What Are GAFAM Stocks?
Let me explain GAFAM to you directly: it's an acronym for five powerhouse U.S. tech stocks—Google (now Alphabet), Apple, Facebook (now Meta), Amazon, and Microsoft.
You might confuse it with FAANG, which is similar but swaps in Netflix for Microsoft. That's the key difference; GAFAM sticks closer to core tech without the media angle from Netflix.
Key Takeaways
- GAFAM stands for the stocks of U.S. tech giants: Google (Alphabet), Apple, Facebook (Meta), Amazon, and Microsoft.
- FAANG is almost the same but uses Netflix instead of Microsoft.
- GAFAM emphasizes technology more than FAANG, as Netflix falls under consumer services and media.
Understanding GAFAM Stocks
In the world of market indexes that track sector trends, a few companies dominate and influence everything. You've got acronyms like FAANG, GAFAM, and even BATX for Chinese firms, all pointing to these sector leaders that sway the broader market.
For GAFAM, we're talking Alphabet Inc. (GOOG), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Meta (META), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT). Every one of them trades on the NASDAQ.
These aren't just any stocks; together, they command a market cap of around $4.5 trillion and sit in the top 10 U.S. companies by capitalization as of March 31, 2020. Apple went public first in 1980, then Microsoft in 1986, Amazon in 1997, Google in 2004, and Facebook in 2012.
GAFAM Versus FAANG
Let's break down the difference between GAFAM and FAANG for you. In FAANG, Netflix is the outlier—it's in consumer services, specifically media and entertainment, while the others are pure tech.
GAFAM fixes that by dropping Netflix and adding Microsoft, creating a tighter group of tech-focused companies. Amazon does have a consumer side, but its AWS cloud services make it a tech heavyweight too.
What you're getting with GAFAM is the U.S. tech elite, covering everything from mobile devices and software to hosting and online operations.
Example: How GAFAM Is Used in the Real World
Alphabet, Apple, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft dominate tech, and many investors watch them as a proxy for the whole sector. If they're up, the sector probably is too—they function like an informal index.
Take early 2020: The Nasdaq 100 was climbing, and so were GAFAM stocks. But Meta peaked in late January, Apple on February 12, Microsoft on February 10. The Nasdaq hit its high on February 19, with Alphabet and Amazon topping out that day.
By then, three GAFAM stocks were already declining, which could have signaled to you that tech was weakening even as the Nasdaq rose. That said, don't rely on them blindly; they're not foolproof indicators.
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