This FAANG Stock Emerged As The Winner For 2021 — And It Isn't Apple

The FAANGs, which command a combined market capitalization of a whopping $7.8 trillion, are five high-profile companies that dominate the U.S. tech sector.

The acronym stands for Meta Platforms Inc FB, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, Apple Inc AAPL, Netflix Inc NFLX and Alphabet Inc GOOGLGOOG.

Given their heavy weightings in the index, these companies' stocks have the potential to sway the market in one particular direction.

The origin of the term FAANGs could be traced back to Jim Cramer, who initially coined the acronym FANG in 2013. Apple, which was not a part of Cramer's original list, was later added in 2017, and the acronym "FAANG" came into being.

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A Year To Savor For FAANGs: After a not-so-spectacular showing in the first half of the year, these stocks picked up pace in the second half. Apple, the youngest on the list, achieved a landmark feat when it became the first global company to eclipse the $2 trillion market cap milestone.

Apple shares customarily gain steam in the second half amid its key hardware release event in September. This year was no exception, as the stock went from strength to strength despite supply constraints forcing the company to trim production.

Facebook went through a name change to underline its focus on the hot-and-happening concept of metaverse. The company rebranded as Meta Platforms.

Despite worries about a tougher comparison against the COVID-19-induced strength in 2020, when people gravitated toward e-commerce purchases in droves, Amazon prevailed in 2021.

Netflix was a hit despite competition breathing down its neck, thanks to original content and investments over the years beginning to bear fruit.

Here's The Winner Of 2021: Alphabet, the home of Google, took the honors as the best performing FAANG of the year, with a 66% gain for the year. Apple was the runner-up by virtue of its 35% gain for the year.

Facebook advanced about 25% for the year and took the third spot. Netflix and Amazon mustered gains of about 13% and 3%, respectively, for the year.

The FAANGs, however, underperformed chip stalwart NVIDIA Corporation NVDA, which added about 126% for the year. Among the other large-cap tech stocks, Microsoft Corporation MSFT and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD were up 52% and 58%, respectively.

Related Link: What Will It Take For Netflix To Continue Outperforming?

Image by Jamie Mahoney from Pixabay