FAANG is going to need a makeover. Facebook has already changed its name to Meta Platforms, and a symbol change to MVRS is in the works. With that in mind, I began thinking how we can modify that popular acronym to reflect the change. My suggestion is GAMMA: Google (GOOG, GOOGL), Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Meta (FB, for now), Amazon (AMZN).
Until recently these were the 5 biggest tech companies by market capitalization. Recently, Tesla (TSLA) and Nvidia (NVDA) have passed FB, pushing FB down to 7th on the list. But being in the top 5 was never part of the qualifications for being in FAANG. MSFT has been toward the top of the list for years, but was ignored, so I think we can overlook this issue for now. By the way, if we want to keep Netflix (NFLX) in the list, we could simply re-name FAANG to MANGA[i]. Although I am a known Japan-phile, I am not a fan of that idea. It’s time for some recognition for MSFT.
Besides, having spent the bulk of my career as an options market maker, I’m admittedly biased toward Greek nomenclature. And it is quite clear that the GAMMA stocks are quite popular with options speculators, so once again the acronym seems to fit. Wouldn’t it be poetic justice to someday read about a gamma squeeze in GAMMA stocks?
That said, it seems strange to leave TSLA out of an options-oriented acronym. I’ve been wracking my brain to come up with a catchy phrase that includes TSLA and NVDA or NFLX. One idea is MAMA-TANG[ii], which adds Adobe (ADBE), the 8th largest tech company by market cap. I believe a better suggestion is MANNA-ATM[iii], which restores NFLX to the list and utilizes Alphabet, the name of Google’s parent.
While MANNA-ATM doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, it does go a long way to explaining these stocks’ role in the investment zeitgeist. The stocks in this group have been like manna from heaven for steadfast investors, and an ATM-like source of trading income for speculators. I will admit that while MANNA-ATM may be a more apt acronym than GAMMA, the latter is far simpler and thus more likely to be adopted.
So, humble reader, will you join me on my quest to have GAMMA replace FAANG? I know that some of you will undoubtedly admonish me for trying to make this happen, but I hope that we can put an options-related tag on a popular market acronym that comes into common parlance. Let’s give it a shot, shall we?
[i] MVRS, AAPL, NFLX, GOOG, AMZN
[ii] MSFT, AAPL, MVRS, AMZN, TSLA, ADBE, NFLX, GOOG
[iii] MSFT, AAPL, NVDA, NFLX, AMZN, ADBE, TSLA, MVRS
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