By now, we all know the FANG stocks. They are the high-growth tech leaders that have transformed into the faces of the post-2008 stock market. They include Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL).
There are two common notions about this group of stocks: 1) they are big growth names exposed to all things tech, and 2) they are expensive.
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But that second point isn’t necessarily true.
While AMZN and NFLX stock trade at huge forward earnings multiples, GOOGL stock trades at 24.5-times next year’s earnings estimates. That really isn’t all that expensive considering the S&P 500 trades at 17.5-times next year’s earnings estimates.
So does that mean GOOGL just isn’t that much of a growth stock anymore? Or does it mean that GOOGL stock is dramatically underappreciated?
I think the latter. Here’s why.
Google’s Growth Story Is Still Very Promising
The Google growth story has been clouded by a few near-term, one-time headwinds.
Firstly, there was the big $2.7 billion European Union antitrust fine. Now, there is the whole investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Plus, Britain is looking at regulating Google as a news publisher, not a platform.
While the fear of tighter regulation will almost never go away, it is also unlikely that regulation reform of any sort will have a seriously negative impact on Google’s operating business.
Secondly, there was the whole YouTube advertiser boycott which gained heavy momentum earlier this year after a news investigation revealed common ads being placed next to extremist content. That opened the doorway for digital video ad dollars to flow else where, and that is exactly what has happened. Amazon is stepping up its game to compete for digital video ad dollars.
While the threat of Amazon competition is real, it should be noted that YouTube dominates this market and has all the content. Plus, the digital video ad market is a big growth industry that can support multiple players growing concurrently.
Beyond those fixable headwinds, though, the Google growth story remains promising.
Google’s self-driving car unit, Waymo, is gearing up to launch its own ride-sharing service to rival current market leaders Uber and Lyft. That is a huge market Google is attacking (Uber’s latest valuation from primary investors was around $70 billion). Even small market share gains could imply incremental value add for GOOGL.