational applications can help her brush up on her French before a trip to Paris or add some highly desirable skills to her resume.

If your loved one would prefer learning in an actual classroom, consider getting her a gift card for a local community college. Many can be used for books and merchandise, as well as credit hours.

Cost

You can give a Rosetta Stone eGift instantly—perfect for procrastinators. The Spanish subscriptions range from $36 for three months to $179 for a lifetime subscription.

How much you spend on a community college gift card is up to you and should be based on the college’s cost per credit hour.

Cooking classes can be a great way to cut your recipient’s restaurant costs. Check community calendars for seminars, or look to chains, such as Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table.

For example, in a number of Sur La Table locations across the country, you can find a holiday cookie decorating class—giving your gift recipients both a cooking lesson and a fun activity to entertain their kids for a couple of hours during the school break.

Cost

Prices at Sur La Table vary, depending on the type of class and location. The holiday cookie decorating class for kids costs $59 per person in stores around the country. Sur La Table also offers online courses recognized by the American Culinary Institute for $59 to $1,500.

Giving an appliance as a present is a bit fraught, but there are plenty of buzzy gadgets that might improve the prospect of more cooking from home. Consider an Entera slow cooker or an Instant Pot or an air fryer. These practical gifts can help the recipient easily prep meals for each week and save on restaurant and take-out bills all year long.

Other kitchen-appliance gift ideas that might encourage more eating in: a standing mixer, pizza stone, countertop convection ovens.popcorn makers, grills, pots and pans and other specialty items.

Cost

Pizza stones are available on Amazon from about $12, while the costs of other kitchen appliances can range into the hundreds of dollars.

A couple of years ago, the idea of a year’s supply of toilet paper as a gift would sound like a bad joke. Now, it might be appreciated. Better yet, though, is to give your recipient access to pallets of TP with a membership to a big-box store such as BJ’s, Costco or Sam’s Club. You’ll give the recipient the opportunity to buy in bulk and save money on groceries, electronics, household wares and other items year-round.

Cost

Annual memberships for Sam’s Club, BJ’s and Costco range from $45 to $120 and can include discounts or gift cards as part of the membership.

Your gift recipient might not ever get rich at the car wash, but helping him with routine car maintenance can sure help save money. And in these times of ever-rising gas prices, every bit of savings helps.

Gift cards to the local car wash would not only foot that bill; keeping an auto fresh and clean can help maximize its life, too. Some locations might even offer unlimited washes for a monthly pass.

You could also put together a gift basket of car-cleaning supplies. Encouraging your loved one to do the dirty work can give them a chance to catch and fix any small issues and prevent any future costly repairs.

Other car-related gift ideas are a membership in AAA or a gift card for car service at a local shop or someplace like Jiffy Lube.

Cost

You’re in the driver’s seat—pick your gift amount. If you want to go the gift basket route, you can order a pre-assembled one on Etsy for about $50

Make room under the tree for your financial planner. A few hours of consultation would be the perfect gift to steer anyone down the right financial path, especially any beloved college kids home for winter break.

Your best bet to give a financial planner’s services for the holidays is to ask your own planner if she’s open to it. You already know and trust her services and won’t have to worry about giving your loved ones a dud gift. If you don’t have a planner to call your own, you can find one at the website of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors. But be sure to vet the planner properly.

Cost

According to SmartAsset.com, a financial advisor generally charges from $1,500 to $2,500 to create a full financial plan, but if that’s too rich for your budget, you can check to see if the advisor can provide a few hours of consultation or a less detailed plan at a lower cost..

For even your littlest loved one, there’s no better present than an investment in her future. Get her started saving for college by opening a 529 account for her. Or if she already has a college fund, you can simply make a contribution for the holidays. To ensure your generosity is earmarked for a college degree, you can make a direct payment to a 529 plan—you’ll just need to know the account holder’s name and address, as well as the account number. Or you can maintain the element of surprise by giving your future scholar a Gift of College gift card, which can be used to fund any 529 plan.

Cost

You can give however much you’d like. If you go the gift-card route, you’ll have to pay some fees, too.

This handy gift can encourage its recipient to get their hands dirty and keep maintenance costs down by learning to DIY (you might be surprised to see how much you can tackle thanks to YouTube videos). It can be especially useful for anyone in your life who just moved out on their own or bought a new home and recently reached a new level of adulting.

For beginners, some toolbox necessities include a screwdriver set, tape measure, claw hammer, flashlight, pliers and other items, according to This Old House.

Cost

You can build your own kit and control the costs. Ready-made sets start at about $15 at Lowe’s and Home Depot.

Learning the ropes of investing can be intimidating. Kiplinger has put together a list of the 13 best books for beginning investors to take away the mystery and empower people with knowledge about their finances on their own time at their own pace. There’s a book by women for women and one written by a millennial and even one by Warren Buffett.

Cost

The range in costs is free (downloadable e-book) to about $40 for the top-end hardcover

The restaurant industry has been hit particularly hard during the pandemic. One way to support local businesses and give your friend or loved one a night off from cooking is to buy them a gift card from a local restaurant.

If your friend just prefers to do their own cooking, you could also get them a gift certificate to a grocery store or a local specialty food store.

Cost

That’s entirely up to you. Check your local restaurants and see what they’re offering. Maybe check the menu and make sure to cover the cost of your recipient’s favorite food, plus a tip and enough to cover at least one other diner.

Personal-finance wisdom, actionable advice and clear explanations—these are a few of our favorite things. And, hey, we’re proud of what we do. A year’s subscription to Kiplinger’s for your friends and family members will give them both money-saving and money-making strategies.

Cost

A holiday subscription starts in January and can be had for just $19.95 for 12 monthly issues.

Five of the largest and best-known companies in the world are the FAANG stocks.

Or the FAAMNGs. Or the FANTAMANs. Whatever the acronym of the day is.

The original "FANGs" – Facebook, Apple, Netflix and Google – was a clever way to refer to four mega-cap tech stocks. But as other companies grew, and some of the original names changed, this alphabet soup evolved. FANGs became the FAANGs, then morphed into other less popular iterations.

The reason these acronyms stick around is because they collectively have a massive impact on the major U.S. stock market indexes thanks to their size. In fact, seven technology or tech-adjacent mega-caps – Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon.com (AMZN), Facebook parent Meta Platforms (FB), Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Netflix (NFLX) and Tesla (TSLA) – account for roughly half of the weight of the Nasdaq-100 index and more than a fifth of the S&P 500.

However, for several of these stocks, their prominence has also resulted in rich valuations and share price gains that have outstripped profit growth, making them difficult for value-minded investors to swallow.

Fortunately, you can partake in the impressive business models of these mega-cap stocks without necessarily paying an exorbitant share price. The strategy is simple: Buy shares of businesses that provide products or services to these companies and thus benefit peripherally from the group's phenomenal growth. FAANG stocks and other giant tech firms drive outsized revenue and profit gains for their value-added resellers (VARs), software developers, component manufacturers, landlords and dozens of other business partners.

Here are seven better ways to make money off FAANG stocks. The names featured here are riding the coattails of their mega-cap partners to outsized top- and bottom-line growth. Better still, most are valued at cheaper price-to-earnings (P/E) multiples than the FAANGs they partner with, suggesting these names may still have room to run.

Data is as of Nov. 9.

• FAANG/Mega-cap relationship: Meta Platforms
• Market value: $8.5 billion

Zynga (ZNGA, $7.65) is an industry leader in mobile game development. The company initially built market share by partnering with Meta to launch mobile games like Zynga Poker, Words with Friends and Farmville that are multi-generational franchises.

It has since established download partnerships with FAANG stocks AAPL and GOOGL and, most recently, teamed up with social media firm Snap's (SNAP) Snapchat. The company's portfolio of gaming titles has been downloaded more than 4 billion times on mobile devices and reaches customers in over 175 countries.

In March, Zynga acquired cross-platform game developer Echtra Games, a move that should help extend its reach from mobile devices into PCs and consoles and expand its addressable market. And in August, the company bought Chartboost, a mobile advertising firm. Combining Chartboost's advertising and monetization platform that has an audience of roughly 700 million monthly users with Zynga's games should be a catalyst for revenue growth.

More good news for Zynga arrived in September when a California judge ruled that Apple cannot prevent game developers from bypassing its App Store and the 15%-30% commissions the tech giant charges on app purchases. This ruling enables gaming companies to reduce costs and retain a higher percentage of revenues.

In the third quarter, Zynga's bookings rose 6.4% year-over-year to $668 million and revenues surged 40.2% to $705 million. The company also reported $1.3 billion in cash and investments, up 76.8% from Q3 2020, which it says it will use to fund future acquisitions.

Over the last three years, Zynga has grown revenues 45% annually and has more than doubled normalized net income and levered free cash flow – the amount of cash a company has on hand after meeting its financial obligations – on an annual basis.

Wall Street analysts are bullish on ZNGA, too. Of the 19 following the stock that are tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence, 13 say it's a Strong Buy, five call it a Buy and one rates it at Sell. Plus, the pros' consensus price target of $11.12 represents implied upside of 45.4% over the next 12 months or so.

• FAANG/Mega-cap relationship: Apple
• Market value: $187.7 billion

Qualcomm (QCOM, $166.74) has benefitted from its long – not always amicable – relationship with Apple and remains a key chip supplier for new iPhone models. Apple's 5G enabled iPhone 12 uses QCOM chips and teardowns of the recently launched iPhone 13 show it contains Qualcomm modems.

Apple is starting to design its own chips, but Qualcomm should continue to be at the forefront of the transition to 5G technology. According to QCOM, its Snapdragon processors offer the fastest 5G speeds available, with devices powered by these chips downloading content roughly 67% faster than the next largest competitor. Over 225 million 5G enabled smartphones shipped in 2020 and J.P. Morgan Research estimates this volume will more than double to 525 million this year and hit 725 million in 2022.

QCOM is further hedging its bets by making big investments in the Internet-of-Things (IoT) and in connected cars. During this year's September quarter, Qualcomm's IoT revenues rose 66% year-over-year to $1.5 billion. The global industrial IoT market was valued at $216 billion in 2020, according to market research firm Grand View Research, and is projected to grow 23% annually through 2028.

Qualcomm's product offerings for connected cars range from telematics to connectivity platforms and digital cockpits. Two years ago, less than 50% of new cars incorporated internet connectivity, but that percentage is expected to rise to 70% by 2025. QCOM's automotive revenues increased 44% during the September quarter to $270 million and reached $975 million for all of fiscal 2021.

Supporting this growth is the company's recent acquisition of Arriver whose driver assistance assets will be integrated into Qualcomm's own ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) platform.

QCOM's revenues increased 43% year-over-year to $9.3 billion during the September quarter and adjusted earnings per share of $2.55 were up 76%. In its fiscal first quarter, the company is guiding for revenues of $10.0 billion to $10.8 billion and adjusted EPS to arrive between $2.90 and $3.10.

Of the 32 analysts covering the shares tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence, 16 call it a Strong Buy, six say Buy and 10 have it at Hold. QCOM shares trade at a reasonable 15.8 times forward earnings – well below AAPL's forward P/E ratio of 27.

• FAANG/Mega-cap relationship: Netflix
• Market value: $63.0 billion

Roblox (RBLX, $109.52) develops on-line gaming platforms that offer users an immersive, virtual 3D experience. Last year's pandemic-induced lockdown fueled a surge in new players and was a major growth catalyst for the company. The number of daily active users on its platforms is up 31% from one year ago to 47.3 million. Although not yet profitable, revenues for RBLX more than doubled in the September quarter to $509.3 million and free cash flow rose 7% to $170.6 million.

The company is poised for even stronger growth in the second half of this year thanks to the recent launch of its 3D game that mimics "Squid Game" – Netflix's hugely popular new TV series. Since its mid-September release, the South Korean horror/drama about players in a deadly tournament of children's games has become Netflix's most-watched series to date, with interest already exceeding previous hits like "Stranger Things," which was also the theme of a sponsored Roblox event.

Netflix is not Roblox's only partner. The company teamed up with Sony Music Entertainment in July to build metaverse music experiences around Sony artists and create new revenue streams tied to virtual entertainment.

Analysts forecast 47% revenue growth for RBLX this year, followed by 20% annual growth over the next two years.

Of the 10 analysts following RBLX stock tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence, four call it a Strong Buy, three say Buy, two believe it's a Hold and one deems it a Sell. CFRA Research analyst John Freeman is one of those with a Strong Buy rating on RBLX, calling the company's third-quarter results "outstanding" and projecting "even stronger preliminary numbers" for the start of the fourth quarter.

The stock surged more than 40% in the wake of its solid third-quarter earnings report, so this may be one to watch for an entry point on price weakness.

• FAANG/Mega-cap relationship: Amazon
• Market value: $109.8 billion

A simple and safe way to capitalize on Amazon's stellar growth is to own shares of its largest landlord, Prologis (PLD, $148.45). This preferred partner of most leading e-commerce and logistics businesses is also the world's largest warehouse real estate investment trust (REIT). Prologis owns roughly 4,700 properties totaling nearly 1 billion square feet of leasable space and has operations across 19 countries.

The FAANG member is PLD's largest tenant by far, accounting for roughly 22 million square feet of leasing space and 6.1% of net rents. Prologis' next largest tenants are Home Depot (HD, FedEx (FDX), UPS (UPS) and XPO Logistics (XPO). Together these four firms contribute 6.1% of annual rents.

The e-commerce tailwinds that help Prologis show no signs of slowing. During the pandemic, customers increasingly shopped online and that trend continues to build. According to market research firm eMarketer, online purchases in the U.S. are forecast to rise from approximately $709.8 billion – or 14.5% of all retail sales – currently to $1.0 trillion, or 18.1% of retail sales, in three years. And this trend could fuel demand for an additional 1.0 billion square feet of warehouse space by 2025, says global commercial real estate services firm JLL.

According to Prologis, every $1 billion increase in e-commerce sales creates demand for another 1.2 million square feet of warehouse space. Amazon alone added $49.4 billion to sales in the third quarter.

Prologis has consistently ranked among the best-performing REITs in the warehouse sector. On an annual basis, core FFO (funds from operations, a key REIT earnings metric) per share has risen 10% and dividends have risen 9% over the past five years.

During the September quarter, Prologis CEO Hamid R. Moghadam said vacancies were at unprecedented lows and that "space in our markets is effectively sold out." The REIT is guiding for roughly 7% core FFO per share growth in 2021, supported by an industry-leading balance sheet and a land portfolio with an estimated $21 billion buildout potential.

Barclays analyst Anthony Powell initiated coverage of PLD with an Overweight (Buy) rating in September, saying industrial is his favorite REIT subsector. CFRA Research analyst Stewart Glickman recently said "fundamentals point to an enviable supply-demand situation heading into 2022," but lowered his rating from Strong Buy to Hold recently due to price gains on PLD stock that have outpaced its REIT peers so far this year.

• FAANG/Mega-cap relationship: Alphabet (Google)
• Market value: $72.8 billion

Workday (WDAY, $293.48) hit the ground running ahead of its October 2012 initial public offering (IPO) by signing search giant Google as one of its first customers. Google replaced parts of its internally developed human resources (HR) software with Workday software. Since then, WDAY has become the industry leader in cloud-based software that helps companies manage finance, HR and strategic planning functions.

Workday has grown to more than 55 million users worldwide and claims over 50% of Fortune 500 companies as customers.

The company delivered a stellar June quarter with revenues up nearly 19% year-over-year to $1.26 billion, fueled by a 20% rise in subscription revenues. Workday's adjusted EPS came in at $1.23, more than 46% higher than the year prior, and the company raised its full-year guidance for subscription revenues and operating margins.

Workday's new strategic partnership with Google Cloud is expected to spur growth for both companies by enabling customers to deploy Workday finance, HR and strategic planning software on Google Cloud. The multi-year partnership also includes co-marketing and cross-selling programs to increase new business opportunities across the U.S. In addition, the two companies plan to explore opportunities to co-develop cloud-based applications for customers in the retail, healthcare and financial services industries.

Google subscribed to additional products in September – Workday Adaptive Planning, Workday Extend, Workday Prism Analytics and Workday Strategic Sourcing – and expanded its use of WDAY human resources tools by adding new applications.

Barclays analyst Raimo Lenschow upgraded WDAY shares to Overweight in August based on his expectations of increased IT spending in the second half of 2021. Most analysts are bullish on Workday. Of the 34 covering the stock tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence, 19 say it's a Strong Buy, 9 believe it's a Buy, five deem it Hold and one calls it a Sell.

Plus, the company is forecast to grow EPS 26% annually over the next three-to-five years, or nearly twice the anticipated growth rate of the overall IT sector.

• FAANG/Mega-cap relationship: Microsoft
• Market value: $8.5 billion

Arrow Electronics (ARW, $119.98) built its business supplying semiconductors to original equipment and contract manufacturers. The company has been a Microsoft partner for over a decade, providing electronics and services that are directly integrated into MSFT portals for service provisioning and configuration. In 2019, Microsoft named the company its Indirect Provider of the Year.

More recently the company began offering enterprise computing software for data center, cloud, security and analytics services. Already a Microsoft Cloud Service Provider, Arrow is partnering with MSFT to deploy tools on its Azure platform that speed development of IoT solutions. By participating in the IoT space, Arrow benefits from an expected surge in global IoT spending.

Earlier this year, Arrow expanded its relationship with one of the original FAANG stocks: Amazon.com. Per its agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Arrow will be able to resell, manage, service, support and bill AWS accounts on behalf of their customers. Arrow is also working with AWS to support OEM customers that are building smart devices incorporating the cloud technology.

Thanks to its massive scale, Arrow was able to secure semiconductor inventories in 2021 that many competitors could not. As a result, the company's September quarter sales improved 18% year-over-year and EPS rose 94%. Analysts think Arrow will improve on its impressive EPS growth rate by delivering 17% annual EPS gains over the next three to five years.

ARW shares are cheap, too, trading at 6.8 times forward earnings. For the sake of comparison, Microsoft's forward P/E ratio is 36.8 and Amazon's is 55.9.

• FAANG/Mega-cap relationship: Tesla
• Market value: $603.1 million

Modine Manufacturing (MOD, $11.63) designs, manufactures and sells heat transfer products used by customers in the HVAC systems, commercial and industrial, heavy-duty equipment and automotive markets.

The company has long been a key supplier of battery chilling technologies to Tesla, the world's largest manufacturer of electric vehicles (EVs). In the first nine months of 2021, TSLA produced nearly 625,000 vehicles – up almost 88% from the year prior.

Demand for electric vehicles is forecast to rise nearly 22% annually to 233.9 million units by 2027 – valuing the market at nearly $2.5 trillion by 2027 – according to market research firm Meticulous Research. Wisconsin-based Modine's established relationship with Tesla could become a major growth catalyst, particularly if worsening trade relationships with China cause Tesla to shift more of its business to reliable U.S. suppliers.

Modine recently sold its traditional automotive business and plans to focus more resources on computer data center cooling products, industrial HVAC and electric vehicles. Expanding in more profitable niches will enable Modine to increase operating margins and free cash flow and to accelerate repayment of debt.

In September, Modine said it is creating a separate business unit focused exclusively on cooling technologies for electric vehicles. The company is in discussions with 30 customers, has commenced production on three programs and won five additional contracts that will launch over the next 12 months.

Modine achieved double-digit sales growth in three out of four of its business units during the September quarter, though total year-over-year revenue growth came to a more modest 4% amid supply chain issues, a global semiconductor shortage and a loss associated with the sale of its air-cooled automotive segment.

Modine has Strong Buy ratings from both of the Wall Street analysts tracking the stock. It also looks bargain-priced at 7.5 times forward earnings – especially when compared to TSLA's forward P/E ratio of 26.7.

We waited years for the video streaming war to begin.

Well, it's here. It's heated. And it involves a host of well-backed streaming video stocks vying for relevancy amid a jam-packed crowd.

Netflix (NFLX) largely had its way over the past decade. It licensed popular content from other media companies and supplemented that with its own shows, becoming the undisputed industry leader along the way. Netflix started offering its streaming video service in 2007, and by the end of 2018 it claimed 139 million subscribers. In that time, the company faced a few half-hearted attempts to grab a piece of the pie.

But in the past 18 months or so, the video streaming war has really gotten legs. Netflix has been losing content from its library as new streaming services bring their TV shows and movies back under their own umbrella as exclusives.

Apple (AAPL) launched Apple TV+ on Nov. 1, 2019. Just two weeks later, Walt Disney (DIS) launched Disney+. In May 2020, AT&T (T) launched HBO Max followed by Comcast's (CMCSA) NBC Peacock, which went live in July 2020. The latest big entry took place in January of this year, when Discovery (DISCA) launched its Discovery+ streaming service.

And given very recent news, HBO and Discovery+ could soon become an even bigger threat.

These represent just a few of the now dozens of video streaming services competing for consumer dollars and threatening to upend the traditional TV viewing industry. We're reaching the point where at least a few clear winners and possible losers are beginning to come into focus. After all, consumers first switched to Netflix to save on their cable bills. Even if fragmented content convinces many viewers to have multiple subscriptions, few are going to pony up to all the streaming services.

Here's a look at the major streaming video stocks, and how their offerings appear poised in the current content landscape.

Data is as of May 16.

• Market value: $218.8 billion
• Streaming services: Netflix

Netflix (NFLX, $493.37) is the grandaddy of all the video streaming services, and the one to beat. The company started life as a mail order DVD rental service – taking on Blockbuster Video – before announcing in 2007 that it would begin streaming movies to its 6.3 million subscribers.

That move started inauspiciously, with the customers able to choose from 1,000 mostly older movie titles to stream over their PC as part of their $18-per-month DVD rental subscription.

But streaming video quickly gained momentum.

In 2008, Netflix made a huge move into taking video streaming mainstream. The company began snapping up the streaming rights for movies and TV shows, taking advantage of a disorganized marketplace and the desire by media companies to make "easy money." Recode describes what happened as a result:

"Netflix took the stuff Hollywood considered its leftovers and built a giant business with it – and ended up competing directly with the established media players, using their own content."

That content became more expensive over time as studios realized what had happened. When Netflix first acquired the rights to Disney movies in 2008, it paid $30 million; renewing that deal in 2012 cost $300 million. Netflix also began to invest heavily in producing its own content, releasing exclusive shows such as House of Cards and Stranger Things. NFLX spent more than $17 billion on original content in 2020, and that's projected to increase to a hair over $19 billion this year.

That spending has had to ramp up because now that other streaming video stocks have arrived in full force, Netflix is losing the rights to some of its most popular shows and movies. For example, Disney titles are all but gone, and The Office – the service's most watched show – disappeared this year, moving to NBC's Peacock.

NFLX faces three big challenges as the streaming wars kick off:

1. Escalating costs for its content library, which is becoming more reliant on original material.
2. Preventing churn, where subscribers ditch its service for the competition.
3. Growth. Netflix currently has around 208 million subscribers worldwide. It has tapped most of the potential in the lucrative North American market. It has much more market to eat in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and the Asia Pacific regions, though subscribers there don't generate as much in revenues.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney says if Netflix can replicate its current 57% penetration rate among U.S. households in global markets, it could add nearly half a billion subscribers. He calculates that kind of subscriber base would translate into earnings of $50 per share, and a $1,000 share price for NFLX within five years.

Netflix remains the king of streaming video, though growth will be more difficult to come by.

• Market value: $269.6 billion
• Streaming services: Peacock

Comcast's (CMCSA, $58.68) NBCUniversal media arm was one of the inadvertent early catalysts for the phenomenal growth of Netflix. Two of the top three most viewed TV shows on Netflix in 2018 – by a huge margin – were NBC properties: The Office and Parks and Recreation.

NBC's Peacock is the latest of the big video streaming services to launch and features the network's most popular series. The Office became a Peacock exclusive in January 2021, when the Netflix license expired. Peacock also will produce its own new programming. While the focus of this new streaming service is on TV shows, Peacock also has a library of movies available.

Comcast is hoping to extend the reach of Peacock by offering the service with a free, ad-supported tier that has limited programming. Premium service with access to the complete content library without advertising starts at $4.99 per month for Comcast cable subscribers. Non-subscribers can also access that premium tier for $9.99, undercutting Netflix.

Peacock is late to the game, but it's seen as a necessary move for Comcast. The company lost 671,000 residential cable subscribers in 2019. NBCUniversal's cable network revenue dropped 2.2% that year. Peacock is a play to appeal to cord cutters as a Netflix alternative, but it also can be used as an enticement to keep Comcast cable subscribers onboard. In addition, the free, ad-supported tier offers an alternative to consumers who don't want to pay for another streaming service.

Last year, Comcast said it expected to spend $2 billion on Peacock between 2020 to 2021 to grow the service. It expects to have 30 million to 35 million subscribers by 2024, and generate $2.5 billion in annual revenues.

• Market value: $315.3 billion
• Streaming services: Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+

Walt Disney (DIS, $173.70) has proven to be a savvy player when it comes to video streaming, and the company has positioned itself to become a powerhouse that rivals Netflix.

Disney was an early investor in Hulu – a U.S.-only streaming service with both paid and free, ad-supported tiers. In 2019, Disney bought out Comcast's stake to take full control of Hulu. This gave it an established streaming service with 28 million subscribers at the time.

Hulu will lose its NBC TV content, but it still gives Disney a platform where it can stream more mature content that might not be suitable for its family-friendly Disney+ offering. (Don't forget: Disney now owns not just ABC and its TV catalog, but also the TV and movie libraries of 21st Century Fox.)

The company's big-ticket entry is Disney+, which has proven to be an even bigger success than expected. The coronavirus pandemic hasn't hurt – its European launch during the height of the COVID-19 lockdown put more pressure on already strained regional internet infrastructure, requiring Disney to temporarily lower the video quality.

But Disney+ was always going to be a big deal, especially for families. The streaming service has exclusive access to Disney's back catalog of animated movies, as well as Marvel and Star Wars properties. Disney also has invested in new content, including The Mandalorian, which became the most streamed show in the U.S. shortly after launch.

Disney, which hoped to hit 30 million subscribers by the end of 2024, announced last May that it had signed up 54.5 million. By March, that number topped 100 million. The ability to bundle Disney+ with its other services has also had a halo effect, boosting subscribers for Hulu and Disney's ESPN+ sports.

Barely a streaming presence as 2019 wound down, Disney is now one of the top streaming video stocks. It's a clear winner. In fact, streaming revenues have helped counter the losses from closes parks and canceled cruises, allowing Disney to report a surprise profit for its fiscal first quarter.

• Market value: $1.6 trillion
• Streaming services: Amazon Prime Video

Amazon.com's (AMZN, $3,222.90) Amazon Prime Video is an interesting case. It has been around for a long time in one form or another (starting as Amazon Unbox in 2006). The company licenses content, but also spends a lot of money on original programming – to the tune of an estimated $7 billion in 2019.

You can subscribe to Amazon Prime Video for $8.99 month. However, Amazon isn't really running this video streaming service just to compete against other streaming video stocks. Instead, Prime Video is one of the big enticements to paying for an Amazon Prime membership. A $12.99 monthly Prime membership includes free shipping and other benefits, along with free access to Amazon Prime Video.

That Amazon Prime membership is a big deal for Amazon. In 2018, Prime members spent an estimated $1,400 on average shopping on Amazon.com, compared to $600 for non-Prime members. With 200 million paying Prime members worldwide, that extra spending adds up quickly.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) might be the company's profit center, but e-commerce still accounts for 90% of AMZN revenue. Keeping those online sales growing is a key driver of Amazon stock. That makes the company's ongoing investment in Amazon Prime Video a smart move, regardless of whether it's actually making money from video-specific subscriptions.

• Market value: $2.1 trillion
• Streaming services: Apple TV+

Apple (AAPL, $127.45) has had a long presence in TV streaming hardware (the Apple TV) and video rentals/purchases (iTunes). However, in November 2019, the company joined the video streaming race with its Apple TV+ service.

At $4.99 monthly, Apple TV+ is considerably cheaper than other streaming video services. But there's a catch – the content is all-new, exclusive shows and movies. There's no library of favorites licensed from other media companies. Apple reportedly spent $6 billion on producing content for its launch lineup, but it's still pretty thin.

What's Apple's spin on streaming video, since Apple+ doesn't seem like it's in position to directly compete against the market's top streaming video stocks?

Apple TV+ has two key goals. The first is to boost revenue for its Services division, which has become increasingly important as iPhone sales slide. In its fiscal second quarter ended in March, that Services revenue hit $16.9 billion. That's up 26.7% compared to last year and makes Services the company's second-largest revenue generator, after the $47.9 billion that iPhone sales brought in.

The second goal is part of a tried-and-true Apple strategy: keep people locked into the Apple ecosystem. Look no further than the fact that the company gives away a free year of Apple TV+ with the purchase of an iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Mac computer for proof. Apple TV+ is another enticement to keep customers buying Apple products.

• Market value: $1.5 trillion
• Streaming services: YouTube Premium

Alphabet's (GOOGL, $2,278.38) Google is a streaming pioneer. Its YouTube brand offers a wide range of streaming services including YouTube TV – a paid alternative to cable with up to 70 live network TV channels) – and the free original YouTube, which has been an online streaming video fixture since Google bought it in 2006.

But Alphabet's legit contender to take on Netflix is YouTube Premium, which costs $11.99 per month.

Google isn't really playing the same game as everyone else. YouTube Premium's key value proposition for subscribers is getting to watch all the videos shared on the free site without having to sit through annoying ads. (The company also throws in access to YouTube Music for free.)

Google has paid for a smattering of original TV shows and movies, but it's the user-generated content that's front and center – just without ads. This approach has made YouTube Premium popular with millennials.

In 2020, Google broke out the advertising revenue for YouTube for the first time. It amounted to an astounding $15.15 billion in 2019. It brought in $6 billion during Q1 2021 alone, up 49% year-over-year. That's just ad revenue, which doesn't include subscriptions for YouTube TV or YouTube Premium.

YouTube and YouTube Premium don't compete directly with other streaming video services in the traditional sense, but YouTube Premium will be tough competition if consumers are forced to narrow down their choices of which streaming video services to pay for. Especially if those consumers are in younger demographics.

• Market value: $25.2 billion
• Streaming services: Paramount+

Do you subscribe to ViacomCBS's (VIAC, $38.91) Paramount+?

Unfortunately for ViacomCBS, the likely answer is: probably not.

Paramount+ is the new name for CBS All Access, which launched in 2014 and is priced at $5.99 per month with commercials, $9.99 without. And despite more than six years of operation, a library of over 12,000 CBC TV show episodes, original content like Star Trek: Picard and access to live sports, All Access/Paramount+ hasn't made a huge splash in the streaming TV market.

In February, ahead of the changeover to Paramount+, ViacomCBS said it had 30 million subscribers across all its platforms. Admittedly, that includes some significant growth – its 17.9 million domestic subscribers were up 73% year-over-year. But it remains notably light on subscribers compared to larger services such as Netflix and Disney+.

Streaming revenues also aren't much compared to what ViacomCBS gets for licensing its content elsewhere. Combined streaming ad and streaming subscription revenues of $816 million, while up 65% year-over-year, are still less than half of VIAC's $1.8 billion-plus in "licensing and other" revenues.

Relatively low penetration, and the high value of its content library when licensed to other services, could result in Paramount+ eventually becoming a casualty in the streaming wars.

• Market value: $230.2 billion
• Streaming services: HBO Max

AT&T (T, $32.24) owns HBO Max, a new streaming video service that offers the programming of HBO, content from WarnerMedia and a rotating selection of movies. At $14.99, it's on the expensive side, but AT&T is providing free access to most customers who already subscribe to HBO on cable.

HBO Max launched last May, and the company will be phasing out its existing HBO Go service.

One of the HBO Max wins – courtesy of the that WarnerMedia library – is Friends. The one-time second most-watched show on Netflix is now an HBO Max exclusive. The deal cost AT&T, though. Last January, the company said its WarnerMedia division lost $1.2 billion in revenue by forgoing licensing deals to make content available to HBO Max.

That said, AT&T's place in the streaming wars has changed overnight.

In the latest shakeup, on May 17, AT&T announced a deal that would see it spin off WarnerMedia and combine those assets with Discovery, creating a standalone streaming media powerhouse to take on market leaders Netflix and Disney+. Pending regulatory approval, the deal is expected to be completed by mid-2022.

There is no word yet in in terms of what this development holds for existing streaming services run by the two companies including Discovery+ and HBO Max. They could be kept separate or combined into a "mega" streaming service.

We explain what this could mean for current AT&T shareholders in a breakdown of the AT&T-WarnerMedia-Discovery deal.

• Market value: $18.0 billion
• Streaming services: Discovery+

One of the latest big-player newcomers to the streaming wars is Discovery+, launched on Jan. 4 by Discovery Communications (DISCA, $35.65).

The streaming service offers more than 55,000 episodes spanning over 30 years of programming from the company's networks, including HGTV, A&E, Discovery Channel and the Food Network. Monthly subscriptions cost $4.99 with advertising, or $6.99 per month without ads.

It also offers a free one-year subscription to select Verizon (VZ) customers.

In its first-quarter earnings report, the company said Discovery+ subscribers had already topped 13 million. However, that did come at the cost of sliding subscribers from its cable portfolio, which dropped 4% during the same period.

But like with HBO Max, this becomes a more difficult service to handicap amid the pending deal with AT&T. It's possible the two services are merged in what would be a much more appealing offering likelier to compete with the market's largest streaming video stocks.

Shareholders in AT&T (T, $32.24) aren’t quite sure just how to react to Monday's news that the company would essentially undo its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner – a deal that was widely criticized when it closed in 2018.

Indeed, shares in the blue-chip telecommunications giant popped as much as 4.8% at one point in Monday's early trading. However, those gains were pared back significantly by the early afternoon.

Income investors who have come to count on AT&T's generous dividend (currently yielding 6.5%) might want to hold their applause, however.

AT&T signaled that it will cut its dividend to reflect the company's smaller size once it spins off its media business into a separate entity.

Based on what shareholders get out of the deal, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But it does make it all the more important for current and prospective T shareholders to understand the ins and outs of this pending deal, and AT&T's new place in the streaming video wars.

The AT&T-WarnerMedia-Discovery Deal

AT&T and Discovery Communications (DISCA, $35.65) rocked the communications industry before Monday’s opening bell by announcing a mega-deal that would combine their formidable cable and streaming media assets.

AT&T, which says it expects to receive $43 billion between cash and securities in the deal, will spin off WarnerMedia properties such as HBO, CNN, TNT, TBS and Warner Bros Studios. Those properties will combine with Discovery assets such as Food Network, Animal Planet and HGTV to form a new publicly traded company. The as-yet-to-be-named media firm will also own streaming media assets HBO Max and the newly launched Discovery+.

T and DISCA hope that the resulting entity will possess the scale and resources to compete with the likes of Netflix (NFLX) and Walt Disney (DIS) in the rapidly expanding streaming media business.

The new company – which is expected to be formed by mid-2022 – will have some catching up to do. HBO Max and HBO combined have about 44 million U.S. subscribers. Discovery+ has roughly 15 million subscribers. Meanwhile, Netflix has more than 200 million global subscribers, and Disney+ has more than 100 million.

But back to AT&T.

Why Is the Dividend Getting Cut?

AT&T said it expects an annual dividend payout ratio of 40% to 43% from more than $20 billion of expected free cash flow. That implies a total payout of between $8 billion and $8.6 billion.

That would represent a steep drop from the $15 billion AT&T paid in dividends in 2020, when free cash flow – or the cash left over after operating costs and capital investments – came to more than $40 million. Morgan Stanley analyst Simon Flannery points out that it would mark "a nearly 50% reduction from current levels ... and would put the stock on a low 4% (yield)."

Although income investors might have to accept less in the way of dividend income, that doesn't mean this is automatically a bad deal for them.

For one thing, it bolsters T's balance sheet. The telco took on tremendous debt when it acquired Time Warner. As of March 31, AT&T carried net debt of $169 billion.

Some analysts and investors worry that the sheer weight of all that debt hampers AT&T's financial flexibility. Telecoms have enormous capital expenditures. They must continuously expand, maintain and upgrade their networks.

The advent of next-generation ultra-high-speed networks only adds to the cost pressure. Indeed, AT&T spent $23.4 billion on wireless spectrum licenses in the Federal Communications Commission's most recent round of auctions.

And although AT&T is spinning off its media assets, the structure of the deal with Discovery still allows current T shareholders the potential to profit from the growth of streaming media and content in general.

Under terms of the deal, AT&T shareholders will hold a 71% stake in the combined media company, in the form of new shares. Discovery shareholders will own the remaining 29% stake. In return, AT&T will receive $43 billion of cash, debt securities and WarnerMedia’s retention of certain debt. The new media company will carry about $55 billion in debt.

Whether the new media company pays dividends remains to be seen, but it certainly will have higher growth prospects than AT&T. But the eventual spinoff and new shares will force current holders of both T and DISCA to re-evaluate their holdings.

Bank of America Global Securities analysts, who rate T at Buy, are optimistic about what this deal could mean for shareholders.

"Given a choice between acquiring new media assets and spinning out a pure play, we believe shareholders are benefited by the latter," writes BofA analyst David Barden in a note to clients. "A combined entity would have an enhanced ability to offer the widest variety of content to attract the largest possible subscriber base on a global basis."

The best Nasdaq stocks for new money look quite different than they did just a few months ago.

Last year, the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite, led by mega-market-value stocks such as the FAANGs – Facebook (FB), Apple (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) – could almost do no wrong.

Indeed, the Nasdaq gained almost 44% on a price basis alone in 2020, leaving the broader S&P 500 (+7.3%) and blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average (+16.3%) far behind in its wake.

But now inflation fears and a general rotation away from growth stocks toward more value-oriented names has made finding winning Nasdaq stocks a much tougher beat. The index was up a meager 1.1% for the year-to-date through May 12. That compares unfavorably to gains of 8.2% for the S&P 500 and 9.7% for the Dow, respectively.

Although many of last year's best Nasdaq stocks have continued their winning ways, it has been harder to find promising prospects off the beaten path. So we decided to suss out some names that Wall Street analysts identify as being the best Nasdaq stocks.

To that end, we used S&P Global Market Intelligence to screen the Nasdaq Composite for stocks with the highest-conviction Strong Buy recommendations on the Street.

Here's how it works: S&P Global Market Intelligence surveys analysts' stock ratings and scores them on a five-point scale, where 1.0 equals Strong Buy and 5.0 means Strong Sell. Any score of 2.5 or lower means that analysts, on average, rate the stock a Buy. The closer the score gets to 1.0, the stronger the Strong Buy call.

We limited ourselves to stocks with at least 10 Strong Buy recommendations. Then we dove into analysts' research, fundamental factors and analysts' estimates.

The result? This list of 11 Nasdaq stocks with Strong Buy consensus recommendations. True, it's only a beginning, but this isn't a bad place to start when looking for the best Nasdaq stocks to buy during this tough time for the index.

Share prices are as of May 12. Data and analysts' recommendations are courtesy of S&P Global Market Intelligence, unless otherwise noted. Stocks are listed by strength of analysts' consensus recommendation, from weakest to strongest.

• Market value: $10.5 billion
• Analysts' ratings: 13 Strong Buy, 3 Buy, 2, Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
• Analysts' average recommendation: 1.39

Gaming and Leisure Properties (GLPI, $44.30) is the lone real estate investment trust (REIT) represented among the best Nasdaq stocks. And it's a favorite in the casino real estate industry thanks to both a snazzy dividend yield and attractive growth prospects coming out of the pandemic.

The company, whose properties include the Belle of Baton Rouge and Argosy Casino Riverside in Missouri, collected 100% of its rents in 2020, says UBS Global Research analyst Robin Farley, who is one of just two analysts with a Hold-equivalent rating on Gaming and Leisure Properties.

Stifel's Simon Yarmak is among the more crowded GLPI bull camp, citing "an attractive portfolio of regional assets, which has returned to strong operating performance."

Perhaps most optimistic of all is Raymond James analyst RJ Milligan, whose Strong Buy call and $52 price target (17% upside) is based partly on the stock "trading at an unwarranted discount."

"With zero exposure to the Las Vegas Strip, GLPI's assets have seen a stronger recovery than the other gaming REITs," Milligan says in a client note.

Lastly, Mizuho Securities initiated coverage of Gaming and Leisure Properties at Buy in late March, citing its unique attributes in an industry set to benefit from a recovery in consumer spending and gaming revenue.

"GLPI is the most diversified of the three Gaming REITs, with strong underlying tenant credit and structural lease enhancements, resulting in a lower-risk platform that we believe is under-appreciated by the market," writes Mizuho analyst Haendel St. Juste.

An added bonus for income investors: GLPI's dividend yield of 5.9% towers over that of the Nasdaq Composite, which offers a comparatively puny 0.5%.

• Market value: $1.8 trillion
• Analysts' ratings: 25 Strong Buy, 10 Buy, 2, Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
• Analysts' average recommendation: 1.38

Microsoft (MSFT, $239.00) might be second only to Apple when it comes to market value, but it beats the iPhone maker handily when it comes to analysts' ardor.

What gives MSFT the edge over Apple (Buy) when it comes to the Street's sentiment is its overwhelming success in cloud services.

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives says Microsoft's most recent quarterly results were "another cloud masterpiece as MSFT is continuing to see massive cloud momentum that is still in the early days of playing out." Ives rates shares at Outperform (equivalent of Buy).

CFRA Research analyst John Freeman (Strong Buy) adds that investors shouldn't lose sight of the company's other growth areas. For example, the launch of the Xbox Series X gaming console drove 51% year-over-year growth in Xbox content and services revenue in the final calendar quarter of 2020.

However, the bottom line is that MSFT's bottom line remains keyed to the cloud.

"Microsoft has refocused the company around Azure and Office 365, which we view as several large, multi-year secular growth engines," writes Stifel analyst Brad Reback (Buy).

And let's not forget MSFT's suitability for income investors. This component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average offers a modest dividend yield of 0.9%, but it has been improving its payout at a robust clip of nearly 9% compounded annually over the past five years.

On the downside, few Nasdaq stocks look cheap these days, and MSFT is no exception. Shares trade at almost 30 times 2022 estimated earnings, per S&P Global Market Intelligence. That might be a bit rich given analysts' average annual EPS growth forecast of 15.6% over the next three to five years.

• Market value: $13.7 billion
• Analysts' ratings: 13 Strong Buy, 5 Buy, 1, Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
• Analysts' average recommendation: 1.37

Shares in Wix.com (WIX, $239.68) tumbled sharply following its May 11 earnings report despite posting a narrower-than-expected loss, as investors were rattled by some mixed full-year guidance.

But the market's reaction didn't push analysts away from their bullish outlook on the stock. Wix.com, which operates a cloud-based platform that enables users to create websites with integrated payments and other applications, is simply too well-positioned for the post-pandemic era, they say.

"We see heightened business investment in online presence post the pandemic as likely to persist for multiple years as consumer habits continue to shift online, and believe this is further supported by continued strength in new business creation, which we believe will have increasingly greater focus on online presence and ecommerce," writes Wedbush analyst Ygal Arounian (Outperform).

Keybanc analysts, for their part, maintained their Overweight (Buy) rating on WIX following its first-quarter earnings release.

As part of the company's focus on new business creation, Wix in early March announced the acquisition of SpeedETab, an ordering and payment technology provider for restaurants. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"The SpeedETab acquisition was a logical addition to the company's expanding presence in commerce (both online and offline) and specifically restaurants," writes William Blair analyst Matthew Pfau (Outperform). "The improvement to its Wix Restaurants solution appears timely considering the likelihood of reopenings over the coming months as we approach the end of the pandemic."

The post-earnings rout leaves shares with high implied upside. Indeed, analysts' average target of $352.11 gives WIX implied upside of 47% over the next 12 months or so, easily putting it among the best Nasdaq stocks in the pros' eyes.

• Market value: $2.1 billion
• Analysts' ratings: 11 Strong Buy, 2 Buy, 0, Hold, 1 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
• Analysts' average recommendation: 1.36

Analysts are amped that Axsome Therapeutics (AXSM, $57.01), a small-cap biotechnology company, looks about set to hit the market with a promising new drug.

Axsome's product pipeline includes therapies in various stages of development to treat migraine, Alzheimer's disease agitation and narcolepsy, among other illnesses. But it's the company's progress with a treatment for major depressive disorder that has the Street in love with this stock.

The Food and Drug Administration in April accepted the company's new drug application for AXS-05 with priority review. Analysts are optimistic that the highly promising therapy could be given the green light for sale and marketing before too long.

"We remain bullish on the potential for AXS-05 to be a disruptive option in a massive market with a significant unmet need," writes William Blair analyst Myles Minter. "We reiterate our Outperform rating on Axsome with the potential for the company to transition to a commercial entity by year end."

Not everyone is quite so optimistic, however. Bank of America Global Securities rates shares at Underperform (the Street's lone Sell call), saying AXSM's second-half introductions of drugs for depression and migraine are likely to disappoint.

"Both launch opportunities are in markets where AXSM's drugs are undifferentiated vs. other branded drugs," writes BofA analyst Ashwani Verma. "Moreover, competitors have dedicated significant resources on commercialization."

Even with that dissent, the Street's average target price of $143.43 gives the stock implied upside of more than 150% in the next 12 months or so, which makes it the best Nasdaq stock on this list in that respect.

• Market value: $4.0 billion
• Analysts' ratings: 11 Strong Buy, 3 Buy, 1, Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
• Analysts' average recommendation: 1.33

Energy stocks aren't well-represented among the best Nasdaq stocks, even though they're some of Wall Street's favorite recovery plays. And few of them boast a higher rating from analysts than PDC Energy (PDCE, $40.27).

Analysts like the independent oil & gas exploration and production company's base of assets. Moreover, they love its ability to punch well above its weight in generating levered free cash flow (FCF) – the cash left over after capital investments, dividend payments and payments to creditors.

"In our view, PDCE offers investors a compelling asset mix between the Delaware Basin and Niobrara Shale in the DJ Basin with a resilient asset base and a top-tier balance sheet," writes Stifel analyst Michael Scialla, who rates the stock at Buy.

Goldman Sachs analyst Neil Mehta recommended that clients buy PDCE during the March pullback thanks to his expectation that the firm will produce $1.1 billion in FCF over the next two years. Note that $1.1 billion in FCF would represent about a quarter of PDCE's entire market value.

Lastly, the Street applauds the company's debt-reduction efforts and its intention to return $120 million in cash to shareholders through a stock repurchase plan and a new dividend program set to launch later this year.

As for valuation, shares still look attractive even after doubling so far in 2021. PDCE trades at just 8.2 times estimated earnings for 2022, while analysts project average annual EPS growth of 7% over the next three to five years.

The Street's average target price of $48.19 gives PDCE implied upside of roughly 20% over the next year or so.

• Market value: $111.5 billion
• Analysts' ratings: 28 Strong Buy, 8 Buy, 2, Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
• Analysts' average recommendation: 1.32

JD.com (JD, $71.25), the Chinese e-commerce giant, is pouring money back into building the business. However, some analysts remain on the sidelines over regulatory risk and a lack of cash being returned to shareholders.

"We expect JD to continue reinvesting its free cash flow into the business and project no dividends over our forecast period," writes CFRA Research analyst Aaron Ho. "We reiterate our Hold opinion on JD following China's recent proposal of new e-commerce antitrust law."

Ho, however, is in the minority on the Street, where the great majority of analysts are bullish on JD, thanks in part to its outsized growth prospects.

"JD operates in a large and growing market with controlled logistics and an initial first-party model that has grown into a first-party/third-party hybrid," writes Stifel analyst Scott Devitt (Buy). "The China e-commerce market exceeds $1 trillion in sales with online penetration of above 20%, and we believe JD is well-positioned to continue to participate in China consumer and retail expansion for years to come."

Indeed, thanks to that massive market opportunity, analysts expect JD to generate average annual EPS growth of 31% over the next three to five years.

Like many of the best Nasdaq stocks on this list, JD doens't necessarily look cheap. But Wall Street likes the valuation. That's because, after falling 19% for the year-to-date, JD stock trades at less than 28 times analysts' estimated earnings for 2022 – arguably quite the bargain in light of that long-term EPS growth forecast.

Analysts' average price target of $108.36 gives JD stock implied upside of more than 50% in the next 12 months or so.

• Market value: $1.5 trillion
• Analysts' ratings: 32 Strong Buy, 12 Buy, 1, Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
• Analysts' average recommendation: 1.31

It's no secret that the Street adores Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL, $2,200.25) and has been intensely bullish for a while. Indeed, analysts' consensus recommendation hasn't fallen below Strong Buy for well more than a year.

And, heck, what's not to like? The company, with a market value of roughly $1.5 trillion, is forecast to generate average annual EPS growth of almost 20% over the next three to five years. That's heady stuff for a company this large.

But as Argus Research points out, Alphabet's immense earnings power is a natural consequence of its basic business model.

"We see Alphabet as one of the tech industry's leaders, along with Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft," writes Argus Research analyst Joseph Bonner (Buy). "These companies have come to dominate new developments in mobile, public cloud, and big data analytics, as well as emerging areas such as artificial intelligence and virtual/augmented reality."

As attractive as GOOGL remains for the longer term, it has been more than holding up its own end in the short term too. The stock is up about 25% for the year-to-date, vs. a gain of about 1% for the Nasdaq. Some analysts would attribute that resilience in part to shares looking like a bargain compared to many Nasdaq stocks – and even the broader market.

"We continue to favor Google as a core large-cap growth holding given the strong digital advertising backdrop, continued strength from Cloud, ongoing share repurchases (with the newly authorized $50 billion program) and a reasonable valuation," writes Canaccord Genuity analyst Maria Ripps (Buy).

With shares trading at 24 times estimated earnings for 2022, you could even say they're cheap.

GOOGL's price/earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio – which measures how expensive a stock is relative to its growth prospects – stands at 1.2. That represents a 25% discount to the S&P 500, per Refinitiv Stock Reports Plus.

• Market value: $2.1 billion
• Analysts' ratings: 11 Strong Buy, 4 Buy, 0, Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
• Analysts' average recommendation: 1.27

Health Catalyst (HCAT, $48.16) provides a cloud-based data platform, analytics software and professional services for hospitals and other healthcare organizations. The idea is that a partnership with this software-as-a-service (SaaS) company can help healthcare providers improve patient outcomes.

Canaccord Genuity has HCAT as one of its top healthcare IT stocks for 2021. Shares might look pricey compared with those of its sector peers, but Canaccord says they're worth it.

"We believe a premium valuation is justified for Health Catalyst as it provides 'next generation' analytics to customers," says Canaccord (Buy). "Furthermore, we are expecting HCAT to generate revenue growth of 22% and 21% in 2021 and 2022, respectively, while its peer group is expected to generate average revenue growth of 9% in each of those years, or less than half of HCAT's estimated growth rate."

Stifel chimes in with a Buy rating of its own.

"Our thesis reflects HCAT's market leadership in the Healthcare Analytics market," writes analyst David Grossman. "We expect HCAT to maintain 20%-plus organic growth through a combination of new clients and contractual price escalators."

And at Raymond James, analyst John Ransom (Strong Buy) expects business to accelerate in the coming months as the COVID-19 crisis gradually abates.

"We continue to expect to see rising demand for the Health Catalyst suite of solutions going forward, particularly given the resurgence of both payor and provider focus on value-based care, which the company's data and analytics play directly into," Ransom says.

• Market value: $10.0 billion
• Analysts' ratings: 10 Strong Buy, 3 Buy, 0, Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
• Analysts' average recommendation: 1.23

It's no secret the housing market is red-hot right now, and that has analysts feeling extremely confident in the outlook for Builders FirstSource (BLDR, $46.64).

The company, which manufactures and supplies building materials, manufactured components and construction services to professional homebuilders, has built itself up through small acquisitions over the years. That's paying off now amid a nationwide shortage of new homes.

Most recently, the company acquired John's Lumber, a family-owned supplier of lumber and other building materials, to boost its presence in Michigan. John's generated almost $50 million in revenue over the past 12 months, BLDR said. Other terms of the deal were not disclosed.

It's a good time to be bulking up, analysts say, given the tremendous economic tailwinds at the company's back.

"Two macroeconomic trends are driving historical financial performance, including: 1.) significant demand for new home construction; and 2.) historically high lumber commodity prices," writes B. Riley Securities analyst Alex Rygiel (Buy).

"We anticipate new home construction activity to remain brisk for some time, however, there is increasing risk that we are nearing the peak in lumber commodity prices," Rygiel adds. "With that said, we continue to believe BLDR can deliver superior financial performance in 2021 and 2022 even at lower lumber prices, and its valuation remains attractive."

Analysts have had a consensus Strong Buy recommendation on the stock for more than nine months now, and it has been paying off. BLDR is up more than 40% over the past six months, and 17% for the year-to-date.

The Street expects BLDR to be one of the best Nasdaq stocks to buy in the year ahead. Analysts' average target price of $66.58 gives BLDR implied upside of more than 40% in the next year or so.

• Market value: $1.6 trillion
• Analysts' ratings: 36 Strong Buy, 11 Buy, 0, Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
• Analysts' average recommendation: 1.23

Amazon.com (AMZN, $3,151.94) lags behind only Apple and Microsoft on the list of largest U.S. companies by market value, but it's ahead of both in the pros' eyes.

Its average recommendation score of 1.23 hinges on a whopping 36 Strong Buy ratings. By comparison, AAPL gets 23 Strong Buy calls, while MSFT – as noted above – claims 25.

And is it any wonder? We're talking about a company with a market capitalization of $1.6 trillion that analysts expect to deliver average annual EPS growth of almost 35% over the next three to five years.

So much for the law of large numbers.

AMZN was a juggernaut even before COVID-19 swept the globe and upended so much of what we thought we knew about the future of e-commerce. Now, more than a year into the pandemic, it's clear the company has only grown stronger.

"Amazon is one of the primary beneficiaries of COVID given accelerated e-commerce sales growth and Prime membership adoption, as well as the digital transformation that will accelerate cloud services adoption," writes Stifel analyst Scott Devitt (Buy) in a note to clients.

Devitt also reminds clients that the pandemic sparked online purchases of grocery and consumables – categories Amazon struggled to penetrate for years – which should support its next leg of retail growth.

And let's not forget the company's leadership in cloud services. With e-commerce, cloud and an emerging high-margin marketing business, Amazon "remains well positioned in a recovery scenario given cloud services, marketing services and certain e-commerce categories/geographies are still in the early phases of development," the analyst writes.

With an average price target of $4,238.46, analysts give AMZN stock implied upside of around 35% in the next 12 months or so. With shares off about 3% so far in 2021, you can practically hear the Street shouting, "Buy the dip!"

• Market value: $2.6 billion
• Analysts' ratings: 10 Strong Buy, 2 Buy, 0, Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
• Analysts' average recommendation: 1.17

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (RCKT, $41.61) is another small biotech with promising drugs under development, and it currently tops this list of the best Nasdaq stocks. It's ultra-low score of 1.17 indicates a strong Strong Buy.

However, as with all such stocks in its space, caution is warranted. Names like RCKT tend to be a bit speculative, after all.

Regardless, analysts are plenty bullish on the name, which focuses on developing gene therapies for rare and devastating pediatric diseases.

The Street's Strong Buy rating remained in place even after the company recently received some less-than-great news. In early May, Rocket Pharma disclosed that the FDA put a clinical hold on trials for the development of its RP-A501 drug to treat Danon disease: a rare genetic condition characterized by weakening of the heart muscle.

"The clinical hold on RP-A501 (Danon disease) is less-than-ideal but not thesis-changing for us," writes Stifel analyst Dae Gon Ha (Buy). "Management anticipates enrollment delay of one quarter."

The bigger picture, Ha says, is that RCKT's "promising early data keeps us optimistic of future updates and the odds of regulatory approval."

At William Blair equity research, analyst Raju Prasad (Outperform) cites the company's "sound strategic approach" to the use of its platform, as well as favorable early data.

Note well that Rocket Pharma isn't forecast to be profitable until 2024. Additionally, although it has a very high-conviction average recommendation of Strong Buy, only 12 analysts cover the stock.

As we said, these sorts of stocks tend to be speculative bets, and that means they also tend to be volatile. Shares more than doubled over the past 52 weeks, and yet are also off nearly 25% for the year-to-date.

Analysts' average target price of $70.91 gives RCKT implied upside of around 70% over the next year or so. That could very well come to pass. Just make sure this name is a solid fit for your own personal risk profile before pulling the trigger.

2020 was a tough year by any measure. But if anyone looked back on last year with fondness, it likely would've been investors in the so-called FAANG stocks.

COVID-19 kicked off a stock market crash, forced much of the economy to pivot to a work-from-home model, triggered a recession and record unemployment, and set off a chain of corporate bankruptcies.

However, the various difficulties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic actually played right into the hands of the FAANGs – Facebook, Amazon.com, Apple, Netflix and Google parent Alphabet. These five stocks averaged a 58.0% total return (price plus dividends) in 2020, compared to an 18.4% return for the S&P 500, and largely helped power a 44.9% return for the Nasdaq Composite.

But we're well into 2021 now, and several clouds have begun to amass above the FAANG stocks. In addition to individual problems unique to each company, governmental regulation and taxation are a growing potential headwind to them all.

"The digital economy is growing two-and-a-half times faster than global GDP and unsurprisingly, governments want their cut," says Daniel Eye, head of asset allocation and equity research at Fort Pitt Capital Group. "'If you can't beat 'em, tax 'em,' is the mantra being adopted by many foreign politicians. Governments across Europe, Asia and Canada are either enacting or proposing digital services taxes on U.S. technology companies."

Read on as we look at some of the latest challenges facing the FAANG stocks, as well as what (if anything) each is doing about it. Most analysts remain largely bullish on each of these stocks despite these issues; still, investors are typically served well by fully understanding any headwinds that their holdings face.

Data is as of April 4.

• Market value: $848.8 billion
• 2020 total return: 33.1%

Facebook (FB, $298.66) is like many of the FAANG stocks in that it has been in the crosshairs of U.S. regulators for years.

Primarily, Facebook been the focus of investigations over privacy and what the company does with its users' data. In fact, it started off 2021 by agreeing to pay $650 million to settle a 2015 lawsuit over the alleged unauthorized creation of images gathered from its facial recognition technology.

Much more recently, the personal data of more than 500 million Facebook users was posted online. This information, gained in a 2019 hack, previously was made available to hackers, but the new posting makes it much easier to use.

The specter of antitrust actions always looms over Facebook's head, too. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's campaign included vows to break up big tech, with Facebook (and its Instagram and WhatsApp subsidiaries) among the top targets. Warren lost her presidential bid, of course, but her party won the White House and controls both chambers of Congress. This issue won't disappear anytime soon.

"Facebook always seems to face regulatory risk, and with the recent political regime change, those risks could be elevated in 2021; especially if those regulations limit the application and collection of user and usage data," says Chris Osmond, CFP, CIO at Prime Capital Investment Advisors. "Additionally, should stricter antitrust rules emerge, Facebook could experience acquisition restrictions. Facebook's user data utilization falls under even more scrutiny."

If that's not enough to make Facebook investors a little tense, there's also the continuing problem of millennials and younger users abandoning the platform for "cooler" social media hangouts like TikTok. Then there's the move by Apple to restrict access to user data on iOS – a move that will hit Facebook ad revenue on the platform.

Facebook is playing a fierce game of problem whack-a-mole in response.

Late last year, the company launched Instagram Reels, a short video sharing feature designed to compete against TikTok. It also took out full-page ads and launched a website decrying Apple's latest actions.

However, FB's primary strategy in terms of regulatory challenges has been to play defense. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made appearances before various committees to defend the company's actions. He also has made frequent announcements about changes to Facebook services in reaction to events – for instance, earlier this year, Facebook stopped recommending political groups in users' News Feeds.

• Market value: $1.6 trillion
• 2020 total return: 76.3%

The pandemic was a disaster for many companies, but some seemed purposefully designed to thrive in the conditions. Largely speaking, and even among the FAANG stocks, few were in a better position to profit from it than Amazon.com (AMZN, $3,161.00).

Stores shut down and people in lockdown? No problem. Amazon was there to pick up the slack with a massive online shopping presence, backed by an extensive distribution and delivery network. Business was up so much that Amazon went on one of the country's biggest hiring sprees. With bored consumers turning to streaming video and online gaming for entertainment and remote workers using Zoom (ZOOM) and other video chat for meetings, Amazon Web Services (AWS) – the world's largest cloud computing provider – was there to provide the extra bandwidth.

But it'll be difficult for AMZN to repeat its monster 2020 return.

There's the question of what happens to Amazon's e-commerce sales as the vaccine rollout continues and people begin to visit more brick-and-mortar locations. Prime Capital's Chris Osmond acknowledges this might have an impact on Amazon's sales, but sees it as a short-term concern:

"It's not unfathomable to envision consumers wanting to flock back to brick-and-mortar retail stores once restrictions are lifted," he says. "However, that could very well be more of a transitory trend; only placing relatively short-term pressure on AMZN."

But Amazon also continues to face antitrust investigations in the European Union, where AMZN is accused of unfairly competing against third-party marketplace sellers on its platform. It also faced a domestic antitrust investigation centered around its AWS platform in 2019. (Amazon Web Services generates the lion's share of Amazon's operating profit, so anything threatening this service is worth watching.)

Amazon's response to antitrust challenges has primarily been to deny and defend against accusations. But soon, it will be doing so with a new voice. Company founder and CEO Jeff Bezos will step down in the third quarter, with longtime AWS leader Andy Jassy taking over as CEO.

• Market value: $2.1 trillion
• 2020 total return: 82.3%

Apple (AAPL, $123.00) took the crown among FAANG stocks in 2020 with an impressive 82%-plus total return.

It too faces a few hills in 2021.

We'll start with Apple's fight against Epic Games over Apple's cut of Fortnite revenue, which led to Apple blocking the popular game and any updates to installed iOS versions through the App Store in 2020. A court battle with Epic over App Store fees is expected to go to trial in May. A potential Department of Justice probe also looms. A loss here could have far-reaching consequences for Apple's lucrative App Store revenue.

The DoJ also is investigating the company's "Sign in With Apple" button on iOS and macOS. Specifically, it's looking into concerns that this button discriminates against other phone makers.

Apple also continues to face lawsuits from consumer associations in several European countries over the "planned obsolescence" issue that saw the company throttle performance on older iPhones. And as mentioned before, Facebook is going after Apple for planned changes to iOS that would make it more difficult to track users across apps.

What has the company been doing to defend against these threats?

In November, Apple tried to reduce the App Store pressure by announcing it would halve its cut for apps and services with less than $1 million in sales to 15%. Apple also is doubling down on privacy, making it a key selling point of iOS 14, which will be released in the fall. Indeed, Apple CEO Tim Cook has been on the offensive, trash-talking Facebook's business model. Speaking at a January conference, Cook didn't name Facebook specifically, but his target was clear:

"If a business is built on misleading users, on data exploitation, on choices that are no choices at all, it does not deserve our praise. It deserves reform."

While you can expect Apple's legal team to be spending a lot of time in the courts – in both the U.S. and Europe – in 2021, not all of Apple's issues are legal in nature.

One that particularly stands out is the FAANG stock's foray into streaming with Apple TV+, which has so far failed to get the subscriber count Apple was hoping for.

In January, Apple announced that free trials of Apple TV+ would be extended until July 2021 and paying customers would be credited for their payment from February through July. The company is hoping the free access and a continued investment in original content will eventually get users hooked and convince them to start paying.

Want to learn more about what will drive Apple stock in 2021? Be sure to check out our feature.

• Market value: $238.9 billion
• 2020 total return: 67.1%

Like Amazon, Netflix (NFLX, $539.42) found itself to have a perfect business model for a pandemic. A demand for at-home entertainment resulted in an unexpected subscriber boost; in the first six months of 2020, that amounted to an additional 25 million new subscribers.

However, Netflix finds itself in challenging times.

After the stellar start to 2020, subscriber additions fell to four-year lows in Q3 2020. During the fourth quarter, Netflix added 8.5 million subscribers – better than analysts expected, but a 3% decline in additions from the year-ago quarter.

Pandemic lockdowns easing will be problematic, but more so just given the glut of competition that has entered the fray over the past couple years. Name a media company, and it probably has its own video streaming service now. The most notable addition of late was Walt Disney's (DIS) November 2019 launch of Disney+. At the time, Disney aimed to reach 60 million to 90 million subscribers by 2024. Several weeks ago, the company announced that Disney+ was already at 94.9 million.

The dramatic increase in competition means media companies like Disney have been pulling content from Netflix to become exclusives on their own services. Chris Osmond points out the dual effect of the fading pandemic and increased competition.

"In an attempt to retain and capture new subscribers, NFLX is spending billions of dollars on original content creation," he says. "Unknown is the impact on NFLX earnings in 2021, particularly in the second half of the year when the strict COVID mandates are expected to ease.

"So much is unknown surrounding consumer behavior once restrictions are lifted, and should consumers spend their time and dollars outside of the home, NFLX could experience shrinking margins. With the global rollout of Disney+ and launches of Peacock and HBO Max, NFLX also faces significant increased competition for subscriber dollars."

Netflix also faces tax issues abroad, says Pitt Capital's Daniel Eye. For example, the government of Canada is expected to begin charging either the Goods and Services Tax (GST, 5%) or Harmonized Sales Tax (HST, 13% to 15%) for Netflix. Either way, this means additional cost to Netflix (even if it collects the tax from customers instead of absorbing it).

Here, NFLX doesn't have many other answers other than raising prices (which it did in December) and continuing to spend big on original content.

• Market value: $1.4 trillion
• 2020 total return: 31.0%

Finally, it's time to look at Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL, $2,129.78). Of the FAANG stocks, Google delivered the smallest return in 2020.

But it has had the most success in 2021, up 22% versus single-digit gains and even losses for the rest of the FAANGs.

Alphabet has had a few technological challenges of late. For instance, while its Pixel smartphones quickly gained a reputation for their high-quality cameras shortly after 2016 launch, the phones have failed to sell in any great number, and competitors like Apple's iPhone have closed the camera app. Google switched from flagship to mid-range models, and now Pixel smartphones receive more red marks for their quality and lack of horsepower.

The Pixel 6 is expected this October. What's not known is whether Google will go even further downmarket and cut prices in an attempt to sell more units, or go back to trying to out-innovate Apple.

And while the company's streaming game service, Stadia, should have had a shining moment in 2020, it didn't. Stadia, which launched in November 2019, promised a high-end PC gaming experience on virtually any connected device, with Google's servers doing all the heavy processing. And yet 15 months later, on Feb. 1, Google announced it was shutting down its in-house Stadia game development studio, casting doubt on its commitment to Stadia and the game streaming service's future. Now, 2021 is shaping up to be a make-or-break year for the service.

But without a doubt, Google's single largest hurdle to overcome in 2021 will be ongoing antitrust investigations around its dominance of internet search.

In 2019, Google's use of search to promote paid advertising earned it $9.2 billion in fines from the EU for violating antitrust regulations. Similar investigations have been ongoing in Google's home territory. In the latest development, a bipartisan group of 38 state attorneys-general launched an antitrust suit in December. This was the third such suit filed against Google in a year.

The company's response has been blog posts defending its operation, aimed at consumers. In response to the December suit, Google's director of public policy wrote:

"To get more specifically to the issues raised in today's lawsuit: it suggests we shouldn't have worked to make Search better and that we should, in fact, be less useful to you."

Ultimately, the courts will decide Google's fate. Expect Google's legal team to be busy in 2021.

Income investors may be forgiven if they're still shell shocked a year after they suffered a tsunami of dividend cuts, suspensions and cancellations the likes of which the market has rarely seen.

In 2020, investors could hardly keep up with the daily drumbeat of bad dividend news. Even immense blue-chips like Walt Disney (DIS), a stalwart dividend payer and component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, were turning off the spigots that return cash to shareholders. Heck, Disney's dividend remains suspended to this day.

Happily, the flood of dividend cuts and cancellations we saw last year has slowed to barely a trickle in 2021. But that doesn't mean the wider stock market has been totally kind to income investors' wallets. A look beyond the S&P 500 reveals that we're not completely safe from bad news as far as dividend cuts are concerned.

Perhaps just as important, although some companies have since reinstated their dividends after suspending them for a time, the reinstated payouts are far less than what income investors had come to expect.

To get a sense of where income investors remain at peril, we screened the Russell 3000 for key recent dividend cuts, suspensions and cancellations. Have a look at the three most notable dividend decreases of the past three months.

Share prices and other data are as of June 30, unless otherwise noted. Dividend yields are calculated by annualizing the most recent payment and dividing by the share price.

• Market value: $205.5 billion
• Action: Dividend decrease
• Annual dividend prior to change: $2.08 per share*

Big changes are coming to AT&T (T, $28.78) in 2022.

On May 17, the telecom giant announced that it was spinning off WarnerMedia – which it acquired in June 2018 for $85 billion – and merging it with Discovery Communications (DISCA), the company behind cable networks such as HGTV, Animal Planet, and the Food Network.

Together with HBO, CNN, TBS, the Warner Bros. movie studio and other media properties, the combined entity will have the scale necessary to compete with Netflix (NFLX), Disney (DIS) and the rest of the entertainment industry's behemoths.

AT&T will receive $43 billion in cash, debt securities and the assumption of some of WarnerMedia's debt by Warner Bros. Discovery, the new name of the combined entity. AT&T and its shareholders will own 71% of Warner Bros. Discovery.

However, dividend investors won't be getting the same payout they've become accustomed to once the combination is completed in mid-2022.

According to AT&T CFO Pascal Desroches' June 15 update to shareholders, the company will pay out between $8 billion to $9 billion annually for dividends. That's approximately 40-43% of the $20 billion or more in free cash flow it expects to generate once WarnerMedia's been spun off.

In the first quarter ended March 31, AT&T paid out $3.83 billion in dividends. That's $15.32 billion on an annualized basis. Based on the midpoint of the company's dividend payout guidance post-closing, AT&T will reduce its dividend by 45% to an estimated $1.19 per share.

The cut won't take place until the transaction is completed. The good news is that it plans to invest the savings in 5G and its fiber network, increasing its annual capital investment to $24 billion.

Analysts are mixed about the move.

"Everybody recognizes that [AT&T] is a lumbering old giant with slower growth prospects and a lot of debt. So, I think they've done this transaction in an attempt to change the perception of the company to something with some more growth characteristics," Baskin Wealth Management president David Baskin told the Cantech Letter in early June.

* The cut has not occurred yet. This is based on an AT&T projection.

• Market value: $5.0 billion
• Action: Dividend decrease
• Annual dividend prior to change: $1.23 per share

Antero Midstream (AM, $10.39) gave investors a jolt in mid-February when it slashed its dividend 27% in order to allocate more capital to infrastructure investments.

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The operator of pipelines and storage facilities for natural gas, liquid natural gas, and water handling and treatment, slashed its annual payout to 90 cents a share from $1.23 a share.

The move allows AM to boost capital expenditures by about $65 million, notes Raymond James analyst J.R. Weston, who rates the stock at Market Perform (the equivalent of Hold).

"While we've previously cautioned of the AM financial model attempting to 'thread the needle,' and the stock has persistently traded with a double digit dividend yield, we still expect the dividend cut will surprise some investors," Weston said in a note to clients.

UBS analyst Shneur Gershuni, who rates the stock at Neutral (Hold), largely agrees with Weston's take on events.

"While AM's headline dividend cut supports future near term volume growth, lowers leverage and creates a fresh cash flow entity, the optics of cutting to raise capex was not well received by investors," Gershuni writes.

Shares in Antero Midstream plunged more than 12% after the Feb. 18 disclosure, which is typical after stocks announce dividend cuts. However, it managed to reclaim the lost ground in a matter of weeks. And even after a bout of recent weakness, AM is up more than 35% for the year-to-date through the end of June, beating the S&P 500 by more than 20 percentage points.

At 90 cents per share annually, AM's dividend yield based on the June 30 closing stock price comes to 8.7%.

Analysts' consensus recommendation on AM stock stands at Hold, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Their average annual earnings growth forecast stands at 3% over the next three to five years.

• Market value: $17.9 billion
• Action: Dividend decrease
• Annual dividend prior to change: $1.48 per share

Healthpeak Properties (PEAK, $33.29), a real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests in life sciences, medical offices and senior housing properties, cut its dividend in February by 19%.

The most recent quarterly dividend of 30 cents per share – down from a previous payout of 37 cents a share – will result in annual dividend savings of about $150 million. At a projected $1.20 a share annually, PEAK's dividend yield comes to 3.6% as of the end of June.

Analysts applaud the REIT's efforts to transform its portfolio by selling its more than $4 billion senior housing portfolio, but note that the asset sales are also a drag on near-term earnings.

Indeed, by one measure, PEAK would appear to have ample resources backing its dividend. After all, the company spent a total of $787.1 million on dividends in 2020 – up from $720.1 million the previous year – and still had $1.6 billion in free cash flow after paying interest on debt.

However, net income in 2020 came to just $413.6 million. When the bottom line has to catch up to the dividend amid a costly repositioning of the business, PEAK's financial prudence is understandable.

Besides, analysts say that reducing exposure to senior housing facilities is a critical strategic move.

"In the wake of the sharp increase in COVID cases in late 2020 into January 2021, we lower our outlook for senior housing given weaker occupancy trends and higher operating expenses," says Mizuho Securities analyst Omotayo Okusanya, who rates PEAL at Neutral (Hold). "Transforming its portfolio to majority life sciences and medical office buildings could result in positive re-rating from the investor community."

Analysts' average recommendation on PEAK comes to Buy. They forecast the company to deliver average annual earnings growth of 3.9% over the next three to five years, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

• Market value: $409.8 million
• Action: Dividend decrease
• Annual dividend prior to change: 24 cents per share

National CineMedia (NCMI, $5.07) isn't a movie chain, but it has been hammered by the pandemic in just the same way. The company displays advertising to movie-goers throughout the U.S., and with cinema attendance only just starting to trickle back after a long pandemic drought, revenue has been hurting.

NCMI reduced its quarterly payout to 5 cents a share from 7 cents a share as part of its fourth-quarter earnings release in early March, but analysts say investors shouldn't be alarmed by the move.

Wedbush's Michael Pachter, who rates NCMI at Neutral, says payout reduction was "out of an abundance of caution," as the company has more than enough cash available for dividends, income tax payments, and other fees.

Furthermore, the analyst is cautiously optimistic about the course of its business as theater chains gradually normalize operations.

"We think NCM will be well-positioned within the ad delivery ecosystem once attendance rebounds, but currently low theatrical attendance severely limits NCM’s ability to sell impressions even as advertisers are ready," writes Pachter in a note to clients. "As theatres reopen and the release slate schedule becomes more clear, we view NCM's position as increasingly positive."

At 5 cents a share per quarter, or 20 cents per share annually, the yield on NCMI's dividend came to 3.9% as of the end of June. Analysts' consensus recommendation stands at Hold, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Why would you hunt down the best stocks to buy now for a downturn when the markets are at all-time highs?

The current bull market – currently fueled by cheap money from the Federal Reserve, another stimulus plan and, most importantly, the hopes that some day in the nebulous future, we'll have COVID under control – is going to end. Every bull market does.

That's not why, however. That end, which would occur with a 20% decline from a market peak, could be a long time coming. The reason why is that even a mere correction, which is a decline of between 10% to 20%, would be enough to rack up sizable losses and shake investor confidence. And several market watchers see the potential for a correction in the coming months.

"Overall, we still believe U.S. equities in general remain vulnerable to a bigger correction than we have experienced thus far- and that this could materialize in Q1 or Q2 with upwards of a -10-15% repricing off the recent highs," says Dan Wantrobski, technical strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott.

"The message from market sentiment and positioning indicators is that equities are ripe for a correction," adds BCA Research.

Naturally, it's better to have an escape plan before you need it. So if at some point the "hopium" disappears, you'll want to be exposed to more defensive stocks – companies that sell vital goods and services, have reliable earnings and, where possible, pay dividends. Almost everything is overvalued now, but these kinds of stocks should hold their value better in a downturn than the rest of the market.

Read on as we discuss 11 of the best stocks to buy now if you want to add some protection against future turbulence. Three specific areas of the market stand out right now: digital infrastructure stocks, healthcare providers and consumer staples stocks – all areas of the market that will be in demand no matter what happens over the next few months.

Data is as of Feb. 4. Dividend yields are calculated by annualizing the most recent payout and dividing by the share price.

• Market value: $206.2 billion
• Dividend yield: 7.2%
• Industry: Telecommunications

AT&T (T, $28.89) admittedly made some of the worst business mistakes of the last decade, buying both DirecTV and Time Warner. The idea was to get more from its Internet services by adding content to them, but so far, that hasn't worked out quite as planned.

Veteran AT&T executive John Stankey became CEO in July 2020. He replaced Randall Stephenson, who made those bad decisions. His first move was to consolidate the company's entertainment assets around HBO Max, a streaming service that competes with Netflix (NFLX). This meant, among other things, releasing theatrical movies online at the same time they go into theaters.car It's a risk – more people might sign up for HBO Max in the short-term, but top producers, directors and stars might be less willing to sign with AT&T's Warner studio longer-term.

The good news? Demand for 5G wireless service should bail out AT&T to some extent and help it maintain its phenomenal dividend – a hallmark of many defensive stocks.

AT&T currently boasts the fastest 5G network and was a major bidder in the recent auction of new spectrum. This could mean even more debt – AT&T reportedly was seeking another $14 billion in debt on top of the $179 billion in IOUs it carried at the end of 2020, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. Still, 5G is essential to the Machine Internet, thus essential to economic growth, and thus essential to AT&T's growth.

Marc Lichtenfeld, chief income strategist at The Oxford Club, insists AT&T has enough cash flow to not only afford its dividend, but keep increasing it and maintain its status among the Dividend Aristocrats. AT&T's high payout is among the top reasons to consider T among the best stocks to buy now for a smoother ride in a downturn.

"Its entertainment business should rebound as the economy recovers and HBO Max is off to a strong start," Lichtenfeld adds.

Sam Hendel, president of Levin Easterly Partners, a New York-based asset manager, says the wireless business was very stable during the pandemic and will continue to generate cash. He also expects Warner Media to recover as the pandemic eases. "The stock at 8 times free cash flow has limited downside," he says.

Robert R. Johnson, a professor of finance at Creighton University's Heider College of Business, adds that AT&T is "attractively priced" at less than 10 times next year's earnings.

• Market value: $228.6 billion
• Dividend yield: 4.6%
• Industry: Telecommunications

Verizon (VZ, $55.14) didn't spend as heavily on content assets as AT&T over the past decade, and thus, its stock wasn't hit as hard by their failure to perform. Most of the value in the former America Online and Yahoo, combined as Verizon Media, was written off in late 2018.

What's left is a purer play in telecommunications than AT&T, with wireless and its FiOS cable unit at its center. Like AT&T, Verizon was a big bidder during the recent frequency auction. Its debt load is a little lighter, too, at $150 billion. VZ has focused on network management and has cut its costs by $10 billion per year, using technology and buying out some executives' contracts.

Jeff Bilsky, co-portfolio manager at Chartwell Investment Partners in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, calls Verizon's wireless services a staple of modern life. "Verizon should be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the 5G craze, he says. "As customers consume more data, both revenue and margins should improve."

"Verizon's laser focus on going all-in on 5G positions it as a strong investment opportunity with a strong yield," says Daniel Milan, managing partner of Cornerstone Financial Services in Southfield, Michigan. He is very bullish on 5G, which uses spectrum from the low frequencies of broadcasters to the highest ones of satellites. "Not making big bets on media has allowed Verizon to invest billions in the network."

Yale Bock, founder of YH&C Investments in Las Vegas, agrees that "consumers will keep paying" for wireless service, giving Verizon a sound revenue base. That stability makes VZ one of the best stocks to buy now to take a defensive stance.

• Market value: $159.0 billion
• Dividend yield: N/A
• Industry: Telecommunications

T-Mobile US (TMUS, $130.60) completed its acquisition of Sprint in April 2020. The all-stock transaction put the merged entity in good position entering the recent auction of new 5G spectrum, as it already has most of what it needs on that front.

T-Mobile is now busy buying equipment to build out its assets, and has already signed to spend $2.1 billion advertising 5G service through Initiative, part of Interpublic Group (IPG).

In May 2020, Mike Sievert replaced CEO John Legere, whose long hair and T-shirts defined the company's advertising for nearly a decade. Sievert has spent most of his career in marketing, including a stint at AT&T. He was hired as chief marketing officer by Legere in 2012.

Chartwell's Bilsky says that despite past outperformance relative to its rivals, T-Mobile still might have the best upside, even in a downturn. "T-Mobile now has the potential to steal significant market share," he says, and investors might be underestimating that.

Ryan Johnson, director of Portfolio Management & Research at Buckingham Advisors, a wealth advisor in Dayton, Ohio, believes T-Mobile has an edge in 5G that could last a year or more. He also thinks there are more cost savings to come from the Sprint merger.

"Earnings per share may triple from 2021 to 2024," he adds.

• Market value: $100.8 billion
• Dividend yield: 0.4%
• Industry: Industrial conglomerate

General Electric (GE, $11.45) is one of the "fallen angels" of the last decade. The mistakes made by former CEO Jeff Immelt, like buying Alstom's energy business in 2015, and hiding the damage from shareholders, are now legend.

Saving the company from bankruptcy was a close-run thing. But Larry Culp – recruited from the Harvard Business School after building Danaher (DHR) into a medical equipment conglomerate now worth more than GE – seems to have done it.

"CEO Lawrence Culp, who took over in October 2018, has long been known for his focus on cash," says Argus Research's John Eade, who has a Buy rating on GE and calls it a deep value idea. "His previous company, Danaher, has a multidecade history of generating more free cash flow than net income, and we have expected him to focus on this metric at GE.

"The company achieved more than $2 billion in operational cost reductions and $3 billion of cash preservation to mitigate the financial impact of the pandemic."

GE's biggest business is in turbines. This includes power turbines that create power from natural gas and wind turbines that create electricity from moving air, as well as jet engines that power jet planes. The usually reliable jet engine business has been hurt by the pandemic and the Boeing (BA) 737-MAX scandal. The power turbine market has also been weak during the pandemic.

But there's another big business at GE – one that Culp is familiar with from his time at Danaher. Healthcare is an "exceptional" business, says YH&C Investments' Bock. Since selling GE Healthcare's biopharma unit to Danaher to help the balance sheet, GE has become a buyer of other companies again. Its first acquisition is Prismatic Sensors, a Swedish company whose photon-counting technology can directly benefit GE Healthcare's CT scanners.

Now that General Electric has right-sized itself, its blend of businesses actually make GE more of a defensive play again, putting it among the best stocks to buy now to add ballast to a portfolio.

• Market value: $35.4 billion
• Dividend yield: N/A
• Industry: Healthcare plans

Centene (CNC, $60.40) earns its money managing Medicare and Medicaid contracts. It does this through managed care, in which it controls spending through contracts with front-line clinics, as well as acute care facilities such as dialysis centers, and by controlling drug disbursement.

The model proved very popular on the Healthcare.gov exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act, as the company could offer lower prices than traditional insurers.

Centene has already made an M&A move in this young year, agreeing to buy Magellan Health (MGLN) for $2.2 billion. Deutsche Bank analyst George Hill praises the Magellan buy, which focuses on specialties new to Centene, such as mental health. It also brings in 5.5 million new government patients, 18 million specialty health customers, and 16 million medical pharmacy members.

"Centene will double the lives covered in mental health and establish one of the largest behavioral health platforms in the U.S., with 41 million unique members," Hill says.

Centene trades at just 11 times earnings estimates. Part of that is because margins are thin, though, with just 2% of revenues hitting the bottom line. That means growth has to come from acquisitions, from low bids on the exchanges, or from new government health contracts.

"The more challenging the economy and the fewer people who have medical coverage from employers, the greater potential there is for them to seek Medicaid coverage," says Sam Hendel, president of Levin Easterly Partners in New York. He adds that Centene is a defensive stock "with a low correlation to economic or stock market weakness."

The analyst community also throws its weight behind CNC shares. Thirteen of 17 pros covering Centene put it among their best stocks to buy now, with an average $82.15 price target that implies 36% upside from current prices.

• Market value: $96.1 billion
• Dividend yield: 2.7%
• Industry: Pharmacy, healthcare plans

CVS Health (CVS, $73.00) isn't just a pharmacy chain. Instead, it's more of a total healthcare system, also offering doctor's visits, managed care through Aetna, and a pharmacy benefit management system that gives it control over drug costs.

The Aetna acquisition, in 2018, boosted revenues by $60 billion annually year. Like Centene, it's built for hard times.

In November, analysts at CFRA Research in New York reiterated their strong buy rating on the stock. Analyst Kevin Huang wrote that he didn't expect Amazon.com's (AMZN) PillPack offering to damage CVS. And there's reason to believe that Amazon won't necessarily cripple the competition in every business it touches. The company already decided earlier this year to shutter its Haven Healthcare – a joint-venture effort at managed care with Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM). The decision emphasized the size of CVS' moat in pharmacy and managed care.

YH&C Investments' Bock holds CVS in some client portfolios because of its size, consistent cash flow and profitability. The analyst community is also strongly bullish on the pharmacy chain, giving it 21 Strong Buys or Buys against six Holds and no Sells of any kind. In addition to its attractiveness as a defensive stock, they believe CVS has about 18% upside in it over the next 12 months.

• Market value: $314.5 billion
• Dividend yield: 1.5%
• Industry: Healthcare plans

You might be noticing a trend: Health insurers make for pretty defensive stocks. No wonder, then, why we're also including UnitedHealth Group (UNH, $329.32). UNH is America's largest health insurer, and one of its most profitable, squeezing out a roughly 6% net margin on its $257.1 billion in 2020 revenues.

UnitedHealth dominated the past decade thanks in part to the technology platform built by its Optum unit. Its decision to buy Catamaran, a pharmacy benefit manager, in 2015 gave it greater control over drug costs.

Buckingham Advisors' Ryan Johnson believes UNH would weather a market downturn thanks in part to the growth of Optum, which delivers half its operating income.

"These businesses are focused on lowering costs, which is attractive in any environment," he writes.

UnitedHealth also has more than 8 million customers outside the U.S., mostly in Asia and South America, providing a little geographic diversification. And UNH's strong free cash flow and low debt, relative to its market value, should allow it to continue making acquisitions as it spies opportunities to grow.

CFRA's Sel Hardy believes UNH is among some of the best healthcare stocks to buy now, rating it a Strong Buy in part on optimism for the recent $13 billion acquisition of health-tech firm Change Healthcare.

"We cut our '21 EPS (Dec.) estimate by $0.20 to $18.65 as we trim our Q1 EPS estimate due to rising medical costs trend," Hardy says. "Following the closure of Change Healthcare transaction in H2 2021, we might revise our estimates up."

UNH isn't a big yielder, at just 1.5%, but its $1.25-per-share quarterly payout is 150% larger than it was five years ago. If UnitedHealth continues to upgrade its dividend at a brisk rate, current shareholders should enjoy a much better yield on cost over time.

• Market value: $35.0 billion
• Dividend yield: 3.6%
• Industry: Packaged foods

General Mills (GIS, $56.90) is as essential to the history of Minneapolis as Coca-Cola (KO) is to Atlanta, or Procter & Gamble (PG) is to Cincinnati. It's also an important holding for defensive investors.

General Mills' brands include Cheerios cereal, Yoplait yogurt, Pillsbury dough, and Häagen-Dazs ice cream, as well as Green Giant frozen vegetables, Totino's pizza, Progresso soup and Annie's organics. While the stock itself has effectively gone nowhere over the past five years, it trades for a reasonable 15 times earnings, yields more than 3%, and most importantly, has been extremely resilient during numerous market downturns.

"The company is now in a fundamentally better place than it was prior to 2020," write Credit Suisse analysts, who rate the stock at Outperform. The big risk to margins remains inflation, which management thinks it can hold down to 3%, hedging most of its exposure to rising commodity prices. Productivity also has increased by more than 4%, and GIS has been able raise list prices on some items. Credit Suisse expects about 10% upside on the stock based on normal conditions.

Argus Research rates GIS at Hold but admits it's a stock they "would like to get on our Buy list."

"We like management's efforts to create a differentiated portfolio of brands for health-conscious customers and to generate a higher percentage of revenue from new products," Argus analyst Christopher Graja says.

• Market value: $14.2 billion
• Dividend yield: 3.2%
• Industry: Packaged foods

Campbell Soup (CPB, $46.93) is one of the first names people think of when the economy goes sour. While it's typically a good performer in down markets, and while the pandemic caused a brief rush on the company's soup, emptying shelves, other issues have weighed on shares since.

Still, it could be one of the best stocks to buy now for a defensive posture.

CEO Mark Clouse, who took the helm in early 2019, had been CEO of Pinnacle Foods before its acquisition by Conagra (CAG) and spent most of his career in Kraft's snack division, renamed Mondelez International (MDLZ) after its spinoff. CPB shares are up 33% since Clouse came aboard, underperforming the market but marking a clear turnaround after a couple years of declines.

Levin Easterly Partners' Hendel, who calls Clouse "a strong CEO," acknowledges that soups are in a secular decline. Regardless, he notes that the consumer staples sector has "held up very well during the pandemic" and, in a downturn, investors will pay more for these stocks' earnings thanks to their stability.

Growth in 2020 was led by Campbell's "meals and beverage" division, which includes V8 juices, broths and Prego sauces, as well as the namesake soup. Clouse has shed Campbell's baking aisle, selling the Ecce Panis artisan bread brand to Jimmy's Cookies earlier this year. He is also closing a snack plant in Georgia that had been part of Snyder's-Lance, which it bought for $6.1 billion in 2018.

Argus Research has a Hold rating on shares but left the door open to "potential scenarios under which we could become more bullish on CPB." That was after the company raised its dividend 6% in December.

YH&C Investments' Bock notes Campbell's dependable cash flow and income that should help it survive another market downturn.

• Market value: $211.7 billion
• Dividend yield: 3.4%
• Industry: Beverages

Coca-Cola (KO, $49.01) is a company that, of late, deserves a little more explanation. They're not just about sugar. They're about safe drinking water at $10/gallon. Coke now has eight different brands of bottled water, including Dasani and SmartWater.

They're about so much more, too. Under James Quincey, an Englishman who became CEO in 2017, Coca-Cola has focused on improving margins and its image, selling sugary soda in smaller cans, and severing ties to a pro-sugar group accused of slanting its research. His biggest acquisition so far has been Costa Coffee, an English chain of coffee shops similar to Starbucks (SBUX). He also bought up the 57.5% of Fairlife, a milk company, that Coca-Cola didn't already own.

But it hasn't been all additions. Argus Research's Graja, who rates Stock at Buy, notes that Coca-Cola "eliminated more than 600 'zombie,' or unproductive, products in 2019 and worked to reposition the business through changes in core products."

"We expect Coke to be a stronger company when the pandemic fades," he says. "We expect the combination of more focused marketing and a more profitable brand portfolio to boost earnings and the share price as the away-from-home business rebounds."

Creighton's Robert Johnson, co-author of Investment Banking for Dummies, says KO is one of the best stocks to buy now in anticipation of any market downturn thanks in part to its steady dividend, which has been improved upon for 58 consecutive years. He also notes that its market share in juice, water, bottled tea, coffee and even energy drinks gives Coke a diversified revenue stream.

• Market value: $47.2 billion
• Dividend yield: N/A
• Industry: Auto manufacturing

Ford (F, $11.37) has long been a dirt-cheap automaker, both in nominal price and valuation. Ford shares only recently broke the $10-per-share level, and currently trade at just 10 times forward-looking earnings estimates.

The company was in rough shape last year, suspending its dividend in March to conserve cash during the pandemic. While it reported a $1.28 billion net loss in 2020, the company says it should earn between $8 billion and $9 billion in adjusted profits (pretax) in 2021, and turn about $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion of that into adjusted free cash flow. Some believe it could reboot its dividend as soon as this year.

While electric car stocks have lapped those from traditional automakers like Ford, the firm is still in the race with an electric Mustang Mach-E and a stake in Rivian, an electric truck startup. The firm also plans on investing $29 billion in EVs and autonomous vehicles over the next four years. Fortunately, Ford's F-series trucks remain in heavy demand, throwing off the cash the company needs to play catch-up in electrics.

Cornerstone Financial's Milan says "Ford is finally positioning itself well to be major players in the electric vehicle space," especially in high-margin truck and commercial van markets.

Joseph Hogue, founder of the Let's Talk Money! channel on YouTube and a former Wall Street analyst, thinks Ford "could keep heading higher on a strong outlook for auto sales." With a personal savings rate of 13% during the pandemic, a multidecade high, Americans "could be thinking of larger purchases" like a new car.

Creighton's Robert Johnson adds Ford has "a solid corporate governance and management team in place" and even prefers Ford at current levels to Tesla (TSLA). But that's because its dirt-cheap price provides a level of defense.

"Investors committing funds to Ford have a much higher margin of safety" than those in Tesla, he says.

COVID-19 was a gut punch to everyone’s finances, but millennials were hit particularly hard. In an August 2020 Vanguard survey, 57% of millennials reported that COVID-19 had a negative effect on their finances. Now millennials, myself included, are ready for a financial reset, and for some that means finding a financial planner. More than 50% of millennials haven’t received any professional financial advice, but they’re increasingly interested in talking to a planner, according to the same survey. However, good help can be hard to find.

Financial planners across the board agree that lack of financial assets is one of the biggest barriers that millennials face when seeking help. A traditional money management firm may require clients to have at least $250,000 (or more) in investments—and usually bases its fees on assets under management. And even though online brokers and robo advisers may have low-minimum and low-cost options, they tend to focus on investing rather than providing advice on issues such as how to pay off your student loans. (See more on robo advisers.)

Plus, the internet, including social media, has caused confusion about what constitutes financial planning. “Millennials are being exposed to apps that focus only on investing as opposed to holistic financial planning,” says Marsha Barnes, founder of The Finance Bar, a website that provides financial coaching and education. “These apps appear to help you build wealth, but they miss certain areas of financial planning, such as living on a budget, net worth and taxes.” Worse, social media influencers may promote risky investments without disclosing conflicts of interest, says Chris Struckhoff, a registered investment adviser and founder of Lionheart Capital Management.

Subscribe and thrive. To offer true financial planning at a price that millennials can afford, planners are turning to services such as Netflix and Hulu for inspiration: Customers pay a set amount each month to receive a certain level of service. Since 2014, XY Planning Network has provided a platform for financial advisers to use this model to provide affordable financial planning services to young adults. Monthly subscriptions vary, with some advisers basing their price on your income. (Some planners in the network are also offering pro bono financial planning services to people who have been adversely affected by the pandemic.)

“Originally, I wanted to follow the assets-under-management model, but it’s not practical for most younger clients,” says Jovan Johnson, a certified financial planner and founder of Piece of Wealth Planning, which provides subscription services. “With the subscription model, clients can include the monthly fee in their budget,” he says. Johnson starts with a free 45-minute consultation to determine your goals and see if his services are a good fit. Services cost $200 a month, and clients can cancel at any time.

A few planners are tinkering with the idea of small financial communities. Lori Atwood, a CFP and founder of Atwood Financial Planning (AFP), discovered that millennials often want confirmation that their finances are on track, and many thrive in a group. With AFP’s small group planning courses, participants are encouraged to exchange ideas with peers while a financial planner guides each of the five sessions. The cost is $250, with no other commitments.

Whether you work better in a group or one-on-one, it’s important to make financial planning a priority. For myself, I know I can shift some of my shopping energy to finding and paying for a financial planner. If you’re interested in hiring a planner—someone you met through your parents, for example—ask whether the adviser offers a payment plan you can afford.

Boats, name-brand clothing, iPhones — the list of luxury products available to consumers is endless. But which ones are worth their salt? Where will consumers' money be most content before it’s tired and begging for something new?

Defining “worth” is a deeply personal exercise. Some items deliver great performance and are unarguably worth their price tag. Others are more about feelings, connection and experience. While it’s not always necessary to splurge, there are many products and services that are not only higher in quality but will also save you in the long run.

Better Service, Lower Cost

There is nothing better than finding a product or service that costs less and performs better than the old options. For example, cable has become synonymous with continually rising rates, not to mention the taxes. Those who own a “smart” TV or a streaming device can replace cable with monthly subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu, YouTube TV, Amazon Prime and Disney+. Streaming services offer a personalized experience, provide significantly more content for less money and are always there when users want them.

When it comes to finding better goods for less, Amazon Prime is a top contender. For a small monthly fee, consumers can skip the shipping costs or set up monthly auto ship, get free music, e-books and video content, enjoy discounts at Whole Foods and more.

Warehouse memberships are another great value. Costco and Sam’s Club typically offer better products, but for less money, by selling them in larger quantities, plus the added perks of travel agents, car discounts, free shipping and more.

Better Quality, Better Life

Admittedly, saving $3 on a box of 4,000 crackers doesn’t always seem like a home run. But sometimes, avoiding the lowest-cost option will hit it out of the park. Paying up for products that improve quality of life can really pay off in the long run.

One example is a great mattress and pillow. Scientists continue to attribute orthopedic issues, stress, high cholesterol and many other ailments to quality of sleep. More than ever, it's apparent that a higher-priced and better-built mattress can lead to improved sleep and health, superior performance at work, lower stress levels and better quality of life.

Other worthwhile purchases include electric toothbrushes and quality running shoes. As an upgrade from the humble manual toothbrush, an inexpensive electric toothbrush can prevent many unpleasant and expensive trips to the dentist. A good pair of running shoes will last longer than a cheap pair, saving money on replacements. It will also prevent injuries, saving money on health care and avoiding pain and suffering.

Finding the “best” option for the money can pay dividends over a lifetime of use. For consumers who cook every night, top-quality cookware and knives are a sound purchase and should never need to be replaced. A kitchen stocked with a few high-end tools will yield better results, less cleanup, less clutter and a happier dining experience. They can even make healthy cooking easier and save money on eating out. For instance, one study showed that consumers who cook at home eat more vegetables.

Beyond material goods, experiences can be worth spending more on. Taking time for self-care can relieve stress and boost quality of life. Massages, manicures and facials can alleviate pressure points and built-up tension. Once considered “luxury” services for the elite, they have become mainstream self-care measures. Money spent on a vacation is well spent; new experiences in a relaxing setting can help consumers rest and recharge so they can perform better at work and build their personal relationships. Simple but effective self-care plays a vital role in better all-around wellness, leading to higher earnings and lower health care costs later.

A High-Quality Investment Today Can Last a Lifetime

What about those really expensive items? What is “expensive”? Typically, it's simply viewed as “costing a lot of money.” However, economists define it as a price that makes consumers feel they are paying too much for what they are getting in return. When consumers think they are getting what they paid for, then it's a fair trade. They get a bargain when they feel they are getting more than what they paid for. Further, it can be more affordable in the long run to buy a quality product once than to buy a cheap product repeatedly.

A knowledgeable financial planner can help consumers chart a path to financial success, including what they can pay for a valuable item. Investing in better products and experiences is a good decision for those who have the means. A financial planner or adviser is yet another worthwhile investment, not only saving clients the amount of their fee, but turning that investment into a long-term dividend and maximizing buying power.

Everyone is looking for ways to save money, but buying superior products and services at a greater up-front cost can reduce repeat expenditures and improve quality of life, saving time, money and health in the long term. Although some products are worth the expense for nearly everyone, consumers must identify their priorities and make wise decisions. Working with a financial planner can help them understand what they value and take the first step toward investing in products and services that are worth their price.

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't by much, but the S&P 500 officially exited bear territory on Tuesday and greeted a new bull market.

Stocks were helped out by U.S. housing starts, which jumped 22.6% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of just under 1.5 million.

Blerina Uruçi and Pooja Sriram of Barclays Investment Bank say three major factors are behind the recent pace: a return of pent-up demand, historically low mortgage interest rates and a shift as households move to the suburbs, but "pent-up demand is not likely to be sustained so we would not expect to see double-digit increases in starts on a sustained basis in the coming months."

"However," they say, "the direction of travel is upward in our view and we expect low mortgage rates and demand for suburban homes to continue pushing starts gradually higher in the coming months."

The earnings calendar, heavy on retailers this week, also spoke a little to the strength of the U.S. consumer.

Home Depot (HD, -1.2%), among 2020's hot housing market stocks, saw its most recent quarterly sales and profits surge 23% and 25%, respectively, to beat analyst estimates. Meanwhile, Walmart (WMT, -0.8%) reported that e-commerce traffic nearly doubled-year-over year and posted its biggest earnings surprise in more than three decades. But both stocks had little to show for it.

Instead, the market's strength yet again came from mega-cap tech and tech-adjacent names.

Amazon.com (AMZN, +4.1%) jumped after announcing it would hire 3,500 tech and corporate jobs in six cities, and spend $1.4 billion expanding its offices. Netflix (NFLX, +4.8%) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL, +2.6%) also made significant gains to push the Nasdaq Composite 0.7% higher to 11,210, yet another all-time high finish. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.2% to 27,778, and the small-cap Russell 2000 lost 1.0% to finish at 1,569.

The "broader market," however, finally got over the hump. The S&P 500 gained 0.2% to 3,389, surpassing its Feb. 19 all-time highs by a mere 3 points. That confirms a bull market for U.S. stocks that officially began off the March 23, 2020 bottom.

What's Next for the New Bull Market?

Sam Stovall, Chief Investment Strategist of U.S. Equity Strategy at CFRA, points out that "like the messenger from Marathon, bull markets typically (slump) from exhaustion an average of 2.5 months after reaching such a recovery milestone." However, the average declines have been modest, at 8%, before stocks resume their advances.

Even if that comes to pass, there's reason to believe a resulting climb would have fundamental help.

"Estimates for future quarters have tended to fall as earnings were being reported in previous seasons," says Jeffrey Buchbinder, Equity Strategist at LPL Financial. "This quarter was a different story, with a 1.4% increase in the next 12 months' S&P 500 earnings estimates since the second quarter ended, reflecting upbeat guidance from Corporate America.

"While that may not seem like much, and we still may not see positive earnings growth until early 2021, this encouraging development increases the chances that estimates for the third and fourth quarters may prove to be too low."

In the short term, look for potential dips in areas such as e-commerce stocks and artificial intelligence companies – these red-hot picks might be due for profit-taking should the market take a breather, allowing new investors to jump in and harness their longer-term potential.

But Wall Street's pros think several hot hands in 2020 still have more room to run. Here, we look at seven stocks that are already up anywhere between 24% and 260% year-to-date, but that the analyst community believes haven't quite reached their ceiling.

If you are trying to stay healthy and active, you’ll find plentiful resources and advice on wellness, a popular and growing $4.2 trillion global industry that encompasses yoga, meditation, mindfulness and more, according to the Global Wellness Institute. There’s even a new Netflix series called “The Goop Lab” with Gwyneth Paltrow, who promotes wellness trends such as acupuncture facials and foam rolling exercises.

Wellness activities are growing in popularity for all ages, with more senior housing centers and communities adding wellness coaches and programs. Separate from fads and trends, there are evidence-based benefits for older adults who engage in some wellness basics, such as exercise, a healthy diet, reducing stress and other kinds of self-care. But it’s important to understand what wellness approaches might really work for you, and to be wary of claims that could be harmful, such as nutritional supplements with dangerous side effects.

You also should understand that for declines in cognitive health and dementia, there is no quick fix or proven remedy, says John Morris, a researcher at the Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife who has designed a wellness assessment tool for older adults. Morris also helps retirement communities track participants’ wellness.

“We’ve looked for magic pills that could address cognitive decline, and we haven’t found them,” Morris says. “If anybody tells you there’s an intervention that can drastically impact cognitive loss, don’t believe them for a minute.”

On the evidence side of the spectrum, there “very clearly” is proof that physical and cognitive exercises can have an effect by slowing the rate of decline, he says. “If you’re 72, or even 80, and you enter into programs to get physically and cognitively engaged now, you’re probably going to be in better shape five years from now than you would have been if you hadn’t done anything,” Morris says.

Get Moving

Check with your primary physician before starting an exercise program. In general, older adults can engage in jogging, fast walking and weight resistance. Yoga can benefit you through strength and flexibility moves; check with your local senior center for a program geared to older adults. For cognitive health, try electronic games, crossword puzzles, reading books and taking educational courses. “All those things can make a difference,” Morris says. It’s not clear, though, how big a difference they’ll make, and you shouldn’t expect to dramatically turn your life around, he says.

The National Institute on Aging cites a slew of proven health benefits from exercise and lifestyle changes. Getting active and eating well led to a 71% decrease in diabetes among people 60 and older, one study found. Another found that moderate exercise helped reduce stress and sleep issues for older women who are caregivers for a loved one with dementia.

Strength training and other exercises can help improve balance and reduced falls among older people by 33%, according to the NIA. For older adults with knee osteoarthritis, walking and strength building helped to lessen their pain and improved their quality of life. NIA’s Go4Life campaign includes exercises, motivational tips, virtual coaches and other free resources.

If you’re interested in meditation, start with simple tutorials from a meditation website such as Headspace. Meditating has the potential to help reduce stress and improve your mood, and you might find it simply relaxes you.

And take measures to mitigate isolation, which can cause depression. You can seek help from your doctor in getting reengaged with your neighborhood, your local religious community or your previous social network. Look for help from local senior services in your community, too.

At the close of any decade, we're often compelled to look back—especially at investment returns. Below, we highlight the 10 stocks in Standard & Poor's 500-stock index with the best 10-year records. The list has a few surprises, as well as some household names. Read on to learn why they soared and whether the good times will continue. Stocks are listed in order of total return; returns and other data are through October 31.

Netflix

10-year cumulative return: 3,522%. Netflix (symbol NFLX) started streaming video in 2007, and the rest is history. Today, more than 158 million subscribers in 190 countries pay a monthly fee to watch its content, providing Netflix with a steady revenue stream. Although we still like the stock for patient in­vestors with a speculative bent, they should definitely buckle up for a bumpy ride. Competition is getting stiff, with traditional media heavies, such as Disney and NBC, entering the business with their own streaming services.

MarketAxess Holdings

10-year cumulative return: 2,972%. Bonds are one of the last major asset classes to shift to electronic trading, and MarketAxess Holdings (MKTX) is a leader in this change. The company commands 80% of electronically executed trades of investment-grade corporate bonds and has stakes in high-yield, European and emerging-markets bond trading, too. A boost came from post-recession regulations that squeezed bond-trading volume at big banks. A focus on lower trading fees helped, too. MarketAxess is on track to report its 11th straight year of record revenue, operating income and bond-trading volume. Yet, "it's still early days," says Gary Robinson, a comanager of Baillie Gifford U.S. Equity Growth fund, who recommends the stock for the long term. The firm "is as strong as ever."

Abiomed

10-year cumulative return: 2,278%. Abiomed (ABMD) makes a temporary heart pump that improves blood flow and lets the heart rest, which lowers risk during heart procedures. Shares were flying high until a Food and Drug Administration letter in early 2019 warned that the pumps posed a risk for certain patients. In May, the FDA issued a second letter, stating that Abiomed's products were safe to use, but the damage was done. Sales fell short of analysts' expectations in the two most recent quarters, and the firm lowered its expectations for revenue and earnings for the current fiscal year, which ends in March. Shares are down 51% from their 52-week high. But overseas sales of pumps are rising fast, a sign the stock still has some room to run. Consider buying on further dips.

TransDigm Group

10-year cumulative return: 1,929%. Whether it's a Boeing or Airbus airliner or a Gulfstream jet, chances are, TransDigm Group (TDG) made many of the plane's parts—seatbelts, pumps in the mechanical system and door locks. Growth in air traffic and defense spending fueled the stock's rise, as did the firm's purchase of some smaller companies. Aftermarket demand for its parts provides an annuity-like revenue stream, considering planes fly for decades. TransDigm stock is up 64% since the start of 2019, in part because of a one-time special $30-a-share dividend it paid in August. But the firm's acquisition strategy may be tapped out. TransDigm sports a high, 110% long-term-debt-to-capital ratio and a below-investment-grade single-B credit rating. We'd pause before buying shares.

Broadcom

10-year cumulative return: 1,809%. Broadcom (AVGO) makes chips for computer networks, data storage, smartphones, smart home devices and more. It has grown through acquisition of other chip firms, such as Bell Labs and Brocade. But Charles Lemonides, chief investment officer of hedge fund ValueWorks, sees little internally generated revenue growth and says the recent purchase of CA Technologies, for $18.9 billion in cash, was too pricey. Slumping demand for Broadcom's chips has hurt sales, and higher tariffs have weighed on the stock. Analysts expect average earnings of 12% annualized over the next three years, just par for the industry. Lemonides sees Broadcom shares heading lower, and he has sold the stock short.

Align Technology

10-year cumulative return: 1,316%. If Align Technology (ALGN) gets its way, braces will go the way of the VCR. The company makes Invisalign, those orthodontic trays called clear aligners that have spawned a dozen copycats. Align shares are down 36% from a high of $391 in 2018 thanks to increased competition, a slowdown in sales in China and a disappointing third quarter. Even so, trading at 49 times expected earnings over the next 12 months, the shares are still expensive based on historical measures and compared with peers. Align is growing fast, but we'd wait for a lower entry point to buy shares.

United Rentals

10-year cumulative return: 1,262%. These days, many industrial and construction firms would rather rent an earthmover or power tool than buy their own. United Rentals (URI), which rents thousands of types of equipment at 1,172 locations in North America, provides "the right piece of equipment at the right time for the right company," says Brian Sponheimer, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds. United, the biggest player in its business, has lately been investing in technology to track its equipment—how often each item is used and when service is needed. Recession fears and slower growth at the firm have weighed on the stock since 2018, making it compellingly cheap.

Extra Space Storage

10-year cumulative return: 1,237%. Extra Space Storage (EXR) is one of the biggest operators of self-storage facilities. Dividends helped lift shares in this real estate investment trust, but there were other boosts, too. A dearth of new facilities, thanks to a post-recession squeeze in building loans, helped the firm log double-digit annual gains in revenue and funds from operations (a profitability measure for REITs) between 2011 and 2015. Deft management, high operating margins and low capital expenses helped, too. But growth expectations have dimmed. Value Line analyst Sharif Abdou expects annual revenue growth of just 7% to 9% over the next three years, and an average gain in FFO of 5% to 7%. There are better growth opportunities in REIT-land.

Amazon.com

10-year cumulative return: 1,221%. Now that Amazon.com (AMZN) has revolutionized the way Americans shop, the firm is eyeing shoppers overseas. Its U.K. and German businesses are already profitable, says Ramiz Chelat, a portfolio manager at Vontobel Asset Management. Amazon is No. 1 in e-commerce in Japan and is gaining ground in India. Meanwhile, Amazon's cloud computing business continues to thrive. Analysts expect 27.5% annual earnings growth over the next three years. Amazon's future, in other words, is rosy, says Chelat, who deems the stock an attractive opportunity.

Ulta Beauty

10-year cumulative return: 1,198%.Vanity sells. At Ulta Beauty (ULTA), which offers cosmetics, skin and hair-care products at 1,213 stores nationwide and online, sales increased 20% or more every year between 2010 and 2016. But compe­tition from Amazon and others is rising, and sales growth is slowing. In late summer, the company trimmed its expectations for this fiscal year, which ends in January. The stock fell 28% and has not yet recovered. Analysts forecast 17% annualized earnings growth over the next three years—less than the glittery, 28% pace of the past five years. Although shares trade at a lower price-earnings multiple than the stock has commanded historically, we'd wait for more of a share-price markdown before buying.

Most investors know about tech stocks that have harnessed the cloud for growth, such as Salesforce.com (CRM), Adobe Systems (ADBE) and Amazon.com (AMZN).

But are you familiar with the cloud's landlords?

“Cloud czars” don't operate entirely on their own. There's a huge industry in connecting these clouds to each other, and to large and small customers alike. It requires cell towers, data centers and other communications technology.

A number of real estate investment trusts (REITs) specialize in properties and other assets that ensure your tablet can stream Netflix (NFLX) content and that your company's data is secured in the cloud. As a reminder: REITs are a special type of business structure – one that requires at least 90% of taxable income be paid out to shareholders as dividends, in exchange for generous tax benefits.

Many of these stocks have risen by leaps and bounds in 2019, though they're getting expensive as a result. Still, they sit smack-dab in the middle of a growth industry, and some of them remain valuable as takeover targets. Private equity firms EQT Partners and Digital Colony Partners bought fiber network owner Zayo Group for $8 billion in May. And in October, Digital Realty Trust (DLR) bought European data center giant Interxion (INXN) for $8.4 billion.

Here are five REITs that can help you squeeze dividends out of the cloud. If you're looking for a broad-based play on the industry, the Pacer Benchmark Data & Infrastructure Real Estate ETF (SRVR) invests in 20 such companies. However, these five holdings stand out among the rest.

Data is as of Nov. 4. Stocks listed by yield. Dividend yields are calculated by annualizing the most recent payout and dividing by the share price.

• Market value: $93.5 billion
• Dividend yield: 1.7%
• American Tower (AMT, $211.07) is a telecom-infrastructure REIT that owns roughly 171,000 communications sites worldwide, including 41,000 in the U.S. Its solutions include cell towers, broadcast towers, antennas and even "smart" light poles. It serves a wide array of customers, but it's primarily known in America for powering cell service for telecoms such as AT&T (T), Verizon Communications (VZ), Sprint (S) and T-Mobile US (TMUS).

The company was founded in 1995 in Boston as a subsidiary of American Radio. But it was spun out when American was bought by CBS Corp. (CBS) and Viacom (VIAB) in 1998. It became a REIT in 2012.

A secret to American Tower's early growth was its purchase of microwave relay towers from the old AT&T long-distance company, which it repurposed as cell phone towers. The company began international operations soon after it was formed, expanding into Mexico in 1999 and launched operations in Brazil in 2000.

AMT shares only yield 1.7% right now, which is less than you're getting from a 10-year Treasury. But it's not for lack of effort on management's part. The dividend has grown every single quarter since American Tower became a REIT in 2012, and has exploded by 170% over the past five years. But the stock has more than doubled during that same time frame, suppressing the yield at current prices.

Shares have pulled back by about 10% over the past couple weeks, thanks to uncertainty from the Sprint/T-Mobile merger and Indian telecom carrier consolidation. But Cowen's Colby Synesael (Outperform, equivalent of Buy) writes that the dip is a buying opportunity. He recently raised his price target, from $238 per share to $260, citing decent third-quarter results and the potential for stronger upside in 2020.

• Market value: $55.9 billion
• Dividend yield: 3.6%
• Crown Castle International (CCI, $134.50) was founded in Houston in 1994 with 133 cell towers in Texas. The REIT now owns more than 40,000 cell towers across the U.S., as well as roughly 70,000 small cell nodes, which are attached to infrastructure such as signposts or streetlights to help support coverage.

Crown Castle has always been acquisitive. It acquired a rival tower operator, Global Signal, in 2007, then entered tower leasing agreements with T-Mobile and AT&T early in the current decade, adding 17,000 more towers and doubling in size. The long-term leases on these towers help support a stable and growing dividend.

What distinguishes Crown Castle from American Tower is its strategy after becoming a REIT. Instead of buying more cell towers, it began buying fiber cable networks – first Sunesys, then Fibernet Direct, then Wilcon and Lightower. It now has more than 75,000 route miles of fiber, making it one of the largest such networks in the U.S.

These kinds of technologies will provide the backbone for America's expansion into 5G, which in turn means Crown Castle, American Tower and similar infrastructure companies will have no shortage of demand.

Crown Castle hasn't bulked up its dividend as aggressively as American Tower, but the payout has still improved by 46% over the past five years. Its current yield, however, is more than twice that of AMT.

SunTrust analyst Greg Miller reiterated his Buy rating on CCI shortly after the company announced a third-quarter earnings beat and dividend hike. He's encouraged by the company's 2020 outlook for funds from operations (FFO, a vital REIT profitability metric), and thinks the company should be able to adequately tackle carriers' needs as they deploy their 5G systems.

• Market value: $8.0 billion
• Dividend yield: 2.8%
• CyrusOne (CONE, $70.43) is a data-center owner and operator that's also organized as a REIT. It was formed in 2001, acquired in 2007 by ARBY Partners, acquired again in 2010 by Cincinnati Bell (CBB), then eventually spun off in an initial public offering in 2013.

CyrusOne now has 45 data centers worldwide, serving almost 20% of the Fortune 1000, and it's America's third largest data-center provider. Its solutions allow customers take advantage of cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

Tim Chubb, chief information officer at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based wealth advisory firm Girard, says, "The blazing-fast adoption of enterprise cloud platforms as well as the broader use of the Internet of Things and AI, will lead to substantial demand for the data center industry for years to come."

Indeed, CyrusOne has been growing like a weed, with normalized FFO sprouting from $112.9 million in 2014 to $332.3 million in 2018. However, several analysts have downgraded the stock this year amid weak results in 2019 and worries about demand for hyperscale solutions, which can grow and shrink as a business requires. Nonetheless, UBS analysts expect CONE "to benefit from (long-term) secular trends in the data center industry."

This REIT delivers on the income front, too. It has grown its payout by 138% over the past half-decade, though the stock's 163% ascent over that time has kept a lid on the yield.

• Market value: $46.3 billion
• Dividend yield: 1.8%
• Equinix (EQIX, $543.20) is another data-center REIT, this one founded in 1998 by two facilities managers at Digital Equipment Corp., which eventually merged with HP Inc. (HPQ).

Equinix spent its first decade growing primarily through acquisitions, buying other large colocation owners (colocation centers allow businesses to rent space for physical hardware such as servers) in Asia and Europe through 2010. Since then, it has more than tripled the number of data centers it owns. It became a REIT in 2015.

Equinix' secret sauce is its Network Edge, a service on its global Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric that lets customers "select, deploy and connect launch new virtual network services at the edge in minutes, with no additional hardware requirements." This differentiates Equinix's offerings beyond real estate and basic connectivity. Technology analyst firm 451 Research has given the idea its "Firestarter" award. Research director Dan Thompson said it means customers can "easily reach infrastructure in any one of its 200 datacenter facilities around the world."

The analyst community is widely bullish on this REIT, with 12 of 13 analysts tracked by TipRanks doling out Buy-equivalent ratings on the stock over the past three months. Among them: Wells Fargo's Jennifer Fritzsche (Outperform), who raised her price target on EQIX from $545 per share to $620. She says the company's strength in smaller-footprint metro-market bookings is more evidence of the company's "moat."

The dividend, meanwhile, has been adjusted 46% higher since the company converted to a REIT structure in 2015.

• Market value: $26.4 billion
• Dividend yield: 0.6%
• SBA Communications (SBAC, $234.60) is, like American Tower and Crown Castle, an owner and leaser of communications infrastructure. It was founded in 1989 and has expanded its operations to include North, Central and South America. SBA views itself as a developer as well as an operator, working with property owners "to strategically develop and monetize the wireless infrastructure potential of their real estate assets" and working with wireless service operators to acquire sites, then build them out.

Also like AMT and CCI, SBA Communications expects the deployment of 5G technologies to fuel the company's growth. SBA crossed the $500 million quarterly revenue mark earlier this year, and CEO Jeffrey Stoops says, "we believe that strength will continue into 2020 as our customers remain on a multi-year path to provide 5G service."

SBA also has a budding opportunity in South Africa. In August, the company closed on its $140 million buyout of 94% of a joint venture in South Africa, which includes roughly 890 towers. SunTrust analyst Greg Miller raised his price target in July, from $217 per share to $255, writing that second-quarter earnings and the announcement of the JV acquisition supported his long-term bull case.

This REIT is an odd one, in that it became a real estate investment trust in 2016, but didn't pay dividends for years. It was allowed to do so because it used net operating loss (NOL) carryovers from previous years to offset its taxable income. But it finally initiated a dividend earlier this year – a 37-cent quarterly payout that translates into a currently meager yield.

However, if SBAC's dividend growth mirrors any of the other REITs on this list, current shareholders should enjoy a much more substantial yield on cost within a few years.

Not so long ago, parting ways with your cable or satellite television provider left you with just a handful of viewing options. Early cord-cutters could sign up for Amazon, Hulu or Netflix to stream movies and previously aired TV shows, but they usually missed out on live programming. Sports fans could use an antenna to catch some games on broadcast networks, but they often had trouble cheering on the home team because of rules banning coverage of games in a team’s local market. And people who waited for their favorite shows to appear on the network’s website a few days after they aired did their best to avoid spoilers until they could watch the latest episode.

Alternatives to cable have grown more attractive—and more plentiful—in recent years. Today, cutting the cord comes with more solutions than sacrifices, thanks to an abundance of high-quality streaming content ranging from must-see TV to niche programs and on-demand streaming to live programming. And apart from the occasional regional hole in broadcast or sports coverage, you can watch virtually any program you desire with online services.

Now, with hundreds of video streaming services to choose from, you’re faced with another problem: Cobbling together the best options without paying a small fortune can be complicated. According to Deloitte’s 2019 digital media trends survey, the typical consumer reports subscribing to three paid streaming services. But that could be an underestimate. Many consumers use free, ad-supported options or forget about paid services they already have, says Kevin Westcott, who leads Deloitte’s U.S. telecommunications, media and entertainment team. “People appreciate the freedom to select the services and content they want, but it leaves many customers frustrated as they try to manage multiple streaming services,” he says.

A spate of changes from streaming providers further muddies the waters. Recently, many services, including Hulu, Netflix, PlayStation Vue and Sling TV, have raised prices for some plans. Many have also changed their lineups of channels, shows or movies.

You’ll likely notice even more changes as the streaming wars heat up. Apple, Disney, NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia plan to join the fray with new streaming services set to launch in the coming months. Many of the new offerings will compete directly with Netflix. Disney, for example, will offer a bundle of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ for $13 a month, starting in November. And in the next few years, Netflix is set to lose two of its most watched shows: Friends to WarnerMedia’s new HBO Max and The Office to NBCUniversal’s forthcoming streaming service. Disney will also pull its content from the streaming giant, including Star Wars, Marvel and Pixar films and Disney classics.

Build your own network

Start by making a list of networks and programs that you or others in your household watch. Note which shows you prefer to watch live and any programming that is exclusive to a specific platform. To see where shows or movies that you watch (or have been meaning to watch) are available, visit JustWatch.com. Enter the title of the show or film and the site will tell you where you can stream it, rent it or buy it, and help you find the lowest price on rentals and purchases.

To stream content, you’ll need a speedy, reliable broadband internet connection. You’ll also need a streaming device, such as Amazon Fire, Google Chromecast or Roku, or a smart” (internet-ready) TV with built-in streaming capabilities. Then you can select services that suit your interests. Be sure to check whether the services you choose support the streaming device you’re using.

Don’t overlook an old-school antenna. Antennas can serve up more channels than basic cable without the monthly bill. But they don’t work well everywhere. To see how well you’ll be able to pick up local broadcast stations, visit www.antennaweb.org or www.tvfool.com. Enter your address or zip code and the site will show you which channels are available where you live and the type of antenna you’ll need to capture the signal. If you live close to a transmitter, try the Mohu ReLeaf, a thin, flat-panel antenna that costs about $40 and mounts unobtrusively in your home. For a more powerful outdoor antenna, try the Winegard Elite 7550 (about $150).

Next, consider your options for streaming live TV as well as on-demand programming. Live television services such as Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, AT&T TV Now (formerly DirecTV Now) and YouTube TV are more expensive than on-demand options, typically running $25 to $50 a month. On-demand services, from the behemoths to smaller providers such as Acorn TV ($6 a month or $60 a year) and DC Universe ($8 a month or $75 a year), offer an array of programming. Larger brands, such as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, boast expansive libraries of movies, documentaries and past seasons of TV shows; smaller providers usually focus on niche content. Acorn TV, for example, has hundreds of British mysteries, dramas and comedies.

To help you pick the best streaming options for your family, use the table on the next page, which lists some of the most popular live TV and on-demand services. For more help, visit WhistleOut.com to compare plans from various providers and Mohu’s Untangle.TV, which will lead you through a series of questions before recommending streaming services and devices based on your viewing habits.

Strategies to save

You don’t want to pay as much as (or more) for streaming services as you did for cable. Test the waters before taking the plunge with a new service. Many streaming services offer a free trial—usually a week or a month—to new customers. You can use the free trial period to decide whether you want to subscribe or to binge the content you can’t find elsewhere.

Unlike cable providers, streaming services generally don’t require a contract. Rather, most bill monthly, leaving you to come and go as you please. (A few, including Acorn TV, DC Universe, ESPN+ and The Criterion Channel, offer discounts for paying a full year up front.) If you do most of your viewing during certain times of the year—say, during the colder months—consider subscribing seasonally.

If you only watch a few movies or shows each month (or find you need to fill gaps in your streaming service line-up), you can rent or buy episodes or films à la carte with services such as Amazon Prime Video, FandangoNOW, Redbox or Vudu. Pricing is generally similar among services, but paying for an entire season of a show can be a better value than purchasing each episode individually. For example, you can purchase single episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine for $2 each or all 18 episodes in season six for $20.

Many streaming services offer subscriptions at different price points. Netflix, for example, offers three plans priced between $9 and $16 a month. If you share a Netflix account, the mid- and upper-tier options—which allow you to stream to two and four screens, respectively, at the same time—may fit you. You might also consider paying a few extra dollars for the premium plan for its ultra high-definition streaming if you have a 4K TV or monitor. Similarly, Hulu subscribers who use the platform for only a handful of shows might opt for the $6-a-month plan, which has commercials, instead of spending twice that amount for content without ads.

If the service you’re using allows multiple viewers to stream content at the same time or you don’t need full-time access, you can share accounts within your household. The major providers have been slow to curb the practice of password sharing, although some have taken steps to control the number of devices that can be used to stream at the same time or on one account. Still, sharing policies often lack clarity, leaving users free to deduce whether their household includes roommates or a kid at college.

You may be able to get a deal on streaming from another service that you already use. Earlier this year, music streaming service Spotify offered a package deal with Hulu (the $6 monthly plan) at no extra cost.

Cell-phone service providers are using streaming subscriptions to sweeten the deal on some wireless plans. Sprint’s basic unlimited plan includes a subscription to Hulu’s $6-a-month plan; the company’s mid-tier unlimited plan also adds a Tidal premium music streaming service. Its top-tier unlimited plan includes both and tacks on Amazon Prime. Similarly, T-Mobile’s One plans knock $11 a month off the price of Netflix’s mid-tier package (regularly $13 a month), and Metro by T-Mobile’s unlimited plan includes Amazon Prime.

The cable companies fight back

Last year, more than three million people left major cable and satellite television providers, about a million more than in 2017, reports Leichtman Research Group.

The average household using pay-TV spends about $105 a month on cable or satellite services. In a bid to retain customers, many cable providers now offer skinnier plans featuring fewer channels and a monthly bill of about $50 or less. But many of the providers lock customers into contracts, tack on fees and hike rates after introductory promotional prices expire. (Cord-cutters can usually subscribe to two or three on-demand services for less than the cost of a skinny cable bundle.)

If you get internet or phone service from the same provider as your cable service, you’ll lose discounts you received for bundling services when you cut the cord. In that case, switching to the smallest cable package the company offers may be more cost-efficient than cutting cable altogether.

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The idea of disruptors – single companies that (usually quickly) change the landscape of an entire industry or sector – isn’t new. Henry Ford and Ford Motor (F) revolutionized automaking in the early 1990s. Phil Knight’s Nike (NKE) forever altered the athletic-shoe industry.

In the process, these and other similar game-changers were colossally successful stock picks, shooting higher year after year as they ate the rest of their industry’s share.

Today, institutional investors with deep pockets still are committing large sums of capital to disruptive technologies. For instance, in Canada, Quebec’s largest pension fund – Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec – recently announced that it would invest up to $2 billion in public-company stocks and pre-initial public offering (IPO) companies with the potential to become leaders in their industries.

Here in the U.S., investment managers such as Ark Investment Management LLC, are focused exclusively on disruptive innovation. Ark defines disruptive innovation “as the introduction of a technologically enabled new product or service that has the potential to change an industry landscape by creating simplicity and accessibility while driving down costs.” This sounds like the kinds of innovations harnessed by Ford and Nike in their heydays.

Today, we’ll explore 10 stock picks that have the potential to be disruptors themselves. A few of these are established companies that are delving into new markets, while others are younger companies that are only starting to be a thorn in other companies’ sides. Just be cautious. A few aren’t even profitable yet, which makes them considerable risks and more suitable for aggressive allocations.

Data is as of Aug. 19.

• Market value: $243.7 billion

“I think the most important thing one has to do when they’re contending with change is to admit that it’s occurring and to assess very carefully what the impact of the change is on all the businesses.” That was Disney (DIS, $135.29) CEO Bob Iger sounding off at Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference in 2017.

Since then, Iger has pulled off a multibillion-dollar acquisition (21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets) and brought a video streaming package to the table that is going to seriously compete with Netflix (NFLX), which is easily the biggest player in the growing industry.

On Aug. 6, Disney announced that in November, it will introduce a bundle package of Disney+, ESPN+ and an ad-supported version of Hulu for $12.99 a month – on par or better than any of the competition, including Netflix.

Separately, the ad-supported Hulu and ESPN+ cost $10.98 a month combined. Add in Disney+, which goes for $6.99 on its own, and you’re talking about a 28% discount when you bundle all three services. And unlike the other services out there, you’re also getting some live sports – something that could be a deciding factor in households trying to pick which streaming services to keep, and which to ditch.

• Market value: $2.1 billion

Stitch Fix (SFIX, $20.57) is a San Francisco-based clothing subscription company that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to understand more about each customer’s styles and preferences, thus delivering a better experience for its loyal patrons.

Each month, Stitch Fix sends a specific dollar value of clothes to a client based on those preferences. Whatever the customer doesn’t like, they send back. All of the data is collected and used to select more appropriate choices in subsequent months.

“We knew from the beginning that the only way to provide accessible personal styling at scale was to combine humans and data science,” CEO Katrina Lake said in Time’s 2019 list of “tech optimists.”

To add another revenue stream, Stitch Fix is considering entering the rental market, which has been very good to Seattle-based Rent the Runway. Even if it doesn’t, SFIX already looks like a potential disruptor in the retail space.

Stitch Fix is a young company that was founded in 2011 and went public in November 2017 at $15 per share. The ride has been bumpy, including a nasty 26% spill over the past month. But its 37% returns from its IPO price are still almost triple the 13% return of Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index in that time.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Scott Devitt upgraded SFIX from Hold to Buy in late July simply based on weakness in the share price. The stock has shed a quarter of its value since then, bringing it to a downright reasonable price-to-sales ratio of 1.4 that’s actually cheaper than the S&P 500. The company projects revenue growth of 20% to 25% through 2022. Devitt is more conservative, projecting 19% annual revenue growth, and still thinks the stock is buy-worthy.

• Market value: $27.4 billion

On Aug. 1, Square (SQ, $64.08) announced that it was selling Caviar – the company’s all-in-one food ordering platform – for $410 million to DoorDash, one of the country’s largest food delivery platforms. Square acquired Caviar in 2014 for $90 million, and it reportedly tried to sell the company for $100 million in 2016 but failed to find any buyers.

Three years later, the company that is already disrupting the payments industry is finally getting out of a business that didn’t make much sense for it. But don’t weep for anyone involved. DoorDash is getting an asset that fits right in with its mission and that it can take to the next level – and Square is making an estimated $320 million profit. That’s a win-win.

“We are increasing our focus on and investment in our two large, growing ecosystems – one for businesses and one for individuals. This transaction furthers that effort,” CEO Jack Dorsey said about the move. “And we believe partnering with DoorDash provides valuable and strategic opportunities for Square.”

Square will focus on continuing to build its Cash App, which had grown from $0 revenue per quarter when it was launched in 2016, to $135 million in its most recent second-quarter results released Aug. 1. “The Cash App ecosystem continues to exceed our expectations,” Dorsey said during the earnings call.

For what it’s worth, Square has dropped almost 20% since that report. The company beat earnings expectations, though. The negative reaction is largely tied to its announcement that it would spend more on marketing ahead of the holiday season. So aggressive investors can view this as a better deal on a company that still have plenty of disruption in the hopper.

• Market value: $3.3 billion

When it comes to buying Farfetch (FTCH, $10.83) stock, it pays to heed the advice of Warren Buffett, who once said, “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.”

Farfetch – the world’s leading tech platform for luxury fashion retail – announced second-quarter results after the Aug. 8 close. Its stock dropped on the news to under $11. FTCH went public on September 2018 at $20 per share, so it’s currently trading at a little more than half its IPO price after less than a year on the public markets.

But the issue wasn’t the fact that its $209.3 million in revenue still resulted in a $95.8 million operating loss. Guidance scared the Street. Farfetch expects gross merchandise value (GMV) to grow by just 50% year-over-year to $2.1 billion for fiscal 2019. In fiscal 2018, Farfetch grew GMV by 55% to $1.4 billion.

Farfetch nonetheless expects to grow its share of the online luxury business, which founder, CEO and co-chairman José Neves believes will expand by $100 billion over the next decade. As part of its plan to grab share, Farfetch also announced Aug. 8 that it would pay $675 million to acquire New Guards Group – a luxury goods platform that was launched in 2015 to develop up-and-coming luxury brands including Off White and Palm Angels. By acquiring this platform, Farfetch is further putting its stamp on online luxury e-commerce.

FTCH is a hybrid tech/retail disruptor, though it’s not without its risks. If you’re willing to invest in companies that aren’t making money yet, Farfetch is worth considering for the long haul.

• Market value: $40.7 billion
• Shopify (SHOP, $361.83) CEO Tobi Lütke is a multi-billionaire who owns 55% of the company’s multiple-voting Class B shares. He’s also the person driving its growth in 2019 and beyond.

The tiny company he created in 2004 wasn’t the grand vision of what it would become. Shopify currently helps 820,000 small businesses via its e-commerce platform, which offers services from payments to shipping to customer engagement. But when it started, it was just a necessary technology that Lütke and his partners needed to sell snowboards online.

Shopify started as Snowdevil, then morphed into Jadd Pixel. It only actually became Shopify in 2006 as more and more companies asked to use its e-commerce software.

The rest, as they say, is history.

While many companies involved in online retail might look at Amazon.com (AMZN) as an existential threat, Shopify is different. In a recent Globe and Mail article discussing his company, Lütke admitted that if Amazon were to go out of business, Shopify actually would be hurt by its disappearance from the e-commerce arena.

“The important thing for the small businesses we represent is that they rely on online shopping becoming a larger part of the total retail experience,” Lütke said. “Amazon provides convenience especially across all the products that people need – toilet paper, laundry detergent and all these kinds of products. For that, Amazon is unbeatable, and without that I think consumer behaviour would change.”

Shopify – whose stock is up 161% so far in 2019 – has yet to make an annual profit on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis. However, excluding stock-based compensation and payroll taxes related to that compensation, the company reported an adjusted net profit of $26 million during the first six months of the year – almost four times the amount it generated a year earlier.

If the company can keep gaining scale, profits and cash flow should follow.

• Market value: $953.7 million

Initial public offerings have done generally well this year. The Renaissance IPO Index that tracks such offerings is up 33% versus roughly 17% for the S&P 500. Among the winners is New York City-based Phreesia (PHR, $26.86), which has developed a payments platform for health care providers. Phreesia began trading July 18 at $18 per share, above its $15 to $17 price range. It gained 39.3% on its first day of trading and has climbed a little higher since.

The company helps the health care experience for both patients and providers, whether it’s ensuring a patient’s appointment is verified or helping a provider collect copays and balances.

“We continuously partner with lots of companies all throughout the health care ecosystem, because we don't think one company could change health care.” CEO Chaim Indig told Yahoo! Finance in July. “We think being a public company gives us the ability to remain independent for a long, long time, and continue building on that mission of improving the health care experience for all the stakeholders.”

In fiscal 2019, Phreesia facilitated more than 54 million patient visits at more than 1,600 healthcare provider organizations, processing more than $1.4 billion in patient payments.

Phreesia’s software platform was named the 2019 Category Leader for Patient Intake Management by health care IT research firm KLAS. As health care continues to get more complicated, companies such as Phreesia have become increasingly important to improving outcomes between patients and providers.

• Market value: $8.7 billion

You could make a case that Beyond Meat (BYND, $144.51) – the California-based plant-based food company – is 2019’s disruptor of the year.

If you haven’t heard about Beyond Meat’s stock success, you need to read more investing headlines. The company priced its IPO at $25 per share and started trading on May 1. It popped 163% on its first day of trading and another 120% since then for a combined gain of 478% from its IPO price – and that includes a significant plunge over the past few weeks.

It seems every restaurant on the planet wants to sell the Beyond Burger – a plant-based product with no soy, gluten or GMOs that tastes an awful lot like real meat – and many of its competitors’ products. Beyond Meat’s biggest competition could be Impossible Foods, which has yet to go public but just won a big contract from Burger King that saw the plant-based Impossible Whopper rolled out at all 7,200 locations across the U.S.

Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are so disruptive, in fact, that some states have passed laws that say only foods made of animal flesh can use monikers like “meat” or “burger” on their labels. Fake meat supporters have a few arguments, including that if they can’t call a product by how it looks and tastes, their First Amendment right to freedom of speech is being violated. Expect this battle to heat up in the years to come.

This pair of disruptors are causing such an uproar that Tyson Foods (TSN), one of the largest meat producers in the world, recently introduced Raised & Rooted – its version of alternative protein. Tyson actually owned 6.5% of Beyond Meat until selling its shares in April, just before the company’s IPO.

Buyer beware: Even though shares have lost more than a quarter of their value from their July peak, they still sell at an astronomical 56 times revenues. Only one of eight analysts tracking the stock view it as a Buy, with the rest at Hold, largely because of its high valuation. But they do expect the company to flip from a non-GAAP loss of 26 cents per share this year to a 26-cent profit next. So BYND might be a wait-and-buy-the-next-dip situation.

• Market value: $701.1 million

If you’re familiar with the term “gig economy,” there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Fiverr International (FVRR, $22.62). This Israel-based online marketplace, which was launched in 2010, connected services buyers with sellers, who did tasks for $5. (A “fiver.”)

Fiverr has since moved beyond that narrow focus to concentrate on creative services for larger amounts of money, persuading larger companies to also utilize the platform.

Since its inception, Fiverr has facilitated more than 50 million transactions between 5.5 million buyers and more than 830,000 sellers. Fiverr gets a fee for facilitating the transaction. In 2018, the company received 25.7% of every dollar transacted over its platform, up 120 basis points from 2017. More than 70% of its transactions are generated from the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Repeat buyers make up 57% of its revenue.

However, like many tech IPOs in 2019 (the company went public on June 13), FVRR doesn’t make money – it lost $36.1 million on sales of $75.5 million in 2018. But its gross margin of 79% is healthy.

As Fiverr increases the number of active buyers on its platform and expands its geographical footprint outside its main countries of operations, its operating costs – including the hiring of staff, research and development, and increased marketing expenses – will all substantially rise. Therefore, it’s unlikely that it will make money in the foreseeable future. Analysts do, however, see non-GAAP losses dropping from 89 cents per share this year to 65 cents in 2020.

If you believe in the gig and freelance economy, Fiverr is the ultimate disruptor. You’ll just have to be patient for profits.

• Market value: $18.1 billion

One of the words you often hear about disruptors is scaling: a company’s ability to grow its business not just quickly, but efficiently, too.

• Pinterest (PINS, $33.33) is the unicorn 2019 IPO that few people expected to do well. But it gained 28% on April 18, its first day of trading. Since then, it has shot another 43% higher.

The big reason investors should have known the social media disruptor would be an IPO success had everything to do with its financial situation. Yes, it recorded a $74.7 million loss last year on revenues of $755.9 million, but it’s not torching its cash. As of the end of December, it had $627.8 million in cash and marketable securities – 11.8% less than a year earlier. It would have taken Pinterest almost eight years to burn through that much. Plus, the IPO helped lift its cash and marketable securities to $1.8 billion as of the second quarter.

In the meantime, analysts are starting to realize that the social media site dedicated to pictures rather than words, is going to get to profitability much more quickly than a lot of the big-name IPOs in 2019 such as Uber Technologies (UBER) and Lyft Inc. (LYFT).

Deutsche Bank analysts upgraded PINS from Hold to Buy on Aug. 2, with a price target of $40. They said their stance reflects “a meaningful increase to estimates and more confidence the company can scale its ad business – in the US and internationally – faster than expected.”

The exciting part about Pinterest is that while it has almost three times as many international monthly active users (MAUs) as U.S. MAUs, it currently makes just one-third the average revenue from those international users as it does those in the U.S. Once it monetizes those international users, profits should follow.

• Market value: $4.6 billion

Worldwide spending on customer experience (CX) technology is expected to grow by 8.2% annually between 2018 and 2022, reaching $641 billion, according to IDC estimates.

Enter Medallia (MDLA, $37.68), which went public just more than a month ago (July 18) at $21 per share – well above its expected range of $16 to $18.

The company’s Medallia Experience Cloud is a SaaS (software-as-a-service) platform that helps companies understand and manage the customer experience better. Using proprietary artificial intelligence, Medallia’s platform analyzes data across human, digital, and internet of things (IoT) interactions to generate personalized and predictive insights that generate tangible results.

The company’s platform analyzes more than 4.9 billion “experiences” each year, performing an average of 8 trillion calculations every day to help company make business decisions. The Medallia platform encompasses all four areas of experience management: customer experience, business experience, employee experience and product experience.

The opportunity? Very few companies are good at providing an excellent customer experience. Even fewer are capable of analyzing the data behind the customer experience to understand why the customer was disappointed.

Medallia’s 565 customers are up from 469 a year ago. Approximately 79% of its revenue is from the sale of subscriptions, with the rest from professional services. In its fiscal 2019 that ended in January, it generated $313.6 million in revenue, up from $261.2 million a year earlier. It lost $82.2 million from operations, however – a 17% wider loss than in fiscal 2018.

This isn’t uncommon for newly public companies, and its losses could get even deeper before they get better. That’s the risk with these types of companies; it’s difficult to gauge if and when that pivot toward profitability will actually happen.

But Medallia has a chance to be a disruptor and has plenty of market to grow into: The company estimates the four areas of experience management to have a total addressable market of $68 billion.

There’s an old Wall Street saying that goes, “Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered.” No one really knows who originally said it, but its meaning is clear. You can make money in a rising market or a falling market if you’re disciplined. But if you hunt for stocks to buy while being greedy, sloppy and impatient, things might not work out as you hope.

This is a time to be patient. We’re more than a decade into a truly epic bull market that has seen the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index appreciate by well over 300%. While value investors might still find a few bargains out there, the market is by most reasonable metrics richly valued.

The S&P 500’s trailing price-to-earnings ratio sits at a lofty 21. The long-term historical average is around 16, and there have only been a handful of instances in history in which the collection of blue-chip stocks has breached 20. It’s expensive from a revenue standpoint, too — the index trades at a price-to-sales ratio of 2.1, meaning today’s market is priced at 1990s internet mania levels.

The beauty of being an individual investor is that you reserve the right to sit on your hands. Unlike professional money managers, you have no mandate to be 100% invested at all times. You can be patient and wait for your moment.

Here are 13 solid blue-chip stocks to buy that look interesting now, but will be downright attractive on a dip. Any of these would make a fine addition to a portfolio at the right price. And should this little bout of volatility in May snowball into a correction or proper bear market, that day might come sooner than you think.

Data is as of May 27.

• Market value: $897.7 billion

Let’s start with what is arguably the most influential company of the past 25 years: internet retailer Amazon.com (AMZN, $1,823.28). Amazon didn’t invent online commerce, but it certainly brought it into the mainstream. It started out as a humble online bookstore, but today, Amazon is effectively the “everything” store and has all other retailers scrambling to catch up.

Of course, Amazon is not just retail anymore. The company also has changed cloud computing as we know it via its Amazon Web Service platform. Moreover, it’s building out a logistics and shipping empire, and it competes head-on in streaming content with industry leader Netflix (NFLX). It seems there is no corner of the economy that Amazon isn’t busily disrupting.

Given that Amazon is the defining company of our era, you could argue that buying it now, even at today’s prices, is reasonable. Warren Buffett’s team certainly seemed to think so, as Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) initiated a new position in Amazon last quarter worth nearly a billion dollars. After all, despite the company’s gargantuan size, it’s still growing its annual revenues at a 17% annual clip, and it more than doubled its quarterly earnings in Q1.

All the same, it might pay to wait. This is understandably a widely owned stock, but should the market continue to be wobbly, AMZN might experience an exodus of weaker, less committed holders. The stock lost nearly a third of its value during the final-quarter selloff of 2018 thanks largely to broad market volatility. That proved to be a great buying opportunity — so keep Amazon on your list of stocks to buy the next time we get a similar dip.

• Market value: $238.7 billion

As with Amazon, Walt Disney (DIS, $132.79) is a blue-chip stock you would likely do just fine buying now, even at today’s prices.

Disney owns the most valuable collection of programming on the planet. It owns Marvel Studios, whose recent Avengers: Endgame blockbuster has grossed $2.6 billion worldwide and is creeping up on Avatar as the top-grossing movie of all time. Disney also owns the Star Wars franchise, which should score another major box-office haul when Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker releases later this year.

These two movies alone would make any other studio’s year. Yet Disney also has a Toy Story sequel, a Frozen sequel and a Lion King reboot coming later this year, on top of nearly two dozen other movies.

The thing is, movies aren’t an ideal business — they’re expensive to make, and the revenues tend to come in a big lump on the release. But that’s OK, because Disney is a diversified media conglomerate whose operations also include several TV channels (including sports network ESPN), its theme parks, merchandise ... and later this year, a Netflix-like streaming service called Disney+.

Half of Americans aged 22 to 45 watched literally zero cable TV in 2018. They still absorbed content — they just did it via streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. Disney will enter this arena later in 2019 and likely will become a major competitor the moment it launches.

Disney isn’t prohibitively expensive by any means, trading at nearly 21 times analysts’ estimates for next year’s earnings. But if Disney were to drop a good $10 to $15, putting it back at early April levels, it would be an outright steal.

• Market value: $967.4 billion

Back in 2007, as Apple (AAPL) was launching the iPhone and Microsoft (MSFT, $126.24) was languishing in the stagnating PC era, few people imagined Microsoft would ever become the world’s most valuable company again.

But that was before Microsoft embraced cloud computing with gusto. Microsoft still is the world leader in operating systems and office productivity software. But it has leveraged the cloud to turn that productivity software into a lucrative subscription business. But its booming Azure cloud business has turned the company into a growth darling again, allowing it to reclaim the title of the world’s most valuable company.

Amazon’s AWS remained the dominant cloud leader with nearly a third of the total market as of the end of 2018. But Microsoft was solidly in second place, with 16.5% of the market, and its Azure is expanding at a faster clip. Amazon’s AWS posted very impressive 46.3% growth last year, but Microsoft’s Azure grew at a blistering 75.9% clip.

Given Microsoft’s longstanding relationships with corporate and government IT departments, don’t be surprised in Azure is nipping at AWS’s heels in another couple years.

But as quickly as Microsoft is growing, this is by no means a cheap stock. MSFT trades at a lofty 28 times trailing earnings and 25 times future earnings estimates. Rather than chase this one higher, you might be better off waiting for a pullback.

MarketWatch columnist Mark Hulbert crunched the numbers back to 1980 and found that the largest S&P 500 stock (by market value) at the end of each year went on the underperform the blue-chip index over the following 12 months by a full 4 percentage points on average. It could be different this time, but history suggests it’s better to be patient here.

• Market value: $151.7 billion
• McDonald’s (MCD, $197.77) has a well-deserved reputation as a survivor. Its food isn’t particularly good. There certainly are tastier burgers to be found elsewhere, and there certainly are far trendier places to eat.

Yet while many of its competitors have risen or fallen over the decades, McDonald’s has managed to survive and thrive because it constantly adapts. The company is willing to shake up its menu every few years and get in front of customer trends. It proved this most recently with its successful launch of all-day breakfast in 2015.

McDonald’s management also was smart enough to read the handwriting on the wall regarding worker pay. Fast-food restaurants are at the front line of the “fight for $15” movement, which aims to raise the minimum wage to at least $15 per hour. To combat the risk of rising labor costs, McDonald’s has invested heavily in in-store ordering kiosks and mobile ordering, both of which significantly reduce labor needs and make the ordering process more streamlined.

All the same, while the burgers are affordable, MCD’s stock price is looking a bit rich. The shares trade for 26 times earnings and 23 times estimates on future profits, valuing McDonald’s more like a tech stock than a burger chain.

Put McDonald’s on your list of blue-chip stocks to buy at lower altitudes. A drop of $40 to $50 would put MCD at mouth-watering prices, though it would require a lot of help from the broader market. But even a modest dip would make McDonald’s shares much more palatable.

• Market value: $92.2 billion

Other than McDonald’s golden arches, perhaps no other food service logo is more iconic than that of Starbucks (SBUX, $76.15). As of the end of last quarter, the chain had surpassed 30,000 stores globally, giving it the third-most locations of any food service company in the world. That’s significantly more than KFC’s approximately 23,000 locations and within striking distance of No. 2 McDonald’s, which has more than 36,000. (For the trivia buffs out there, Subway is the undisputed king with more than 42,000.)

Give it another couple years, and Starbucks might actually surpass McDonald’s. Last quarter, SBUX reported a 7% increase over the previous year in its number of stores globally.

Importantly, Starbucks isn’t just growing by spreading — it also continues to find ways to improve its same-store sales. In its most recent quarter, same-store sales were up 3% globally, including 4% in American stores — almost unbelievable given the maturity of the U.S. market.

Starbucks has become more than a place to buy caffeine. It’s a place to meet a friend or date. It’s a place to do a business deal, or for the aspiring entrepreneur, a makeshift office. It has become an indispensable part of the landscape, and as a result, SBUX makes sense to own in a long-term portfolio.

But given that it’s priced at 33 times trailing earnings, don’t rush to buy it today. Wait for a 10% to 20% pullback, which has been a common occurrence even during the stock’s higher-growth periods.

• Market value: $494.7 billion

Over the long course of Warren Buffett’s career, his Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B, $201.69) has come to be synonymous with quality. Apart from its portfolio of blue-chip stocks — which includes large positions in Apple, Coca-Cola (KO) and Bank of America (BAC), among others — Berkshire owns a vast collection of privately held businesses covering everything from furniture to candy to insurance.

Berkshire Hathaway has been a money-making machine over its life. Between 1965 and 2018, Berkshire grew its book value by an astounding 1,091,899% and its share price by 2,472,627%. To put that in perspective, the S&P 500 increased a comparatively paltry 15,019%. Looking at annual numbers, Berkshire Hathaway’s share price has grown at a compounded annual rate of 20.5% per year, which is more than double the 9.7% produced by the S&P 500 over the same period.

It’s not realistic to expect those kinds of returns going forward, of course. To start, Mr. Buffett won’t be with us forever. He’s 88 years old, and his partner Charlie Munger is 95.

But even more critically, Berkshire Hathaway is a much bigger company than it was in 1965. Back then, Buffett could be nimble. Today, Berkshire Hathaway is the fifth-largest stock in the S&P 500 by market cap, worth nearly half a trillion dollars. At that size, the number of deals you can do that would have a meaningful impact on returns gets a lot smaller.

So, while Berkshire Hathaway is a financial powerhouse that likely will be alive and well decades after Mr. Buffett has left this world, it doesn’t make sense to pay a large premium for it today.

Were BRK.B to fall a good 15%, that would take its price-to-book-value ratio to about 1.1. That’s below the 1.2 ratio threshold that Buffett originally set when he authorized repurchases a few years ago (he has since relaxed that threshold). If Buffett himself considers Berkshire a deal at those levels, we should too.

• Market value: $88.4 billion

Chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA, $145.15) is one of the great “story stocks” of the past few years. Nvidia is particularly well-known for its graphics processing units (GPUs), which are popular with gamers. But it just so happened that the chips were particularly useful for another task: mining of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Nvidia’s chips were in high demand from cryptocurrency miners, as the chips were adept at handling the computational problems that support the blockchain. Unfortunately, once the crypto bubble burst, so did Nvidia’s stock price. Shares today are worth about half of their 2018 high.

Even after a plunge like that, shares are priced at 27 times trailing earnings and 20 times next year’s expected earnings. That’s not a nosebleed valuation by the standards of Nvidia’s history, but it’s definitely on the pricey side.

Will cryptocurrency mining make a comeback? Maybe, maybe not. Only time will tell. But even in the absence of crypto demand, Nvidia is the premier GPU maker, and its products also are used in numerous emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and driverless automobiles. That is unlikely to change any time soon.

You could buy NVDA at today’s prices and probably end up getting respectable returns over the next few years. But $110 to $120 would be a much better entry point and would take what’s left of the speculative froth out of this stock.

• Market value: $368.7 billion
• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, $138.85) is the definition of a blue-chip stock. It’s been in business since 1886 — longer than 12 of the 50 states have been in the Union. Along with Microsoft, it is one of only two companies with a AAA credit rating. And, most attractively for long-term shareholders, the company also has raised its dividend for 57 consecutive years and shows no sign of breaking that streak any time soon.

No one knows exactly what the future may hold, but if we were to make a list of companies most likely to be around a century from now, J&J would rank highly on that list.

Johnson & Johnson is the world’s largest health-products company in the world. Its brands include Listerine, Aveeno and Neutrogena, among others, and JNJ also is the maker of Tylenol, Benadryl, Zyrtec and even the humble Band-Aid. It also boasts vast pharmaceutical and medical-device businesses.

There’s really no debating Johnson & Johnson’s quality as a company. But it’s fair to debate its price. JNJ trades at 4.6 times sales, which is the kind of valuation you would see on a high-growth tech stock.

There’s no reason to believe Johnson & Johnson will outperform the broader market at this starting valuation. But were we to see a nice 10% to 20% dip, JNJ would qualify under stocks to buy and hold for the remainder of your life — and probably the lives of your heirs.

• Market value: $790.5 billion

It’s hard to imagine a world without Google. Yet the search engine, controlled by parent Alphabet (GOOGL, $1,138.61) is only a little more than 20 years old. Started by Larry Page and Sergey Brin as doctorate students at Stanford, the company has grown to become the most dominant information and media firm in the world. Its Class A (GOOGL) and Class C (GOOG) shares combined make Alphabet the fourth largest company in the world by market cap after Microsoft, Amazon and Apple.

Alphabet has had mixed results monetizing its non-search-related businesses. But that’s OK. You could make a convincing that the ultimate purpose of virtually all of Alphabet’s businesses — everything from Gmail to the Android operating system — is to improve the quality of the search engine and drive more traffic to it.

Alphabet is a financial powerhouse. Its net cash and marketable securities (cash and marketable securities minus debt) is equal to roughly 13% of its market cap, and its net profit margins are consistently over 20%.

The company also has managed to stay relevant in a fast-changing marketplace. It survived the rise of social media and the transition away from desktop computing to mobile computing with barely a snag. And almost unbelievable, its Google division accounts for nearly 40% of all U.S. digital ad spending.

If Alphabet has any real risks, it would simply be that of increased government oversight. But so far, there is no indication of a major move that would truly curtail Alphabet’s profit model.

Alphabet should trade at a premium to the broader market given its fat margins, lean balance sheet and total dominance of its industry; a value of 29 times trailing earnings, and 5.6 times sales, still is rich. But were Alphabet to dip even a modest 10%, investors could feel more confident about not overpaying.

• Market value: $267.6 billion
• Procter & Gamble (PG, $106.69) is the world’s leading consumer products company. It’s a premier maker and brander of baby diapers, laundry detergent, razor blades, toothpaste and a lot more.

It also has taken its share of licks over the past decade.

To start, the 2008 meltdown and its aftermath created a wave of cost-cutting that rivals anything seen since the Great Depression. This encouraged a lot of consumers, particularly younger ones, to switch to cheaper store brands for many of their basic products.

Compounding this is a change in the traditional marketing landscape. Millennial consumers are less likely to be influenced by traditional advertising, in part because they largely abandoned cable TV. They’re far more likely to respond to online product reviews.

This created a tough environment for P&G, but the company has adapted. Revenues and net margins trended lower between 2009 and 2016 but have since found a bottom and trended higher. The company has changed with the times, which is what you expect best-in-class blue-chip stocks to do.

As with Johnson & Johnson, it’s easy to believe that Procter & Gamble will be alive and kicking 100 years from now. But it’s questionable whether it makes sense to pay 25 times earnings (and 22 times earnings estimates) for a mature business like this. So rather than buy PG stock now and chase it higher, wait for a pullback.

• Market value: $95.7 billion
• 3M (MMM, $166.09) is one of the world’s premier industrial and manufacturing companies. You likely have scores of its products in your home or office. Scotch-Brite scrubbing and cleaning supplies, Ace bandages, Scotch tape and Post-it Notes are some of the companies more recognizable brands.

But that’s not all the company does. It also builds industrial-strength products for everything from the automotive to mining sectors.

Thus far, we’ve compiled a list of stocks to buy once they drop in price. But 3M is a bit different. It’s arguably already cheap enough, trading at 17 times trailing earnings and 16 times estimates, and yielding a respectable 3.5% in dividends.

Here, you’ll want to exercise patience on 3M to avoid catching that proverbial falling knife. The shares have been in freefall since late April, losing about a quarter of their value.

In the stock market, objects in motion tend to stay in motion. This is the essence of momentum investing. You generally don’t want to fight the trend. So, don’t buy MMM stock today, but keep an eye on it. If it can avoid hitting new lows for a couple weeks, it could be a sign that the selling has finally exhausted itself and that the stock is ready to enjoy a run higher.

• Market value: $6.5 billion

Another “falling knife” worth considering is department store giant Macy’s (M, $21.01). Macy’s in so many ways was the poster child for a retail economy getting ravaged by Amazon and other online retailers. Macy’s is a mall-based store chain at a time when malls are out of fashion and suffering.

That narrative may be true, but it ignores the fact that Macy’s has a long history of adapting to changing consumer tastes. Macy’s followed consumers off of urban Main Streets and into suburban malls.

And while it took the company a long time to adapt to the realities of internet commerce, Macy’s seems to be finally getting it right. Its adoption of its Buy Online Ship to Store (BOSS) and Vendor Direct programs offer the convenience of online purchasing but also get the customers to come into the store, where they might pick up other items too.

Jeff Middleswart, editor of Behind the Numbers, recently had some positive comments about Macy’s restructuring efforts:

“We like Macy’s because the company has very clear plans on what it is doing and can specify them. Clients know how much we rip companies who continually throw out restructuring plans without showing much in the way of sales or margin gains ...

In the case of Macy’s, they have been remaking the company through a series of large steps including asset sales, remodeling stores, boosting technology, better training of staff, retaining best staff ...”

It’s also worth noting that Macy’s pays an attractive dividend of more than 7%, which is in large part because of its heavy stock losses over the past couple years. If shares can simply buck their falling trend for a month or two, that might give investors time to realize the value proposition.

• Market value: $5.2 billion

Finally, on the same theme, you can consider fellow department store giant Nordstrom (JWN, $33.50).

Higher-end retailers such as Nordstrom have fared better in the age of Amazon than mid-tier retailers such as Macy’s. But they’ve still taken a beating. In 2015, Nordstrom traded hands at more than $80 per share. Today, the shares fetch less than half that.

Amazon really is taking over the world. That’s why it’s included as the first company on this list. But there are limits of what Amazon can realistically do in higher-end clothing and apparel. If you want personalized attention from staff, on-site tailoring and a pleasant shopping “experience,” it still makes sense to go to the mall. Nordstrom fills that niche.

The company isn’t a dinosaur either. About 30% of its sales now come from online purchases. This may surprise you, but Nordstrom is a top-10 internet retailer, according to Barron’s.

JWN shares have been in freefall for this entire calendar year, so you probably don’t want to run out and load up your portfolio with them today. But put Nordstrom on your list of stocks to buy ... then just be patient and wait for shares to at least trade sideways for a month or two before you consider buying. You’d be getting one of America’s premier retailers at a bargain-basement price.

Welcome back, bulls.

A stellar first quarter and a strong jobs report has sent the market into full-on rally mode. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index has now gained nearly 15% since the start of the year. And several drivers – including the growing possibility of a trade deal with China – may give the broader stock indexes a chance at hitting all-time highs this spring.

With the 10-year bull-run back on track, we turned to TipRanks’ Analysts’ Top Stocks tool to pinpoint some of the market’s most compelling investing opportunities. This tool reveals the companies with the most bullish “Strong Buy” consensus, based on top-performing analysts’ ratings of these stock picks over the last three months.

Here are 10 of the analysts’ best “Strong Buy” stock picks in anticipation of a continued rally. We’ve ranked them by potential upside based on analyst targets – from 4% to 103%.

Data is as of April 9.

• Market value: $4.1 billion
• TipRanks consensus price target: $64.50 (4% upside potential)
• TipRanks consensus rating: Strong Buy

Cybersecurity stock Verint Systems (VRNT, $62.04) is buzzing right now. The company delivered another robust round of quarterly financials and guidance near the end of March, leading to a big round of applause from the Street. “The Comeback Kid Delivers,” writes Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives, who boosted his price target from $58 to $63. VRNT has been pushing toward that target ever since.

Ives says Verint is at a real inflection point, with investments in advanced technologies – such as machine learning and robotics – beginning to pay off.

“VRNT is seeing strong demand for its Customer Engagement hybrid cloud portfolio,” he writes. On the cyber intelligence front, because of Verint’s strong reputation and product-based approach, “the company was able to drive strong growth and expects this trend to continue into double-digit territory throughout FY20.”

“As the visibility in VRNT increases, margins ramp, and the value proposition of its analytics framework continues to take hold, we believe the multiple will further expand,” Ives writes. For further insights on this tech stock, turn to TipRanks’ VRNT Research Report.

• Market value: $210.1 billion
• TipRanks consensus price target: $132.36 (13% upside potential)
• TipRanks consensus rating: Strong Buy
• Walt Disney (DIS, $116.86) is a mainstay among analyst stock picks, and Wall Street still is largely in the bull camp. The company is gearing up to launch its own Disney+ streaming service, placing it in direct competition with powerful rivals such as Netflix (NFLX) and Amazon.com’s (AMZN) Amazon Prime.

Goldman Sachs analyst Drew Borst is forecasting 7.5 million global subscribers by 2020, then a whopping 73 million by 2025. Disney has just completed the biggest entertainment merger in Hollywood with the purchase of many of 21st Century Fox’s (FOXA) film and TV assets, and once that’s done, it will own 60% of streaming provider Hulu.

“It is the dawn of a new era at Disney,” Borst says. “The $70 bn acquisition of Fox is now closed and the approaching debut of Disney+ streaming service in late (calendar 2019) marks a momentous shift in the company’s content monetization model from third-party licensing to direct-to-consumer streaming.”

Despite near-term investment headwinds, the analyst is confident that Disney+ represents a positive long-term strategy. Borst thinks the service will enable DIS to develop better direct-to-consumer relationships, with higher long-run margins and better consumption data.

The analyst initiated coverage on Disney on April 4 with a “Buy” rating and $142 price target (22% upside potential). Discover more about Disney’s investing potential in the TipRanks’ DIS Research Report.

• Market value: $901.8 billion
• TipRanks consensus price target: $2,125.16 (16% upside potential)
• TipRanks consensus rating: Strong Buy

While retail stocks all round the world struggle, Amazon.com (AMZN, $1,835.84) continues to deliver impressive growth quarter after quarter thanks to the company’s multi-pronged approach. Not only is it America’s e-commerce leader, but it’s also the global leader in cloud computing with its extremely valuable Amazon Web Services (AWS) unit, and it’s diving even further into media via its Amazon Prime operations.

Five-star Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein has just finished a deep dive into AWS. The results have furthered his conviction in Amazon’s investing thesis, leading him to raise his price target from $1,975 to $2,085 (potential upside of 14%).

“We think AWS is well positioned as AI leads productivity improvements, forcing faster enterprise cloud adoption,” Helfstein writes. The benefit for AWS is twofold: 1) most organizations will gain access to AI through their cloud platform, driving cloud adoption; 2) AI applications and services are high-margin recurring revenues that will tie-in enterprise providers. He estimates AWS revenue to increase from $8 billion in 2018 to $13 billion in 2021.

Interestingly, Helfstein also argues that with each new successful Amazon Web Services “vertical,” Amazon is increasingly likely to spin out AWS into a separate unit. “We view this as possible when AMZN matures its advertising and video businesses,” he writes.

The Street views Amazon as one of the best stocks to buy right now. Of the 36 analysts covering AMZN shares, 35 rate it a “Buy.” For more information on Amazon’s latest market activity, get a free AMZN Research Report from TipRanks.

• Market value: $3.2 billion
• TipRanks consensus price target: $15.33 (59% upside potential)
• TipRanks consensus rating: Strong Buy

Low-cost cannabis producer Aphria (APHA, $9.67) has enjoyed a tremendous run recently, with shares exploding 70% year-to-date. That’s following a horrific 2018 in which the company was hit by a short report alleging that insiders profited from acquiring international assets at extortionate prices.

But an investigation by a special board committee subsequently held that these allegations were unfounded, and the stock has been back on an upward trajectory ever since.

The committee did note, however, that “certain of the non-independent directors of the Company had conflicting interests in the Acquisition that were not fully disclosed to the Board.” As a result, chairman Irwin Simon has now taken over the CEO role. Simon is the founder, and former CEO of multibillion-dollar company Hain Celestial Group (HAIN), bringing with him extensive experience growing and guiding large companies in consumer markets.

“If management can execute, there is the potential for a very substantial re-rating of the stock price from current levels,” top-rated Clarus analyst Noel Atkinson writes to investors. “Aphria’s list of near-term operational milestones is significant, and successful execution in a timely fashion could transform the company both in terms of financial results and investor sentiment.”

These milestones include the launch of cannabis oil soft gels and optimizing growing techniques at its Leamington, Ontario site. The company plans to expand production at Leamington to 70,000 kilograms of cannabis per year. Find out what other analysts think of this cannabis stock in TipRanks’ APHA Research Report.

• Market value: $1.9 billion
• TipRanks consensus price target: $63.80 (21% upside potential)
• TipRanks consensus rating: Strong Buy
• Dave & Buster’s (PLAY, $52.65) received a slew of analyst “Buy” ratings following its Street-beating fourth-quarter results on April 3. The food-and-games franchise reported positive comparable-store sales growth in its Food & Beverage business for the first time in two years, while earnings of 75 cents per share beat expectations of 64 cents by a wide margin.

“We maintain our Buy rating on Dave & Buster’s (PLAY) and raise our price target to $67, from $64, following the release of better-than-expected F4Q18 (January 2019) results,” writes Maxim Group’s Stephen Anderson.

Even following a post-earnings rally, Anderson believes the stock is trading at an “attractive valuation.” Anderson sees shares surging by more than 27% from current levels, and notes that the company has now expanded its share buyback program by $200 million, to $600 million.

“We also believe accelerated share buybacks will offer another lever for EPS growth” Anderson writes about this stock pick. According to his calculations, these additional share buybacks will add about 9 cents per share in earnings this fiscal year, and as much as 28 cents per share in fiscal 2020. You can check out more analysis of Dave & Buster’s in TipRanks’ PLAY Research Report.

• Market value: $4.4 billion
• TipRanks consensus price target: $52.75 (34% upside potential)
• TipRanks consensus rating: Strong Buy
• CarGurus’ (CARG, $39.35) mission is to be the most trusted and transparent auto marketplace in the world. With a database of more than 5.4 million used cars, CARG’s website assists users in comparing local listings for used and new cars, and contacting sellers. It also boasts an active network of more than 40,000 American dealers.

But what sets CarGurus apart is its focus on the consumer.

“CARG’s differentiated, consumer-centric marketplace is enabling it to quickly grow site traffic while rival platforms seem constrained in their ability to respond/follow,” writes five-star SunTrust Robinson analyst Naved Khan. Indeed, CARG’s monthly audience size is now double that of competing marketplaces, and traffic continues to grow at a healthy clip.

Meanwhile revenue from auto dealers is also ramping up. “CarGurus’ rising site traffic/connection volumes, compelling dealer ROI and slew of new product launches should help drive strong growth in AARSD (annual revenue from subscribing car dealers) over the near-to-medium term, with scope for meaningful margin improvement,” writes Khan, who has a “Buy” rating and $52 price target (32% upside) on CARG.

Adding to the bullish activity comes a recent upgrade from Goldman Sachs. Citing traffic growth and marketing efficiency, Daniel Powell upgraded CarGurus to “Buy” while ramping up his price target from $43 to $48. Find out more from TipRanks in its CARG Research Report.

• Market value: $64.3 billion
• TipRanks consensus price target: $240.67 (42% upside potential)
• TipRanks consensus rating: Strong Buy

Insurance giant Cigna (CI, $169.13) has 100% Street support right now. All eight analysts that have published recommendations on Cigna during the past three months rate the stock a “Buy.”

“Remain buyers as story remains on track,” recommends five-star Oppenheimer analyst Michael Wiederhorn. Fresh from management meetings, he reiterates his “Buy” rating with a $254 price target (50% upside potential).

“We continue to have confidence in Cigna’s outlook, and believe the stock looks particularly attractive despite the noise around drug pricing and Medicare For All,” writes Wiederhorn, who says the company’s valuation of roughly 7.5 times 2021 EPS targets “highly compelling.”

Most importantly, Cigna noted that the Express Scripts integration remains on track, with strong employee retention and a stable ESRX client base. Cigna completed the massive $67 billion merger back in December, and so far management has not seen any notable health-plan losses.

“Overall, Cigna continues to project robust growth from the ESRX deal, but we believe the market is unfairly punishing the company due to some of the industry noise. As a result, we maintain our Outperform rating and would continue to be buyers,” the analyst concludes. Find out what other analysts think of Cigna in TipRanks’ CI Research Report.

• Market value: $3.9 billion
• TipRanks consensus price target: $60.60 (47% upside potential)
• TipRanks consensus rating: Strong Buy
• Wyndham Destinations (WYND, $41.29) – one-half of the previous Wyndham Worldwide, which split off into WYND and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (WH) this year – is one of America’s largest hospitality companies with more than 220 timeshare resorts. Shares have already surged more than 17% year-to-date as the company continues to deliver on multiyear growth targets. And according to Wall Street’s experts, there still is significant upside potential left to run.

In addition to the 40%-plus price potential for shares, based on analysts’ estimates, Wyndham Destinations also offers a generous dividend yield of 4.5%.

This dividend is one of the reasons Deutsche Bank’s Chris Woronka likes Wyndham so much: “We continue to view WYND as a consistent free cash flow generation vehicle and a prudent capital allocator, marked by programmatic share repurchase and reliable dividend increases,” writes this top-performing analyst.

And all this comes at a very reasonable valuation. “At less than 7x forward year EV/EBITDA, we believe the stock should attract incremental interest from deep value and yield-based investors,” Woronka writes. He has a “Buy” rating on Wyndham Destinations with a $60 price target. Discover more from TipRanks in its WYND Research Report.

• Market value: $8.8 billion
• TipRanks consensus price target: $209.00 (69% upside potential)
• TipRanks consensus rating: Strong Buy

Some of you may already be familiar with Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT, $124.01). This nearly $9 billion gene-therapy company already has an FDA-approved product. Exondys 51, the first-ever FDA-approved treatment for a rare but deadly genetic disease called Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), is already on the market.

With more than 20 therapies in various stages of development and research focused on RNA, gene therapy and gene editing, SRPT represents a very intriguing investing opportunity. “We think Sarepta has a clear lead in DMD gene therapy and their data has set a high bar for competition,” writes Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Alethia Young.

Specifically, on March 28, Sarpeta unveiled data from its ongoing Phase 3 study evaluating casimersen and golodirsen for DMD patients with a different genetic mutation. The data was positive, and Sarepta is now gearing up to a file a new drug application (NDA) for casimersen.

“We are very encouraged by these levels of dystrophin expression by casimersen,” writes five-star Cowen & Co. analyst Ritu Baral. “Given FDA accepted golodirsen’s NDA, we remain optimistic on the probability of acceptance and success for accelerated approval of casimersen.” She has a “Buy” rating on the stock and $213 price target (74% upside potential).

An even bigger catalyst is fast-approaching. The crucial FDA decision date for golodirsen is set for August 2019; should the FDA approve the drug application, SRPT shares could move significantly higher. For more information on Sarepta, get a free SRPT Research Report from TipRanks.

• Market value: $6.4 billion
• TipRanks consensus price target: $38.67 (103% upside potential)
• TipRanks consensus rating: Strong Buy

Clinical-stage biotech stock Amarin (AMRN, $19.06) is best-known for its potentially groundbreaking fish-oil drug Vascepa.

The company just announced submission of its supplemental new drug application (sNDA) to the FDA for Vascepa to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events for statin-treated patients with cardiovascular (CV) disease. This follows the company’s presentation of the landmark REDUCE-IT trial results highlighting the relative risk reduction (RRR) benefits of Vascepa, on top of statin therapy.

While investors anticipated the FDA submission, a more unexpected bullish signal came from the American Diabetes Association (ADA). The ADA has now updated its Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes for 2019 to include recommending icosapent ethyl (i.e., Vascepa) to reduce CV risk.

“As this decision was informed by the REDUCE-IT trial and the prominent role of cardiovascular disease in diabetics patients, we see this as a real-time win for Vascepa being recognized as a possible means of helping an at risk patient population,” writes top H.C. Wainwright analyst Andrew Fein.

Fein believes the medical community is beginning to appreciate the possible impact and longer-term benefits of Vascepa in CV disease patients, and concludes “we maintain our positive outlook on program expansion and most notably the prospects for benefiting a CV patient population representative of the leading cause of death in this country and globally.”

As a result, Fein reiterated his “Buy” rating on Amarin on April 1 with a $51 price target (167% upside potential). See what the rest of Wall Street has to say about Amarin in TipRanks’ AMRN Research Report.

Harriet Lefton is head of content at TipRanks, a comprehensive investing tool that tracks more than 5,000 Wall Street analysts as well as hedge funds and insiders. You can find more of their stock insights here.

Do you own Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT) or Netflix (NFLX)?

Congratulations if you do, because these members of the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index are up anywhere between 26% and 79% so far this year – and in the case of Netflix, its nearly 80% gains have come despite a 17% slide in July due to lower-than-expected subscriber growth.

With four months left in the year, you’re sitting pretty. Passive investors? Not so much. The problem is, as of mid-July, the four aforementioned S&P 500 stocks (according to research by S&P Dow Jones Indices) accounted for half the return of the index. At the time of the research, the index had gained about 6%, which means those four stocks accounted for 3 percentage points, and 496 companies accounted for the other 3.

It’s troubling that so few stocks are accounting for the lion’s share of the returns, but the message right now is clear: It’s a “stock picker’s market.” Thus, while every investor probably should have at least some money invested in an index fund, right now, those same investors should consider piling into a few individual S&P 500 stocks.

Here are 10 of the index’s best options not just for the rest of 2018, but for several years beyond that.

Data is as of Sept. 5, 2018.

• Market value: $466.9 billion

All three major social media companies – Facebook (FB, $167.18), Twitter (TWTR) and Snap (SNAP) – are experiencing some sort of important metric decline for the first time in a long time, prompting investors to pull back from all three companies’ stocks.

The good thing for Facebook is it makes more money in a quarter – $5.1 billion in Q2 2018 – than Twitter and Snap made in annual revenue this past year.

“Facebook has a strong track record of managing through monetization transitions and coming out stronger on the other side,” Deutsche Bank wrote about the company after its disastrous second-quarter results were released in late July. “The stock could tread water near term but we would take advantage of this transition over the medium term to add to long-term positions.”

FB stock isn’t treading water – it’s actually losing ground fast in the wake of worries about its ability to self-police and fight back against misinformation campaigns. But you might consider the near-term losses a bargain; if you believe social media can evolve and change for the better, Facebook is the stock for the long haul.

• Market value: $236.5 billion

Home Depot (HD, $204.15) announced second-quarter results Aug. 14 that weren’t just strong – they were much better than the analysts were expecting. Earnings came to $3.05 per share to beat the consensus estimate by 21 cents, and revenues of $30.5 billion were $430 million over the mark.

But the home improvement retailer’s stock barely budged.

The number that impressed me was same-store sales, which grew by 8% on a global basis – 140 basis points higher than what analysts were expecting. Home Depot’s same-store sales on a 24-month stacked basis have grown an average of 7.2% putting it in an excellent position to benefit from a strong housing market and economy.

“The housing market is still in very good shape,” says Joe Feldman, an analyst with Telsey Advisory Group. “People that are living in their homes, which is 96% of the homeowners out there still continue to buy, so as long as they continue to feel good about home values, they’ll continue to spend (at places like Home Depot).”

Which makes HD among the top S&P 500 stocks to buy not just for today, but for a long time down the road.

• Market value: $201.9 billion

If there’s a time to jump into Boeing (BA, $346.68), that time very well might be now. It’s about 7% off its all-time high set in June, and free cash flow – an important metric not just of corporate health, but dividend health – is better than it has ever been.

In the first six months of fiscal 2018, Boeing generated $14.1 billion in annualized FCF, which works out to almost $24 a share. Historically, its best year for free cash flow was 2017, in which it generated $11.6 billion, or 142% of its net income. That number is going to be higher this year.

“We believe Boeing shares carry the best upside in the sector,” UBS analyst Myles Walton wrote in an Aug. 16 note to clients. “Much of the cash growth and margin expansion story (is) set to be unlocked with our $31 per share in free cashflow estimate for 2020, 15 ahead of consensus.”

That’s an increase of 29% over the next 30 months, or an 11% annualized growth rate, suggesting Boeing stock is cleared for takeoff.

• Market value: $64.8 billion

It hasn’t been a good year for FedEx (FDX, $244.76) or rival UPS (UPS); both stocks are in negative territory with four months left in calendar 2018.

Fiscal 2018 turned out to be an excellent year for FedEx, so it’s a bit of a mystery why its shares haven’t responded. Full-year numbers included a 7.9% increase in revenue to $65.5 billion with adjusted net income of $4.2 billion, 27.8% higher than a year earlier. For fiscal 2019, FedEx expects revenue growth of around 9% over 2018 with $5.6 billion in capital spending.

The company’s focus is generating quality earnings, not just quantity. To that end, it expects to grow the FedEx Express unit’s operating income by as much as $400 million over the next two years to $1.5 billion.

“We anticipate gradual adjusted operating margin expansion in FedEx Ground starting in (the second half of fiscal 2019) via strong economic conditions, e-commerce activity, revenue quality focus, and efficiencies post incremental F1H19 network/hub expansion (operating expenditures) occurring ahead of the peak holiday season,” Oppenheimer analyst Scott Schneeberger wrote in an August note to clients.

The analyst has an “Outperform” rating on this S&P 500 stock, with a 12-month price target of $288.

• Market value: $61.2 billion

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG, $536.72) is headed in the opposite direction as FedEx, up 44% year-to-date to run circles around the S&P 500’s 6%-plus gains.

In July, the maker of da Vinci robotic surgery systems, reported excellent second-quarter results that included a 20% increase in revenue and a 42% increase in non-GAAP net income. The company should exceed $1 billion in free cash flow in fiscal 2018 for the first time in the company’s history.

The only concern investors should have at the moment about ISRG (other than the fact that it trades at more than 61 times free cash flow) is that it could suffer financially from an ongoing tariff battle between the U.S. and China.

But for now, worry not.

“We think that the estimated impact will be modest in terms of the increase in product cost for our systems,” CFO Marshall Mohr said during the company’s Q2 2018 conference call. “That’s not a cost or a level that we’re going to pass ... on to customers at this point in time.”

• Market value: $56.6 billion

The big news out of Intuit (INTU, $218.69) is that current CEO Brad Smith is stepping down from the top job at the end of December after 11 years. He will continue to work at Intuit as its executive chairman. Replacing Smith as CEO is Sasan Goodarzi, who’s currently in charge of the company’s Small Business and Self-Employed Group.

Eleven years is a long time for an S&P 500 CEO, so the role change shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to Intuit shareholders. That said, investor concern is understandable, given that INTU stock has gained roughly 600% since Smith became CEO in January 2008 – almost six times better than the S&P 500.

Goodarzi sees international growth as the key to Intuit’s success over the next decade. Currently, it generates only 5% of its revenue outside the U.S., so there’s plenty of potential to tap there.

Investors do not need to worry. Intuit is in good hands.

• Market value: $52.1 billion

S&P Global (SPGI, $182.41) held its annual Investor Day at the end of May. A few points from its presentation jumped out:

First, over the past six years, the company’s revenue has grown from $3.8 billion in 2011 to $6.1 billion in 2017.

The second, more exciting point, is that over the same period, SPGI was able to grow operating margins from 30% in 2011 to 47% in 2017, a 57% increase. Not surprisingly, S&P Global’s market cap rose by 231% to $43 billion in that year; it has grown another 22% in 2018.

The final point that demands attention is free cash flow. S&P Global expects to finish fiscal 2018 with $2.3 billion in free cash flow, about three-quarters of which it will return to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. Over the past four years, it has grown FCF by 16% annually, or $8.5 billion on a cumulative basis – a sure sign that it’s shareholder friendly.

S&P Global, as a reminder, is one of the premiere names in financial information and analytics, and also owns the majority of S&P Dow Jones Indices.

• Market value: $51.2 billion

Estee Lauder (EL, $137.75) is the ultimate family business; the Lauder family owns 87% of the company’s voting shares. Some investors don’t like this kind of concentrated ownership, but publicly traded, family-owned businesses often outperform in the long run because they have such a vested interest in keeping the gravy train running.

The cosmetic company’s business has never been stronger, which makes the stock’s 10% correction since mid-June a real buying opportunity.

“After several years of decline, with the operating margin hitting 4 percent in FY18, profitability in the Americas is poised to improve, driven by (Leading Beauty Forward) benefits and initiatives to improve door productivity,” D.A. Davidson analyst Linda Bolton Weiser wrote Aug. 21 while discussing her upgrade of EL stock to “Buy” from “Neutral.” She also upped the 12-month target price by $33 per share to $167.

Cosmetics always will be one of those affordable luxuries that many women and men can’t live without. That makes EL a fairly safe long-term buy among S&P 500 stocks.

• Market value: $39.6 billion

Great companies such as Constellation Brands (STZ, $209.75) are often ahead of the curve.

When CEO Rob Sands announced last October that his beer, wine and spirits company was paying $191 million for a 9.9% stake in Canopy Growth (CGC), the Canadian cannabis producer, the response south of the border in the U.S. was relatively muted.

Now, less than a year later, Constellation has pulled out its checkbook once more, investing $4 billion more in Canopy for a 38% stake that could grow to more than 50%.

“They made Constellation pay up a ton for these rights but for Constellation, they essentially paid 10% of their market cap for something that they will now control, and when consolidated, will equal nearly 7% of their market cap and likely provide most of their organic growth for years to come,” cannabis industry expert Mitch Baruchowitz wrote on Aug. 23.

Constellation’s stock is down 10% year-to-date … and it’s difficult to see how these prices won’t be considered cheap five years from now.

• Market value: $34.8 billion

The idea of Warren Buffett buying an airline such as Southwest Airlines (LUV, $61.40) is not a new one. Investors of all stripes have floated the idea ever since Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) first invested in a bunch of them in 2016.

The latest comes from Morgan Stanley analysts Kai Pan and Rajeev Lalwani.

“Berkshire focuses on quality of business and management in acquisition, which could make for an obvious pairing (with Southwest),” the duo wrote in a recent note to clients. “While we recognize that other factors could come under consideration, our screen suggests Southwest as a hypothetical candidate for a more permanent relationship with Berkshire.”

Buffett has said he wouldn’t rule out the idea of buying an airline. Of U.S. airlines, Southwest is the only one that meets Berkshire Hathaway’s five criteria for making an acquisition. Furthermore, it’s probably had the most consistently good management over the years – always an attractive quality to a hands-off owner.

Pan and Lalwani might just be right.

Does “FOMO” – fear of missing out – have you down? If you’re in the stock market but too scared of tech stocks, you might be feeling a twinge of regret right now.

The famous FAANG stocks – Facebook (FB), Amazon.com (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Netflix (NFLX) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) – returned 49% on average in 2017. These companies simply crushed the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, which gained a bit more than 19% last year.

If you’re worried that these gains are divorced from fundamentals, you’re barking up the wrong tree. All of these companies are growing revenues year-over-year, and all but Amazon are on pace for year-over-year profit gains (Amazon has been open about its reason for earnings declines: heavy investment into Amazon Prime content, warehouses and other improvements).

What’s more, the price investors are paying for that growth is conservative relative to the broader market. James Wang, internet analyst at ARK Investment Management, sees many valuations for tech stocks being lower than the broader market. “For example, Facebook is growing revenue at 47% but trades at P/E of 33. It’s much cheaper than the S&P 500 average of 4% growth and 26 P/E,” he says, noting that investors can buy FAANGs’ growth for cheaper than the broader market’s growth.

You can access these stocks individually, but funds are an attractive alternative. Buying funds that are heavily invested in FAANG stocks allows you to ride them higher while also benefiting from other technological trends. Here are 10 funds that offer the best of several worlds.

Data is as of Jan. 29, 2018. Yields represent the trailing 12-month yield, which is a standard measure for equity funds. Funds listed in reverse order of FAANG exposure. Click on ticker-symbol links in each slide for current share prices and more.

• Market value: $619.8 million
• 52-week return: 26.4%
• Distribution rate: 6.8%*
• Expenses: 1.08%
• FAANG Weight: 7.9%

The list’s first entry is an odd duckling, in that the AllianzGI Equity & Convertible Income Fund (NIE, $22.37) is one of the few funds discussed today that aren’t technology-specific. Instead, the NIE is a broad-equity, multi-asset fund.

Nonetheless, its top six holdings include four FAANG stocks – Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Alphabet – which makes it a good stand-in for investors who want to benefit from these stocks specifically without heavily overweighting tech.

Yes, NIE is most heavily exposed to the tech sector (34.9%), but it also has significant holdings in consumer discretionary (17.6%), health care (15.6%) and industrials (15.6%). Moreover, this diverse fund not only includes equity, but convertible bonds. Thus, it’s less exposed to a big downturn in the stock market. Whenever that may be. Lastly, the fund can sell covered calls – a popular trading strategy used to generate income.

That explains a generous distribution rate of 7.2%, which recently was increased and is currently more than covered by its capital gains and investment income from those bond holdings. The fund offers this generous yield without using leverage – an oft-used tool of CEFs; combined with its covered-call strategy, that makes NIE a safer pick than similarly constructed funds during down markets.

*Distribution rate – which can be a combination of dividends, interest income, realized capital gains and return of capital – is an annualized reflection of the most recent payout. Distribution rate is a standard measure for CEFs.

• Market value: $548.9 million
• 52-week return: 93.4%
• Dividend yield: 0.1%
• Expenses: 0.75%
• FAANG Weight: 9.7%

The ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK, $42.33) is a tech-focused fund, investing in companies that are involved with budding technologies across three main cornerstones – the “Genomic Revolution,” “Web x.0” and “Industrial Innovation” – for three ARK exchange-traded funds.

In other words, this is a blended “best of the best” ETF that doesn’t target one particular theme, but instead broader technological innovation. Thus, the cloud, robotics, electric vehicles and several other trends are represented in the ARKK.

While the FAANGs play a small part in this fund’s performance, the company also is heavily invested in companies such as EV maker Tesla (TSLA), 3D printing company Stratasys (SSYS) and genome editing therapy developer Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA).

ARKK also offers a bit of geographic diversification, with some of its portfolio dedicated to Chinese tech giants Baidu (BIDU) and JD.com (JD), as well as companies from Japan and other nations. Lastly, it’s worth pointing out that the fund has a small (1% presently) holding in the Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC) – an over-the-counter fund that attempts to track the price of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.

• Market value: $667.6 million
• 52-week return: $64.2%
• Distribution rate: 5.2%
• Expenses: 0.9%
• FAANG Weight: 19.3%

Like the NIE, the BlackRock Science and Technology Trust (BST, $29.84) sticks out in large part because of its sizable dividend. At 5.2%, the BST yields far more than just about every tech ETF on the market.

That’s in part because BST, like NIE, is a closed-end fund, which offers a few advantages on the yield front. For instance, CEFs’ market yield can sometimes be higher than the actual yield on the fund’s portfolio, as it’s possible for closed-end funds to trade at a discount to their net asset values. BlackRock’s fund currently trades at a slight 1% discount to NAV, slightly helping to prop up the yield.

But the high yield largely is attributable to BST’s ability to sell covered calls against its portfolio – just like NIE.

Past those attributes, BlackRock Science and Technology Trust’s portfolio looks like your garden-variety global technology fund. About 64% of BST’s 89 holdings are in U.S. tech stocks including FAANG members Apple, Alphabet, Amazon and Facebook, while the rest is an international smattering including China (14.6%), Japan (3.7%) and the Netherlands (3.2%).

A good strategy for many CEFs is to try to buy in when the fund’s discount widens. BST, for instance, has traded at a whopping 11% discount to NAV within the past 52 weeks.

• Market value: $111.5 million
• 52-week return: 24.7%
• Dividend yield: N/A
• Expenses: 0.6%
• FAANG Weight: 19.5%

Warren Buffett lovers may take a liking to the Davis Select U.S. Equity ETF (DUSA, $25.13) – a broad equity fund that seeks out “high-conviction, best-of-breed businesses.” That’s because DUSA not only has more than 10% of its assets invested in the Oracle of Omaha’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B), but it also holds Berkshire picks such as American Express (AXP) and Wells Fargo (WFC).

The best-in-breed focus by managers Danton Goei and Christopher Davis has resulted in numerous bets on tech, including FAANG stocks Amazon and Alphabet as well as companies such as China e-commerce platform JD.com.

This is hardly a large fund, at just $111 million in assets under management, making it microscopic in the multi-trillion-dollar ETF universe. However, it’s attracting net assets fast – DUSA boasted just $27 million in AUM midway through 2017.

• Market value: $341.8 million
• 52-week return: 88.2%
• Dividend yield: 0.8%
• Expenses: 0.75%
• FAANG Weight: 19.9%

The ARK Web x.0 ETF (ARKW, $51.11) homes in on various companies “expected to benefit from shifting the bases of technology infrastructure to the cloud,” covering a wide swath of industries including cloud computing, e-commerce, digital media and even blockchain.

Its fairly aggressive approach to technology makes its five FAANG holdings look conservative by comparison. For instance, the fund invests in Tesla – still a relative upstart in the automaking industry – Latin American e-commerce platform Mercadolibre (MELI) and even Bitcoin via GBTC.

Concerning the risks in this ultra-tech portfolio, ARK analyst James Wang told me that his company takes a multi-pronged approach to managing the risks of a major downturn in the fund. “We control risk through diversification across industry and geography as well as by employing a longer investment time horizon,” he said.

Indeed, roughly 20% of the portfolio is invested outside of North America – one of several factors that has led the ARKW to a three-year return of nearly 150%, which is more than double the U.S.-focused Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK).

• Market value: $1.6 billion
• 52-week return: 43.4%
• Dividend yield: 0.9%
• Expenses: 0.48%
• FAANG Weight: 26.3%

The iShares Global Tech ETF (IXN, $165.50) is a so-called “global” fund, which means that it invests both domestically and abroad – typically with a heavy bent toward the U.S. (For truly ex-U.S. exposure, you want to look for “international” funds.)

To wit, the IXN is almost three-quarters exposed to American stocks, while Japan and China are its largest international areas of investment at just 5.3% and 4.3%, respectively. There’s also a distinct lack of European focus, with Germany and the Netherlands the largest representatives at a respective 2.2% and 1.2%.

What’s also important to note is that the IXN’s definition of “tech” is one that views companies such as Amazon and China’s Alibaba (BABA) as consumer discretionary (essentially, retailers) instead of technology. Thus, while this ETF is very much a who’s who of global large-cap tech, it’s missing a few familiar names that many people often associate with tech.

Still, the FAANGs are well-represented with large holdings in Apple, Facebook and Alphabet. International mega-caps include the likes of Tencent and South Korea’s Samsung (SSNLF).

• Market value: $19.0 billion
• 52-week return: 40.3%
• Dividend yield: 1.0%
• Expenses: 0.1%
• FAANG Weight: 30.7%

The Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT, $177.71) is the tech entry from the king of inexpensive passive investing, costing a mere $10 annually on every $10,000 invested.

As far as sector funds go, there are few cheaper options.

Basic passive index funds do have their problems, among them that you often get plenty of losers alongside the winners. While the VGT is chock full of FAANGs, its market capitalization-weighting methodology also means that laggard International Business Machines (IBM) recently was a top-10 holding. This is a company that, up until recently, strung together a 22-quarter streak of declining year-over-year revenues.

Still, a heavy allocation to the FAANGs – Apple (13.9%) and Alphabet (10.2%) are both double-digit weightings – and a broader tech focus have served the VGT well. The fund has delivered a total return of 165% over the past five years, clobbering the S&P 500’s 107% total return in the same time period.

• Market value: $21.4 billion
• 52-week return: 37.2%
• Dividend yield: 1.4%
• Expenses: 0.14%
• FAANG Weight: 31.9%

The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK, $68.56) is the largest technology ETF on the market, at $21.4 billion in assets under management. That’s thanks in part to simply being around for so long (its inception was in December 1998), and in part because of its low expense ratio.

Like the VGT, the XLK is market cap-weighted, which means $860 billion Apple is its largest holding at 13.6% of the portfolio, while Alphabet and Microsoft (MSFT) make up another 11%-plus apiece. Facebook rounds out the FAANG exposure for this ETF, which doesn’t hold Amazon nor Netflix.

One nice thing about the XLK is that its focus on large-cap tech has resulted in a focus on dividend growth. Yes, the fund only yields a measly 1.4% at current prices, but the nominal payout has grown from 21 cents per share in 2018 to 87.61 cents last year – meaning earlier investors have seen their dividends and yield on cost quadruple in that time.

These distributions should continue growing as an ever-larger number of tech companies are paying out dividends as they mature. For instance, Apple delivered absolutely no income as recently as 2012, but has grown its dividend by roughly 66% since it resumed a regular payout six years ago.

• Market value: $549.9 million
• 52-week return: 44.4%
• Dividend yield: N/A
• Expenses: 0.6%
• FAANG Weight: 36%

If you’re optimistic about the growth of online commerce, you can express that confidence via the PowerShares Nasdaq Internet Portfolio (PNQI, $131.04).

The PNQI invests in stocks tethered to internet-related businesses, covering e-commerce, social media, video content delivery and more. That means there are FAANGs aplenty – only Apple is excluded from the bunch – as well as online travel site Priceline.com (PCLN), online auction site eBay (EBAY) and Chinese gaming giant NetEase (NTES).

While the fund’s moniker might lead you to believe that it only holds Nasdaq-listed stocks, that’s not the case – it simply invests in companies tracked by a Nasdaq-created index, which includes stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange and other exchanges. Also, a modified market-cap weighting methodology means that larger companies generally contribute more to performance, but it’s not based entirely on size. For instance, $123 billion Netflix (10.6%) is a significantly larger holding than $540 billion Facebook (7.3%).

Investors also should note that consumer discretionary stocks such as Netflix and Amazon make up almost 40% of the fund, which means PNQI really should benefit from the continued trend of people shopping and otherwise spending money online.

• Market value: $64.5 billion
• 52-week return: 36.5%
• Dividend yield: 0.8%
• Expenses: 0.2%
• FAANG Weight: 36.1%

The PowerShares QQQ Trust (QQQ, $170.09) is the most FAANG-happy fund out there despite the fact that it’s technically not a tech fund.

Yes, the QQQ is indeed a tech-heavy portfolio, with the sector claiming just more than 60% of the fund’s assets. But that’s a result of what the ETF does – not necessarily its intent. See, the PowerShares QQQ Trust tracks the Nasdaq-100, which is an index composed of the 100 largest non-financial companies on the Nasdaq stock market. It just so happens that many of those companies are in the tech space.

Other sectors are represented, too, including consumer discretionary and healthcare. So in addition to large holdings in the FAANGs, there are companies such as Starbucks (SBUX), Marriot International (MAR) and Amgen (AMGN).

There’s a worry that some FAANGs’ price-to-earnings ratios have become too inflated thanks to their breakneck runs, putting funds like the QQQ at risk. However, Robert Rostan – founder, CEO and principal at financial education center Training The Street – says many value investors that avoid the FAANGs do so because of a traditional (and possibly outdated) focus on the wrong metrics.

“I think that the FAANG equities are measured more by their growth and potential growth, not current earnings,” Rostan says. That doesn’t mean earnings are irrelevant – but that the traditional accounting rules in GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) are less relevant for the technology companies of today than they were for the industrial firms of yesteryear. “The one GAAP measure that captures some growth is revenue, and I do think that revenue multiples are still appropriate for these firms,” he says.

Investors can rummage through the cheapie bin, looking for stocks with ultralow price-earnings ratios. But buying so-called deep value stocks isn’t for the faint of heart: Their shares tend to be inexpensive because of a downturn in their business, and they may not rebound soon.

Yet bargain hunters aren’t entirely out of luck. Banks and other financial firms, for instance, trade at an average 36% discount to Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, based on the stocks’ book value (assets minus liabilities), according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Some media companies also look inexpensive, along with technology firms that aren’t as pricey as the stars of the tech world but still have strong prospects.

The following seven stocks are bargains you can bet on for the long term. Our picks are profitable and leaders in their fields, but their shares trade at reasonable prices because of pressures in their industry or company-specific challenges. Eventually, we think those issues will subside. And for now, investors can buy these stocks at an attractive discount to the broad market or to industry averages. That should help set up strong returns, even if the stocks’ prices rise only enough to get back to long-term average valuations.

Data is as of December 8, 2017. Sources: Thomson Financial, Yahoo Finance, Zacks Investment Research. Earnings per share are based on estimated earnings for the next four quarters. Stocks are listed in alphabetical order. Click on symbol links in each slide for current share prices and more.

Market value: $3.3 billion

Earnings per share $6.86

Price-earnings ratio: 8

Breaking Bad. Mad Men. The Walking Dead. All three shows have been huge hits for AMC Networks (AMCX, $54), which runs them on its AMC cable channel. The Dead, a zombie series now in its eighth season, remains one of the biggest non-sports shows on cable, averaging about 8 million viewers for new episodes this season.

Yet AMC’s stock has been stumbling like a zombie, wallowing at 21% below its 52-week high in a market that has been rising. AMC shares trade at eight times estimated earnings for the year ahead, less than half the market’s average price-earnings ratio. AMC also looks like a bargain compared with media stocks that are more in favor with investors—such as Time Warner (TWX), trading at 14 times earnings.

The market appears to be spooked by several factors haunting AMC. Although viewership for the Dead remains strong by cable-TV standards, its ratings have been sliding for more than two years, pressuring AMC’s ad revenues. The network’s other shows, including spin-offs of Breaking Bad and the Dead, are faring well but aren’t nearly as popular as the originals.

More broadly, AMC is competing against more high-quality scripted shows on other cable channels, and against streaming services, such as Netflix. Analysts also worry about a gradual decline in cable subscriptions, squeezing the fees that cable service providers pay networks such as AMC to carry their channels.

• Yet the bullish case for AMC looks compelling, according to Wells Fargo Securities, which recently recommended the stock. AMC’s channel lineup also includes BBC America, IFC, Sundance and WE. Subscriptions to those channels are growing, bucking the industry trend. AMC charges cable operators relatively low fees to carry its channels, delivering “huge bang for the buck,” says Wells.

AMC’s shows, meanwhile, still attract some of the biggest audiences on cable. Its scripted dramas remain popular with 18- to 49-year-old viewers—a coveted demographic that advertisers can’t reach on ad-free streaming services or premium cable channels such as HBO. Moreover, the Dead should remain a solid revenue producer, with a long afterlife on subscription video services and international markets.

Last, AMC has a solid balance sheet with low debt in relation to its cash and earnings. And the stock could be a takeover target. Applying a similar value to what Discovery Communications (DIS) recently paid for Scripps Networks, AMC would fetch $96 per share, estimates Wells. Even assuming 5% annual declines in ad revenues over the next few years—an unlikely, dire scenario—the stock would still be worth $48, Wells says, only slightly below recent prices.

Market value: $94.9 billion

Earnings per share $20.40

Price-earnings ratio: 12

Warren Buffett plowed $5 billion into Goldman Sachs (GS, $250) in 2008, seeing great value in Wall Street’s premier investment bank when it was on the ropes during the Great Recession. Goldman’s business has rebounded handsomely since then. But the stock still looks reasonably priced at 12 times estimated earnings. By comparison, large financial companies, including banks, brokerage firms and insurers, trade at an average P/E of 15.

• Goldman’s stock trades at a discount because the firm’s business is inherently risky. Goldman’s traders make huge bets on bonds, stocks and anything else that can be swapped for gain. Profits from trading, a major source of revenues, fluctuate wildly. And a downturn in financial markets could be devastating, wiping out years of profits and invested capital (and leaving its army of bankers with little to do if deal-making were to dry up).
• Steeper interest rates would also help Goldman by increasing its net interest income (the difference between the rate at which a bank lends and the interest it pays on deposits). Net interest income now accounts for about 9% of Goldman’s revenues. That could increase substantially as rates rise modestly.

Yet Goldman is diversifying away from risky Wall Street business to more traditional financial services. The company recently outlined plans to produce $5 billion in additional annual revenues from new ventures, such as online banking and lending to consumers, including a business to help people pay off high-interest-rate credit card debt. The firm now manages or supervises more than $1.4 trillion in client assets, up by $310 billion over the past three years. Goldman is also selling more mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, and a low-cost “robo” advisory service, focused on ETFs, is reportedly in the works.

Two other trends make Goldman appealing. One is the potential for regulators to ease up on some of the rules governing how big banks operate and make money. Goldman, in particular, would benefit from a loosening of the so-called Volcker rule, which places restrictions on banks trading for their own benefit (as opposed to solely for the benefit of clients).

Market value: $11.8 billion

Earnings per share $2.11

Price-earnings ratio: 20

A leader in medical technology for women’s health, Hologic (HOLX, $43) makes imaging machines and devices to detect breast cancer, potential premature births, sexually transmitted diseases and other medical conditions. Sales have been rising slowly but steadily. But Hologic’s stock has been anemic, returning just 9.6% over the past year—far behind the 32% gain of the iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF (IHI), a broad-market basket of health-device stocks.

Hologic should rebound, though. The firm has been hurt by weak sales at Cynosure, a company it acquired early in 2017 for $1.4 billion. Cynosure makes fat-blasting lasers that can sculpt tummies, thighs and other body areas, remove tattoos, and revitalize scarred skin. The merger didn’t go smoothly, as some of Cynosure’s sales force departed during the handover to Hologic. But a new executive, who revitalized Hologic’s international business, is now in charge of Cynosure. And growth should rebound as a new sales team takes over.

Hologic’s diagnostics and imaging businesses are faring well. The firm dominates the U.S. market for 3-D mammography machines, which it says can boost the detection rate of invasive breast cancer by 41% compared with 2-D imaging. Sales of those machines aren’t increasing much in the U.S., where Hologic already controls about 60% of the market, but they are rising rapidly overseas. Hologic’s molecular diagnostic business is thriving, too, with machines that can test for a wider variety of STDs. And the firm is developing more women’s health products and testing services.

• Hologic’s stock may be flat in the near term, mainly because it will take time to revitalize Cynosure. But the business looks like a long-term winner: The market for aesthetic cosmetic procedures is now worth more than $2 billion in global annual sales, Hologic says, and is growing by more than 10% a year.

At 20 times earnings, the shares trade well below the P/E of 34 for the iShares ETF, providing plenty of upside for investors if Hologic can edge its way closer to the industry average.

Market value: $202.9 billion

Earnings per share $3.23

Price-earnings ratio: 13

The rap on Intel (INTC, $43) is that it’s chained to the flatlining world of personal computers. The company’s PC-centric chips account for more than half of its annual revenues, which is why the shares trade at just 13 times estimated earnings. That is well below the average for sizzling chip makers such as Nvidia (NVDA), a firm that makes processors for self-driving cars and high-end graphics applications, giving its stock a nosebleed P/E of 43.

Yet Intel isn’t just a chip maker for PCs anymore. The firm bought Israeli chip maker Mobileye in 2017, paying $15.3 billion for a global leader in sensors and mapping technologies for self-driving cars. The deal plants a stake for Intel in one of the hottest chip markets, says Todd Ahlsten, lead manager of Parnassus Core Equity Fund, which owns the stock. The car of the future “is a massive opportunity for Intel,” says Ahlsten. Indeed, Mobileye fits nicely with Intel’s other growth areas: chips for data centers, artificial intelligence, networking equipment, memory and storage. Those segments accounted for 45% of Intel’s $16.1 billion in sales in the third quarter of 2017, up from 43% a year earlier.

• Intel remains hugely profitable, thanks to sales of its PC chips, processors for computer servers and other necessities of corporate computing. The firm also generates about $12 billion in annual free cash flow (cash profits after capital expenditures necessary to maintain the business). That is money Intel can use to pay higher dividends, buy back shares or make more acquisitions. Altogether, says Ahlsten, “it’s hard for me to contain my enthusiasm for a stock you can buy at 13 times earnings, with a long wave of innovation to come.”

Market value: $367.5 billion

Earnings per share $7.59

Price-earnings ratio: 14

Nearly a decade after the financial crisis, giant banks such as JPMorgan Chase (JPM, $106) remain on a tight regulatory leash. But JPMorgan is raking in profits, which are expected to rise by 11.6% in 2018, to $7.71 per share. Investors are enjoying a discount on that profit growth, with the shares trading at just 14 times earnings—below the average of 15 for financial stocks.

• Run by longtime CEO Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan is considered one of the best-managed giant banks. Its balance sheet looks sturdy, with an ample cushion of high-quality securities, such as Treasuries, on hand as a buffer against loans that go bad or other business losses. Moreover, the company is seeing “steady core growth” across its many businesses, Dimon recently said.
• Few big banks, in fact, look better-positioned to capitalize on growing demand for financial services. JPMorgan’s asset management division, which includes consumer deposits and private accounts managed for clients, recently hit a record of $1.9 trillion. Outstanding loans are also rising in the firm’s banking divisions. And the whole business is getting more valuable: JPMorgan’s book value hit $66.95 per share in the third quarter of 2017, up 5% over the previous year.

The firm should be a major beneficiary of steeper interest rates, too. Over the next few years, gradually rising rates should mean an increase in net interest income, which was $13.1 billion for the third quarter of 2017—up 10% from the same period a year ago.

Income-oriented investors should be able to put more cash in their pocket with the stock, too. Bank of America Merrill Lynch estimates that JPM will hike its payout by 14%, to $2.42 per share, in 2018, with more increases coming as the bank continues to prosper.

Market value: $12.0 billion

Earnings per share $6.86

Price-earnings ratio: 8

Lear (LEA, $177) is the world’s leading automotive seat supplier, and sales and profits are rising as auto production expands around the world. But a slide in revenues generated in the U.S. as auto sales recede from record levels has some investors wondering whether growth could slow for the firm, which derives roughly 40% of its revenues from the North American market.

But Lear’s long-term outlook is bright, says Win Murray, comanager of Oakmark Select Fund. Sales are increasing in China, Europe and other parts of the world. And Lear should benefit from several trends that are gradually driving up seat prices. Consumers in emerging markets are upgrading from cars with two rows of bench seats to vehicles with three rows of bucket seats, including additional safety and comfort features, Murray says. Lear is also cranking out more seats with heating and cooling features, and premium surface materials such as leather, pushing up seat prices. Eventually, Lear aims to produce “intelligent” seats embedded with biometric sensors (which could, for example, issue an alert if they detect the driver is getting drowsy).

Lear’s stock won’t benefit from these trends right away, and a slowdown in U.S. auto production would hurt its financial results in the near term. But analysts’ 2018 earnings estimates for Lear have actually been rising—going up by 28 cents per share, to $17.67, last fall—a testament to the firm’s still-healthy business.

The stock looks inexpensive, too. Although the shares have returned 29.6% in the past year, including dividends, they trade at just 10 times estimated earnings, well below the P/Es of other major automotive suppliers.

Market value: $3.3 billion

Earnings per share $6.86

Price-earnings ratio:17

Disney’s movie studios are cranking out blockbusters, including Beauty and the Beast, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2and Thor: Ragnarok. Those movies hauled in more than $1 billion in U.S. ticket sales in 2017. And analysts expect Star Wars: The Last Jedi to bring in close to $1 billion in sales. Yet Disney’s stock has been a flop, returning just 2.4% over the past year, versus a 20.5% gain for the S&P 500.

• The main drag on Disney (DIS, $104) is the firm’s ESPN cable business, which is in decline. The channel had 88 million subscribers at the end of September, down from 100 million in 2010. Those losses are eroding the fee revenues that cable operators pay to carry ESPN. And the channel’s troubles are dragging down Disney’s overall profits, which fell by 4% in fiscal 2017 compared with a year earlier.

But ESPN’s problems are fixable, says Parnassus manager Ahlsten, whose fund owns the stock. Disney aims to revitalize ESPN by taking it to the web. The firm says a new ESPN streaming video app is coming this year, showing content that isn’t on cable TV, including some additional college sports and Major League Baseball and National Hockey League games. Eventually, fans may be able to buy season passes to sports leagues or purchase individual games they can’t see on TV. “Disney is going to make ESPN the iTunes of sports,” says Ahlsten.

Disney also aims to take on Netflix (which runs a lot of Disney movies and TV shows) with its own video streaming service, expected in 2019. Disney says its movies and shows will then be available exclusively on its service (sorry, Netflix). Meanwhile, Disney’s film studios, including Marvel and Pixar, should remain hit machines. And the firm plans to bulk up with a $52.4 billion deal to buy assets from 21st Century Fox, acquiring its TV and film studios, along with cable and international TV businesses (pending approval by regulators). Best of all, says Ahlsten, investors can buy shares on the cheap, at 17 times estimated earnings. “You’re getting a great business,” he says, “at a nice discount to the market.”

Even if you haven’t heard of the acronym, you’ve surely heard plenty about FAANG companies. Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet (represented by a “g” because it was formerly Google) have become darlings of the market in recent years, thanks to the companies’ seemingly limitless abilities to sustain high sales and profit growth rates. Over the past five years, the FAANG five have returned 41.6% annualized, on average, compared with a 15.8% annualized gain for Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index.

But today, the shares look awfully pricey. While the S&P 500 trades for about 20 times estimated earnings for the next four quarters, FAANGs sport an average price-earnings ratio of 69.

As FAANG bears like to point out, the market has gone weak-kneed for growth stocks before, with disastrous results. In the mid 1960s, the Nifty Fifty were high-flying shares of growing companies that seemingly could do no wrong. The stocks soared to excessive price-earnings ratios into the early 1970s, then crashed and burned during the 1973–74 bear market. As Jeremy Siegel, professor of finance at the Wharton School, has put it, the Nifty Fifty demonstrated that investors shouldn’t “pay any price” for growth.

We’re not FAANG bears, but we do think investors should approach the stocks with caution. We’ve rated each stock “buy,” “sell” or “hold.” Only one stock, Apple, merits a buy rating in our view, and even that comes with a caveat: Chances are you already hold a large position in the stock through mutual funds, so be careful not to overload your portfolio.

Data is as of November 13, 2017. Price-earnings ratio are based on estimates for the next four quarters. Click on ticker-symbol links in each slide for current share prices and more.

The world’s largest social network may be facing political woes, as lawmakers scrutinize Russian abuse of the platform leading up to the 2016 election. But Facebook (FB) has a track record of confronting hurdles head-on. For example, in early 2012 the company acknowledged that it had missed the boat on smartphones—more users were accessing Facebook on their phones, but the company wasn’t running ads on its phone app or mobile site. By the end of 2013, mobile advertising accounted for 53% of total ad revenue, and by the third quarter of 2017, mobile ads accounted for 88% of total revenue of $10.3 billion. Chris Carter, co-manager of the Buffalo Growth fund, says advertisers see spending on Facebook ads as a necessity. “It has nearly an unrivaled audience,” he says, with more than two billion active users. Analysts on average expect Facebook to sustain 27% profit growth over the next five years. That said, the stock is fairly valued at the current price.

Amazon.com (AMZN) is already the reigning king of online shopping, but its ambitions don’t end there. The company holds the number-one market share position in “cloud computing,” in which businesses and individuals rent space on Amazon’s servers to access their data online. With its recent acquisition of Whole Foods, the company seems to be betting on a future of online-ordered groceries. And some industry analysts have stoked speculation that the secretive company is planning a move into the pharmacy industry. Amazon’s “land grab” strategy, as Amana Growth fund co-manager Scott Klimo describes it, requires high ongoing investment spending, which means reported profits could be greatly understating the company’s potential profitability. “Amazon will be able to turn on profitability when it wants to,” Klimo says. However, the land-grab phase could last a long time, and retail sales and groceries are hardly known as high-margin businesses. At a 181 P/E, investors should take a pause on the stock.

• Apple (AAPL), the most mature company of the five, is the only FAANG to pay a dividend and the only value stock on the list, with a P/E of 16. Although iPads, Mac computers and sales of services still represent important contributors to the business, Apple is mainly a phone company, with the iPhone accounting for 55% of sales during the company’s most recent quarter. But it’s not just the phone that consumers pay a premium for—it’s the suite of apps and media and integration with other Apple products. “It’s a painful process for an Apple customer to switch to an Android-based phone,” says Carter. And consider that if you adjust its market capitalization for the company’s $269 billion hoard of cash and securities, then Apple’s P/E falls to just 11.

Netflix (NFLX) shares have soared 76.6% annualized over the past five years, as subscribers have grown at a roughly 30% annual clip, to 109 million worldwide. But winning subscribers in the first place is only part of the battle—Netflix also must hold on to those subscribers as competitors launch new services and pull content from Netflix’s platform. In August, for example, Walt Disney announced that it would stop licensing films to Netflix and would instead launch its own streaming service. Netflix knows it needs to fight to hold on to customers’ eyeballs, so it has been investing massive sums in producing its own original high-quality content. Netflix’s business strategy is reasonable, but at a 94 P/E, investors are underestimating the ferociousness of its competition. Consider locking in profits at the stock’s current price.

Alphabet’s (GOOGL) ancillary business lines are full of tech-sector buzzwords: self-driving cars, cloud computing, artificial intelligence. But at its core, Alphabet is an ad company. Advertising revenue accounted for 88% of total sales of $22.5 billion in the third quarter of 2017. The big-picture investment rationale for Alphabet goes something like this: As more people around the world spend more time online—Googling things, watching YouTube videos and checking their Gmail accounts—Alphabet sells more ads. But, says Gregg Fisher, founder of investment advisory firm Gerstein Fisher, “like all companies closely tied to a specific revenue stream, there is a significant risk to concentration.” The company’s likely growth rates are already baked into its stock price.

Some years, it hardly seems to matter whether you invest in growth or value strategies – all stocks move up together, or all stocks move down together. But in 2017, strategy has mattered in a big way. Mutual funds that invest in large, undervalued companies have returned a respectable 10.8% year-to-date on average. But funds that invest in large, growing companies have returned a whopping 24.4%.

It’s an impressive performance gap, but it’s likely not a sustainable one. That’s because much of the gains in large-cap growth funds can be attributed to the five stocks that make up the “FAANG” acronym: Facebook (FB), Amazon.com (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Netflix (NFLX) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL). After posting heroic average returns of 48.2% so far this year, those stocks now trade at a whopping 58.7 times next year’s earnings estimates, on average. It’s hard to picture them delivering another bang-up year from such high valuations.

Instead, we suggest investors refocus their attention on bargain-hunting. We’ve profiled the five top-performing no-load mutual funds that invest in large, undervalued shares, as ranked by five-year performance. Each fund boasts stellar management and a solid long-term track record.

If the market wakes up one morning and decides it’s no longer in love with growth, these five value funds should benefit.

em>Data is as of Nov. 17, 2017, unless otherwise noted. Funds listed in alphabetical order. Click on ticker-symbol links in each slide for current share prices and more.

• Expense ratio: 1.05%
• 1-year return: 15.6%
• 5-year annualized return: 16.6%

At Boston Partners All-Cap Value Fund (BPAVX, $26.48), manager Duilio Ramallo has a big ocean to select stocks from – the fund may invest in American and foreign companies of all sizes. But mainly, BPAVX sticks to large U.S. firms – at last report, 66% of assets was invested in large companies, and 88% was invested in U.S. stocks.

Ramallo’s aim is to identify shares of companies that exhibit three characteristics: an attractive valuation, strong business fundamentals and catalysts for change or positive business momentum.

The fund’s two largest sector allocations at the moment are financial stocks, at 30.1% of assets, and technology shares (25.7%). The latter is an unusual focus for value investors – the average large-cap value fund holds just a 12% allocation to tech stocks – since tech generally is considered more the domain of growth investors. Top holdings include the likes of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C) and Cisco Systems (CSCO).

The fund is a long-term winner, too, with an 11.9% annualized return over the past 15 years that has beaten 99% of peer large-cap value funds.

• Expense ratio: 0.52%
• 1-year return: 15.3%
• 5-year annualized return: 16.8%

Dodge & Cox is known for its deep-dive approach to investing, and that approach has served investors well at Dodge & Cox Stock Fund (DODGX, $201.09).

Bryan Cameron, director of research for the fund company, explains that analysts start their research process with publicly available information, then talk to clients, customers, competitors and suppliers, and finally meet with a company’s management before recommending an investment for the fund. Analysts and managers seldom leave the firm, which means over time the investing team gathers a deep, accumulated knowledge base of the companies it follows. In recent years, the fund’s typical holding period for a stock position has been more than five years.

In today’s market, Cameron says, the team has to look beyond bargain-basement stocks to build a well-rounded portfolio. They are finding some opportunities among financial stocks (DODGX’s largest sector holding, at 27.2% of assets), which still are feeling the pain of low interest rates, and among certain energy stocks (7.8%) that they feel will be well-positioned should energy prices rebound.

An added benefit of this Kip 25 member: The fund’s expense ratio is roughly half that of the average large-cap value fund.

• Expense ratio: 0.62%
• 1-year return: 19.3%
• 5-year annualized return: 16.1%

The Homestead Funds have an unusual origin story. The fund company was launched in 1990 to manage funds on behalf of a co-op of locally owned rural electric providers, say Homestead Value Fund (HOVLX, $54.86) co-managers Mark Ashton and Prabha Carpenter, in jointly emailed comments. “We’re a small team that had to find a way to invest prudently but opportunistically to grow the savings of employees of these rural electric co-ops,” the pair says. That original mandate still translates into a focus on avoiding losses.

Another quirk of the fund, as the managers say, is that it is “sector- and industry-agnostic.” Instead of chasing certain sectors or industries, management will follow “a particular idea until we find the investment angle that fits our risk-averse style.” For example, if they are looking for opportunities related to the growth of e-commerce, instead of only looking at retailers, they might also consider trucking companies. At the moment, the fund is heaviest in technology (21.4%), healthcare (17.2%) and financials (16.6%).

Finally, instead of mainly focusing on a stock’s cheapness, they take a more holistic approach – evaluating, for example, a firm’s managers and considering whether there might be a catalyst for growth in a specific business segment.

That approach has served investors well. Homestead Value Fund’s 9.8% annualized return over the past 15 years is better than 85% of peer funds.

• Expense ratio: 0.91%
• 1-year return: 19.3%
• 5-year annualized return: 16.1%
• Sound Shore Fund’s (SSHFX, $49.92) management team follows a disciplined, bottom-up stock-picking process, says John DeGulis, who has been a co-manager on the fund since 2003. The team first screens for U.S. stocks and ADRs trading for low price-to-earnings ratios, then runs an additional “value check” – looking at a range of valuation ratios to confirm that a prospective investment is, indeed, undervalued. Finally, the team digs in with traditional fundamental research, with one aim being to establish a company’s long- and near-term earnings power.

It’s unusual to find an investment-management shop that offers only one product. Even rarer is to find one that has managed that product well for more than 30 years. Parent company Sound Shore Management launched its eponymous fund in 1985, and the fund’s original managers, Harry Burn and T. Gibbs Kane, still are at the helm.

The team likes “financially sound companies that have underperformed and have lost Wall Street’s attention due to low expectations,” DeGulis says. For example, the fund first invested in Applied Materials (AMAT) – a supplier of equipment and services to the semiconductor industry – in 2010, when the Great Recession still was hanging over the stock. The team concluded Applied Material’s 3D chip technology and other products were going to become big earnings drivers. They were right – the stock has gained more than 300% since the end of that year. SSHFX still holds the position.

Sound Shore has returned 9.8% on average over the past 15 years, beating 85% of its peers. And the company says it has returned 10.2% annualized over the past 30 years through the end of the third quarter, besting the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index's 9.5% annualized return over the same period.

• Expense ratio: 0.82%
• 1-year return: 17.6%
• 5-year annualized return: 15.9%

Manager Mark Finn has steered T. Rowe Price Value Fund (TRVLX, $38.81) – another Kip 25 fund – since the beginning of 2010. Finn says his goal in the fund is to seek out “high-quality companies facing some kind of controversy that through our work we determine to be temporary or addressable.” The fund also benefits from T. Rowe Price’s deep stock-research bench.

Although it held 117 individual stock positions as of last report – hardly making for a concentrated portfolio – Finn also isn’t afraid to load up the portfolio with big stakes in high-conviction names. He says much of the fund’s outperformance over time has come from those high-conviction picks.

Today, Finn says he’s seeing opportunities primarily in four areas: retail, media, energy and telecommunications. He likes Walmart (WMT), which he says “has the best chance of competing directly with Amazon” given its distribution capabilities and investments in e-commerce. Given ongoing disruption in the media industry, Finn says companies that offer “must-have” programming should fare best. He favors Twenty-First Century Fox (FOXA) for its “loyal following in sports and news.” Among energy companies, he likes EOG Resources (EOG), a shale producer that tends to operate more efficiently than industry peers. Lastly, Finn sees risk in the telecom sector, in part due to “intense price competition in their wireless business,” he says. But he’s still betting on Verizon Communications (VZ) and Crown Castle International (CCI), which he says should benefit as wireless technology moves to its fifth-generation, or 5G, iteration.

Talk of a tech bubble has some investors worried about the outsized gains in FAANG stocks, that quintuplet of fast-growing tech firms — namely Facebook (symbol FB), Amazon.com (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Netflix (NFLX) and Google’s parent, Alphabet (GOOGL). Bubble or not, we set out to find some FAANG-less growth stocks. In fact, we set our sights beyond the tech sector altogether, in search of businesses in other corners of the market with strong growth prospects.

Although the three selections below aren’t, strictly speaking, tech companies, that doesn’t mean they don’t use technology to drive growth. These days, finding a business that doesn’t “is like finding a company that runs without electricity,” says Dan Davidowitz, a comanager of Polen Growth.

Our picks hail from the medical and retail fields. Analysts, on average, expect earnings to grow at a rate that’s faster than the 11% earnings growth rate of Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index over the next year.

Prices and data are from August 18, 2017. Click on ticker-symbol links in each slide for current prices and more.

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• Symbol: ALGN
• Industry: Medical devices
• Market value: $13.5 billion
• Price: $168.61
• P/E: 47
• Estimated earnings growth rate over the next three years: 23%

This company has “technology” in its name, but it’s not a tech firm. It makes those invisible orthodontic braces, under the brand name Invisalign, that are gaining in popularity among adults and teens. “Vanity sells,” says Damon Ficklin, comanager with Davidowitz of Polen Growth fund.

Why bother with ugly wire braces when you can wear invisible ones? Invisalign braces — clear, plastic trays that are custom fitted and switched out periodically to gradually move your teeth into alignment — are more attractive in today’s selfie-obsessed world, says Ficklin. Also, you can’t floss with metal braces, but you can with Invisalign (by removing the trays). Invisalign can treat 50% of all orthodontic cases.

The firm’s clear braces aren’t new — they have been around for 20 years. And there are other players in this market. But customers are starting to ask for Invisalign by name, says Ficklin, a rare occurrence in the world of medical devices. “That takes the product into a whole new realm,” he says. More than 1 million patients worldwide have been treated since 2015.

Technological advances, including 3-D printing, have made treatment with Invisalign easier and more cost-effective. Typical metal braces cost $5,000; Invisalign costs $3,000 to $8,000 in the U.S. The adolescent market, which represents 70% of the entire orthodontic market, is a big growth driver for Align. The company said treatment cases for teens rose 38% in the second quarter compared with the same quarter last year; adult cases rose 29.2% over the same period.

At $169 per share, Align Tech stock trades at a multiple of 47 times expected earnings over the next 12 months. That may look rich, compared with an average price-earnings multiple of 18 for other medical device companies. But Align’s earnings are growing twice as fast. Analysts expect 27% growth in earnings over the next three years, annualized, compared with 10% for medical device firms on average.

• Symbol: TDOC
• Industry: Medical services
• Market value: $1.7 billion
• Price: $29.50
• P/E: not meaningful
• Estimated revenue growth rate over the next two years: 43%

Teladoc may change the way we deal with routine illnesses. The company is a top provider of anytime, anywhere medical care delivered through mobile devices, the internet, video and phone.

The Purchase, N.Y.-based firm contracts with doctors nationwide, who provide on-call treatment for a wide variety of cases, ranging from the common cold and the flu to a urinary tract infection. Teladoc then sells the service to employers, health plans and health systems, to offer as a benefit to their employees. The number of enrolled employees climbed 43% in 2016. Over time, as remote medical care becomes more mainstream, Teladoc, which commands 75% of the telemedical market today, will benefit. Analysts, on average, expect double-digit revenue growth over the next two years, according to Zacks.

The catch: Teladoc isn’t profitable yet. But Randy Gwirtzman, manager of Baron Discovery, expects the company to break even in the October-December quarter this year. More importantly, in his view, Teladoc has all the right characteristics of a good health care growth stock. “We look for a company that saves money for the government or the consumer, that delivers better outcomes for patients, is run by a good management team and has a high barrier to entry,” says Gwirtzman. “Teladoc satisfies all those things.”

• Symbol: ULTA
• Industry: Retail
• Market value: $15.2 billion
• Price: $244.20
• P/E: 28
• Estimated earnings growth rate over the next three years: 20%

Retailers are struggling these days, but not Ulta Beauty. The Bolingbrook, Ill.-based firm operates more than 1,000 stores in 48 states and the District of Columbia, offering a wide range of skincare and haircare products, makeup, cosmetics and salon services. Ulta is getting some lift from technology — the firm’s e-commerce sales increased 56% in the past fiscal year. But its brick-and-mortar sales are its core business. And wares don’t stay on the shelves for long. The firm’s quarterly same-store sales (sales at stores open more than one year) log consistent growth in the range of 9% to 14% compared with comparable prior-year quarters, at a time when other retailers are experiencing declining sales.

The stock, once a favorite of growth-oriented investors, has dropped nearly 22% since early June, in part because of news that Amazon.com may move into the beauty-products business.

But the company is rock-solid, and we would be ready to buy even if prices fall further. Ulta holds zero debt and produces plenty of cash. And over the past 12 months, it boasts a 22% return on invested capital, a measure of profitability. By contrast, the typical retail company, according to Zacks, reported a 11% return on invested capital over the past 12 months.

At $244 a share, the stock trades at a lofty 29 times expected earnings for the current fiscal year, ending in January 2018. But Ulta’s earnings are growing at a brisk pace compared with other specialty retailers. William Blair analysts Daniel Hofkin and Jordan Voss, who rate the stock “outperform,” expect Ulta to post earnings of $8.30 a share in the current fiscal year and $9.80 in the year ending in January 2019. That’s an increase, year-over-year, of 27% and 18%, respectively.

The pioneers who dared to declare their independence from cable had to be prepared to make sacrifices. Streaming video services from Amazon, Hulu and Netflix offered plenty of movies and previously aired TV shows, but for the most part, watching live TV wasn’t an option. Sports fans could use an antenna to catch games on broadcast networks or subscribe to streaming services dedicated to specific sports leagues, but ESPN was out of reach.

In 2015, Sling TV cracked open the market for live TV over the internet, offering an online streaming package of several channels, including ESPN, traditionally found only if you subscribed to cable or a satellite TV service. Since then, the movement to sever the tether has snowballed. The media companies that create and own programming have been following the crowd by participating in live TV over the internet and releasing content to internet video services, says Craig Moffett, founder and senior research analyst at telecommunications research firm MoffettNathanson.That has cannibalized the more lucrative business of selling programming to traditional cable and satellite operators—and customer losses among traditional providers have mounted, says Moffett. In the first quarter of 2017, providers of cable, satellite and telecom lost 762,000 subscribers, compared with a 141,000 drop a year earlier, according to MoffettNathanson. Meanwhile, Sling TV and DirecTV Now (both internet-delivered services) gained a total of 305,000 customers between them.

With the exception of some regional holes in broadcast and sports programming, you can now watch virtually all the live programming you desire with online services. Hulu With Live TV offers more than 50 channels, including cable programming as well as broadcast networks ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. YouTube TV, currently available in a handful of cities, serves up 48 channels, including the four broadcast networks plus add-on networks for an extra fee. DirecTV Now provides a range of live TV packages, and Sling TV has expanded to include a variety of packages and add-ons.The streaming-TV landscape has also improved for sports fans. All the live TV services mentioned above include ESPN in their basic packages, and they often feature other sports channels, such as CBS Sports Network, ESPN2 and Fox Sports. FuboTV, a streaming service that focuses mostly on sports, hosts live programming including some MLB, NBA, NHL and PGA coverage. This fall, Amazon Prime will stream 10 Thursday-night NFL games for its customers.

Take the plunge?

For many viewers, cutting the cord will save money. The average household spends $103 a month on paid TV (mostly traditional services), according to Leichtman Research Group. Cable and satellite customers may be locked into a contract, saddled with nuisance a la carte fees, and see their bills spike after the introductory promotional rate expires. By contrast, the major online streaming services don’t require a contract, and you don’t have to pay ongoing fees for set-top boxes or other equipment (unless you rent a modem from your internet provider). Your TV bill may well be less than $100 a month, even if you cobble together two or three streaming services.

Although the main advantage of ditching your cable service is cost savings, there’s the added incentive that you can design a personalized viewing package and eliminate channels you’d never watch. Start by making a list of networks or programs you must have, says Chris Brantner, founder of Cut Cable Today, a website for cord cutters. Then look for services that match your needs, and try them on for size with a free trial.

You don’t always need access to a live TV channel to enjoy its shows. If you don’t mind waiting a day after a show airs, you may be able to purchase an episode a la carte through such services as Amazon or iTunes for less than you’d pay to get the channel live. Or you can watch many network TV shows after they air with a subscription to Hulu. (Hulu no longer offers recent episodes free, but the networks’ websites let you watch many of them gratis.) Netflix and Amazon Prime carry past full seasons of many shows.

Switching to streaming involves a few caveats. You may not have access to all the network channels that a live TV streaming service advertises. In many regions, local affiliates control programming distribution, so online TV providers contend with “a rat’s nest of complexity, trying to sign deals with every local affiliate in every market to deliver local broadcast content,” says Moffett. Even if a streaming service strikes an agreement with a station, it may not be able to distribute certain sporting events online—meaning that, say, your local station’s broadcast of a Sunday-night NFL game could be blacked out. And you’ll have a tough time catching the home team’s games if your streaming service doesn’t offer regional sports networks.

You may notice more pixilation, freezing or other disruptions when you stream video than with cable or satellite TV. You’ll need a minimum broadband download speed of about 20 to 25 megabits per second to stream video to one or two devices at home, plus browse the internet, says Dennis Restauro, founder of Grounded Reason, a website with guidance for cord cutters. (Higher speeds may be necessary if you stream in 4K.)

Finally, if you drop cable or satellite TV, you’ll lose any discount that you may have received for bundling internet, TV and phone service from your provider. Studying a sample of Comcast pricing in two U.S. markets, MoffettNathanson found that after promotional pricing expired, many customers paid about $20 to $35 more per month for internet service alone than what they had paid when they also subscribed to TV. Switching to a bare-bones channel package, rather than discarding cable altogether, may be the most cost-effective solution.

Ultimately, subscribing to cable or satellite TV could still be the best value for you. Families may find that only cable or satellite TV provides a channel lineup that satisfies everyone. If you have to sign up for multiple streaming services or subscribe to the priciest live-TV package to get all the programming you want, you could spend more than if you keep your cable or satellite TV subscription.

Set up a network

To beam online programming to your TV, you’ll need the right hardware. You have a host of options, from internet-connected TVs to dedicated media-streaming boxes. And many of them are upping their game by adding voice activation and 4K screen resolution. Check whether any of the devices you already own—such as a smart TV, Blu-ray player or video-game console—can stream your desired programming from the Web to your TV screen. Before you purchase a streaming device, take stock of the streaming services you use and make sure the device you choose supports them. Look for promotional discounts, too. Recently, for example, you could get a free Roku Premiere box if you prepaid for two months of DirecTV Now.

For access to a wide array of streaming services at a reasonable price, a Roku player (starting at $30) is hard to beat. Roku’s Premiere+ box ($90) offers 4K video quality (with a compatible TV) and some other nifty features, including a remote with a headphone jack, allowing you to listen to your TV privately. The Roku platform is also built into some smart TVs, including certain models from Insignia, Sharp and TCL. Plus, if you hook up a Roku smart TV to an HD antenna, it integrates over-the-air programs so that they appear on the Roku home screen for easy navigation. A 55-inch TCL S-Series 4K Roku TV was recently $502 at Walmart.com.

Or you may decide that another streaming device best fits your tech ecosystem. Along with 4K capability, the Amazon Fire TV media player ($90) comes with a remote that you can control with Amazon’s voice-activated assistant, Alexa. And Amazon recently introduced a 4K smart TV from Element Electronics, called Amazon Fire TV Edition ($650 for the 55-inch model at Amazon.com). It also comes with Alexa voice controls and, like the Roku TV model, it can pull broadcast content from a connected antenna into its menu.

Apple and Google are in the game, too. Apple devotees may prefer the Apple TV box ($149 to $199). Apple TV doesn’t yet support 4K resolution, but an app to stream Amazon video content—long missing from the lineup—is coming later this year, and the remote comes with Siri voice-command features. Within the Google environment, check out Android TV, a software platform built into certain smart TVs and streaming boxes. The 4K-capable Nvidia Shield box runs with Android TV and starts at a pricey $200 but is popular with gamers—and soon, it will include an option to employ smart-home controls, such as the ability to adjust your thermostat or lighting, with the voice-activated Google Assistant. With the AirTV Player, you can connect your antenna to integrate broadcast programs with those from supported streaming applications ($130 for the box and antenna adapter), watch programming in 4K resolution and use a voice-activated remote.

Want something light and portable? Check out Google’s Chromecast ($35, or $69 for Ultra, with 4K resolution), which plugs into your TV’s HDMI port and streams video from your smartphone, tablet or computer. Chromecast works with the Google Home voice-activated speaker, too. Amazon and Roku also offer streaming sticks ($40 and $50, respectively).

If all else fails, use this simple trick: Connect your laptop to a high-definition TV with an HDMI cable (about $7 on Amazon.com). Video that you play on your computer will appear on your TV screen.

If you want to use an antenna to pick up local broadcast stations, go to Tvfool.com or Antennaweb.org and enter your address to see what channels are available in your area and the type of antenna you’ll need to capture their signals. Antenna brands worth a look include Antennas Direct, Mohu and Winegard, says Restauro. One promising new option is the Mohu Airwave antenna ($150 at Best Buy; available starting Labor Day weekend). By connecting the antenna to your Wi-Fi network, you can watch live broadcast programs on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. You can also integrate the network-TV programming from your antenna with the interface of compatible media-streaming devices, including Roku and Amazon Fire TV.

Record live TV

Many live-TV streaming services now come with DVR capability. If you want to record over-the-air programming from your antenna, Tablo and TiVo sell DVR boxes that can do the job.Tablo offers three models (recently from $190 to $245 at Best Buy), with varying storage capacities and the ability to record two or four channels at once. To access the Tablo programming guide, you must pay a fee of $5 monthly, $50 yearly or $150 for a lifetime subscription. Because Tablo connects to your home Wi-Fi network rather than directly to a TV, you can use Tablo to watch programs or recordings on internet-connected devices throughout your home, including certain smart TVs and Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire boxes.

The TiVo Roamio OTA 1TB DVR runs a steep $400, but it includes a lifetime subscription to get full functionality, including access to the program guide (previous models required a monthly fee). You can record four shows at once with the box, and you can also stream Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix and a few other services to your TV.

As the stock market’s descent gathers steam, one group stands out for particularly atrocious performance: the FANGs. Yes, the same big-capitalization high-tech companies that kept the overall market out of negative territory in 2015 are now leading the market down, and they’re doing so despite no appreciable deterioration in their fundamental prospects.

Analysts maintain that the FANGs—Facebook (symbol FB, $99.54), Amazon.com (AMZN, $482.07), Netflix (NFLX, $86.13) and Alphabet (GOOGL, $701.02), the former Google—haven’t lost their bite. “They are all growth plays,” says Mark Mahaney, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets. “They are long-term oriented, make appropriate bets and have been good shepherds of investor capital. We like them all.”

We’re more bullish on Facebook and Alphabet than on the other two. But sentiment has turned against the entire group. And with their valuations high—in two cases, off-the-charts high—investors have sold mercilessly. Facebook and Alphabet, which both soared after delivering impressive fourth-quarter earnings reports, have sunk 14% and 10%, respectively, since their early February highs. Amazon, whose fourth-quarter results disappointed, has plunged 30% since late December. And Netflix has plummeted 34% since early December. (Prices and returns are through February 9.)

Until sentiment reverses course, the FANGs are likely to remain under pressure. But long-term investors may find the recent declines a great opportunity to pick up superb companies at better prices. These companies are doing the right things to remain innovative and competitive in an industry in which obsolescence is often just a click away.That has allowed all four of these companies to produce blistering revenue growth at a time when the average big company is struggling to just inch ahead. And although all have, to some degree or another, sacrificed short-term profits to achieve long-term goals, all have proven records of investing their cash wisely.

Consider Alphabet, the world’s most valuable firm, with a market capitalization of $482 billion. The company renamed itself last August and started reporting its financial results in segments – Google and “other bets”—to emphasize that it had become far more than a search and advertising concern. The new name was both a bow to language—the key to Google’s intuitive search engine—and a play on words. In announcing the reorganization, CEO Larry Page told shareholders that Google was making strategic bets to create “alpha,” investing jargon for above-benchmark returns.

During a conference call following the release of fourth-quarter results on February 1, the company revealed the size of these bets. Alphabet lost $3.6 billion on unprofitable start-up ventures, ranging from self-driving cars to computers that control home-energy use and technologies to help detect diseases early, when they can be cured more easily. “The whole idea is to fund these interesting projects, not necessarily to drive growth in Google, but to ultimately spin these off and create real businesses on their own,” says Neil Doshi, an analyst with Mizuho Securities. “That could really drive value in the long run.”

For the moment, however, the overwhelming majority of Alphabet’s revenues and all of its profits come from the Google side of the business, which includes YouTube, Google Play, Android, Chrome, maps, apps, cloud and, of course, search and advertising. Revenues for that segment of the business totaled $74.5 billion in 2015, compared with just $448 million for other-bets operations. Operating income for the Google segment amounted to $23.4 billion in 2015, up 23% from the previous year. Analysts on average estimate that earnings will rise 17%, to $34.51 per share, in 2016. The stock sells for 20 times that figure. That’s not too much for a company with so much growth potential, says Doshi.

Compared with Alphabet, Amazon appears to sell for an insanely high price: 106 times estimated 2016 earnings of $4.53 per share. But the valuation begins to make more sense when you realize that analysts expect profits to nearly quadruple this year and to nearly double in 2017, as Amazon continues to rack up big revenue gains while reducing spending on growth and building its infrastructure.

The oldest of the FANGs, Amazon has a 21-year history of pouring its profits back into the business, either by investing in loss leaders, such as the Kindle e-reader, or by building new warehouses to facilitate more-rapid delivery of goods to customers. But the company promised restless investors a year ago that it would ratchet down its spending to deliver better bottom-line results.

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Still, investors reacted ferociously after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings that came up shy of expectations. The miss was mainly the result of the company’s drive to make sure that goods that were ordered just days before Christmas got under the tree on time. Amazon’s same-day and next-day delivery promises proved costly, but they’re a key ingredient in the plan to get consumers to pony up $99 annually for Amazon’s “prime” service. Prime has been wildly successful, with Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, a market-research firm, estimating that one in six American households have signed up. Doshi says the bump in delivery costs was a one-time blip caused by an unexpectedly heavy online shopping season, and he adds that he believes Amazon will keep its vow to rein in costs for the sake of profits. On that basis, he recommends the stock. His one-year price target is $685.

But Doshi acknowledges that investor patience with the company’s propensity to place costly bets on growth has grown thin. That creates a real risk with the stock, he says. “You can’t take a short-term view on Amazon,” says Doshi. “But if [CEO] Jeff Bezos said that Amazon was going to go back into deep spending mode, I do think that the shares would collapse.”

Facebook, which has been public for less than four years, reminds Mahaney of Google in its early days. Started as a way for college students to connect online, the world’s largest social network has now become an advertising powerhouse, and it has only begun to find ways to make money from its growing portfolio of businesses. With strategic acquisitions of companies that do everything from finding friends to helping you share photos, Facebook buried once-powerful competitors, such as Friendster and MySpace, and then made investors happy by boosting advertising revenue from a relative pittance in 2012 to $17.1 billion in 2015.

The company now brags that 1.6 billion monthly active users are on Facebook; 1 billion use its Wi-Fi-powered messaging service, Whats App; and another 400 million regularly use its photo-sharing site, Instagram. And although the vast majority of Facebook’s sales and profits come from advertising, the company has launched a wide array of futuristic projects, from virtual reality gaming via Oculus headsets to Internet access via a solar-powered plane. The opportunity to boost profits by finding ways to charge for some of its free services—or deliver more advertising through them—has barely been tapped, says Mahaney. That makes Facebook’s price-earnings ratio of 32, based on estimated 2016 profits, reasonable. “The stock’s valuation is more aggressive, but the growth is, too,” he says.

The riskiest of the four stocks is Netflix. Although the company has been wildly successful in creating a market for streaming in-home delivery of movies and television shows, with 45 million domestic subscribers, analysts worry that it is getting close to a saturation point that will spell slower growth in the future. CEO Reed Hastings is countering that by attempting to conquer the rest of the world, launching marketing efforts in 130 foreign nations. But rapid international expansion is a costly undertaking and may depress Netflix profits into 2017.

Mahaney thinks the international strategy will pay off for both subscribers and shareholders in the long run. Netflix’s 45 million domestic customers and 30 million international subscribers give the company an edge when negotiating for exclusive content, he says. The better the content, the easier it is to persuade subscribers to pay $8 to $12 a month for access to Netflix programs, which feeds a virtuous cycle. Adding international subscribers will boost Netflix’s bargaining power and fuel its revenue growth.

In the short term, however, the stock price is likely to prove dodgy. Mahaney says that his bullish take on the stock is based on his long-term view that the company will start pulling in profits amounting to $10 a share in the next three to five years. Such long-term calls are admittedly speculative. Still, Mahaney believes the shares will perform better than the market over the next year and thinks investors should buy now. Doshi recommends a wait-and-see approach, rating the shares a hold.