Although all eyes are on the elections in the United States this week, major developments in Europe are causing substantial movement in several major stocks. Among the stocks moving or in the spotlight are Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), and
SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR). Let’s find out why traders are talking about each company.
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Tech giants Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) are each lower today and weighing on the NASDAQ after credit agency Moody’s stated that the proposed digital services tax in Britain could trim cash flow for big tech companies such as Facebook and Alphabet. If the law were to pass, the development would be ‘credit negative’ and blunt the positive benefits of the previous U.S. tax cuts. Although Amazon.com doesn’t make as much in Britain as Facebook or Alphabet, it could be negatively affected also. What’s new about the potential tax is that the levy is on revenue rather than profit. While the proposal is for 2% of revenue, it’s still a big chunk of cash that otherwise could go to shareholders. Britain isn’t alone as the EU is considering a similar levy of potentially 3%. If Britain or the EU imposes the potential taxes, other places could too.
Also hurting sentiment around the three stocks is the news that President Trump is ‘looking at’ whether the three tech giants are potentially violating any antitrust laws. Trump has been notoriously critical on Amazon, especially on the subject of delivery fees and taxes. Trump has also complained previously that there might be political bias among big Tech.
In terms of hedge fund sentiment, a total of 122 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), a change of 3% from one quarter earlier.
Among these funds, Eagle Capital Management held the most valuable stake in Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), which was worth $1814.7 millions at the end of the second quarter. On the second spot was Citadel Investment Group which amassed $1114.6 millions worth of shares. Moreover, Ancient Art (Teton Capital), Foxhaven Asset Management, and Guardian Point Capital were also bullish on Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), allocating a large percentage of their portfolios to this stock.
Meanwhile, there were 130 hedge funds in our database with Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) positions. Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) was in 193 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of June. Warren Buffett previously said that he missed out on Amazon and Google.
