Facebook Inc (FB), Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN): Winning Investment Strategies for the Tech Age

Second, look for a company with the ability to crush coming competition. Whether it’s through patent battles, as with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung; acquisitions, as with Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Instagram; or political lobbying, as with Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and sales taxes, tech companies need to proactively take down competitors. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was once opposed to collecting sales taxes, carving out deals with states to delay tax collection in exchange for job creation. Now that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s size can deal with the multitude of tax jurisdictions, collecting taxes puts it at an advantage over other smaller e-retailers that would have to work out the various tax codes without Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s legal resources. And so, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) supports the Marketplace Fairness Act.

Finally, any tech company needs to be spreading its bets across a variety of future platforms. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is the epitome of this approach. While advertising remains Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s revenue generator, the company has its tendrils in self-driving cars and computerized glasses; $1 billion in renewable energy, including a recent acquisition of a kite-power start-up; and a growing presence in fiber TV and Internet. While many of these projects might flop, similar to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s attempt at a  smartphone operating system, diversifying in future research is as good of an idea as it is for your own investment portfolio.

Dynamic investing
With such quick changes in the industry, you need to keep an closer eye on tech-related companies as compared with, say, cereal makers. Especially take a look at a tech company’s management, competitive strategy, and investments in future revenue generators. Next year’s “Internet Trends” report could have any number of new companies — just make sure the ones you invest in stick around. {%sfr%]

The article Winning Investment Strategies for the Tech Age originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Dan Newman.

Fool contributor Dan Newman has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com, Apple, Facebook, and Google and owns shares of Apple, Amazon.com, Facebook, and Google.

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