There’s no question that the global economy has been making the slow transition from offline to online for decades now. The companies with the largest online footprint are the ones in the best position to thrive in the 21st century economy. The performance of the FAANG stocks in the current bull market is evidence of just how much leverage the internet can provide. Bank of America recently released its monthly U.S. internet traffic report, which revealed that internet usage continues to rise with no end in sight. Here are eight stocks dominating internet traffic.
Alphabet
No company is dominating the internet like Alphabet, Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL) subsidiary Google. U.S. Google users spent a total of 322.359 billion minutes on Google’s platforms in August, up 50 percent from a year ago. Total mobile time was up an incredible 54 percent year-over-year thanks to Google’s YouTube platform. Google also has the most total PC internet users of any company at 167 million, or about 75 percent of all U.S. PC internet users. Bank of America has a “buy” rating and $1,390 price target for GOOGL stock.
2. Facebook
In August, total Facebook, Inc. (FB) mobile users on its Facebook.com platform were up 7 percent, but mobile time spend declined by 10 percent. Among all its platforms, Facebook’s total share of internet time spent declined slightly month-over-month to 14.1 percent. Total minutes were down 14 percent, including a 10 percent drop in mobile minutes and a 27 percent decline in PC minutes. Fortunately, Instagram’s mobile user count was up 24 percent and total time spent on Instagram was up 17 percent. Bank of America has a “buy” rating and $205 price target for FB stock.
3. Twitter
Twitter, Inc. (TWTR) had about 7.88 billion total minutes spent on its platform in August, up 22 percent from a year ago. Twitter registered a 22 percent increase in total mobile minutes in August and a 1.1 million increase in total mobile users compared to July. Twitter now has 129.5 million U.S. mobile users. While Twitter is struggling with its overall user growth and the costs associated with cleaning up its platform, its U.S. traffic numbers show it is still an online force. Bank of America has an “underperform” rating and $27 price target for TWTR stock.
4. Snap
Snap, Inc. (SNAP) had a 13 percent increase in total mobile minutes, but its user count declined from 132.6 million in July to just 127.6 million in August. Like Twitter, Snap has been dealing with sluggish growth numbers, a lack of profitability and an unclear long-term strategy. However, with 188 million daily active users and the recent departure of chief strategy officer Imran Khan[WD], Snap still has plenty of opportunity to dominate the internet in years ahead. Bank of America has a “buy” rating and $16 price target for SNAP stock.
5. Amazon
Across all device types, Amazon.com (AMZN) registered…
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