On November 20, 2018, an article in the New York Times (“The Tech Stock Fall Lost These 5 Companies $800 Billion in Market Value”) noted that “Wall Street’s turn against big tech is adding up” and that “as investors have dumped shares of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google-parent Alphabet, $822 billion in value has been wiped off their combined market value since the end of August.”
This article further noted that “based on the losses from each company’s high point in recent months, more than $1 trillion in value has been erased. Facebook, Apple and Amazon have endured the greatest declines, all down $250 billion or more from their respective peaks.”
In fact, “by the end of August, the market value of Apple and Amazon had each surpassed $1 trillion, and Alphabet was flirting with $900 billion. The combined market value of the five had reached $3.6 trillion.”
Clearly, “worries about global economic growth as well as lackluster earnings and outlooks the past two quarters have shaken investors’ confidence” in these stocks and “has investors questioning whether the values of these big tech companies have become too lofty.”
“Of course, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Alphabet have faced steep sell-offs before, only to bounce back quickly. Just this year, the combined market value of those five companies has tumbled 7 percent or more during three separate periods. In each instance, the stocks resumed their march to fresh highs within weeks.”
Whether this time will be different – especially for those investors who have purchased these stocks on margin or have purchased other securities that are tied to the performance of these technology shares – is clearly the question of the day.
If you are an individual or institutional investor who has any concerns about your technology investments or margin account with any brokerage firm, please contact us for a no-cost and no-obligation evaluation of your specific facts and circumstances. You may have a viable claim for recovery of your investment losses by filing an individual securities arbitration claim with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).