The so-called FANG and Magnificent 7 groups of technology stocks have had their star moments in the market, but now a new portfolio is about to take the spotlight, according to Raymond James. “MnM? Microsoft, Nvidia & *now* Meta Leading in AI Era,” Raymond James analyst Josh Beck said in a note to clients. The analyst coined the new group and turned bullish on particularly Meta Platforms after the tech company posted better-than-expected quarterly results and announced a first-ever dividend payment. Beck reiterated his strong buy on Meta and raised his price target to $550, representing a near 40% upside from the stock’s Thursday close of $394.78. Meta shares surged nearly 17% in premarket trading Friday. META NVDA,MSFT YTD mountain MnM portfolio Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Nvidia and Tesla – referred to as the Magnificent 7 –recently replaced the popular FANG acronym coined about a decade ago. Fueled by in part by artificial intelligence enthusiasm, the Mag 7 enjoyed a blowout year in 2023, lifting the overall stock market. However, some constituents have retreated in the new year. Apple got hit this week after the iPhone maker showed a 13% decline in sales in China , one of its most important markets. Apple shares are now down about 3% on the year and another 3% in premarket trading Friday. Alphabet has also underperformed this year so far with a mere 1% gain. MnM? Now, Raymond James believes that “MnM” could take the baton from FANG and Magnificent 7 to become the next hottest tech portfolio on Wall Street. The Wall Street firm is betting that Meta is joining Nvidia and Microsoft to lead the heated AI race. “While perhaps less tangible than NVDA GPUs or MSFT Azure/Copilot opportunities, we see a $25B to $60B incremental AI/ GenAI revenue opportunity unfolding through AI-bolstered engagement and performance gains in addition to GenAI-enhanced B2C messaging bots and creative asset creation capabilities,” Beck wrote in the note. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his company will continue to invest in AI and in building up its computing infrastructure to handle bigger workloads. Nvidia shares have climbed another 27% this year following a whopping 238% rally last year. Microsoft has gained 7% this year. Last month, the tech giant topped a $3 trillion market capitalization and unseated Apple as the most valuable company in the U.S. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting.
