February saw a sharp
selloff in tech stocks, catalyzed by chipmaker Nvidia, whose stock was battered
after DeepSeek – the Chinese startup – released their new AI chatbot. When AI
enthusiasm then waned, the tech sector suffered overall, and this was exacerbated by the economic uncertainty
implied by President Trump’s plans to impose import tariffs on America’s
trading partners.
Some tech firms, however,
have had a better time than others. For readers interested in online share
trading, whether on the iFOREX platform or any other one, we offer our overview
of five of the biggest movers and shakers in the sector so far this year.
Between the beginning of
2024 and mid-February 2025, Pinterest stock appreciated by 8% – considerably
less than the 26% gains recorded by the broader S&P 500 index. One of the
firm’s main challenges was that of heightened operational costs, but their
stock started to perk up in Q4 2024.
One week into February
2025, Pinterest stock rose as much as 19.1% in share trading when Wall Street absorbed
their results for the previous quarter. The firm had drawn in revenues of $1.15
billion, making for year-on-year growth of 18%. Pinterest – which offers a
visual platform for idea discovery – also raised their sales forecast for Q1
2025 from $837 million to $852 million.
CEO Bill Ready boasts
that “the platform has never been more actionable and our lower funnel focus is
driving results for users and advertisers”. Another thing Bill has going in his
favour is a client base of monthly active members surpassing 553 million, which
bodes well for the future.
Netflix
During 2022, and then in
the excitement surrounding AI stocks, traders largely forgot about video
streamer Netflix. The company’s shares, however, gained a substantial 13% near
the end of February 2025 for several good reasons. Traders were happily surprised
by the company’s Q4 results, which included figures like 16% revenue growth. In
addition, Netflix added as many as 18.9 million subscribers, making the Wall
Street estimate of 9.2 million pale in comparison. The company also raised its
subscription prices, which look set to drive further revenue growth.
Specifically, they hiked the prices of their ad-supported tier from $6.99 to
$7.99 in America in a move thoroughly approved of by JP Morgan and other
analysts.
Netflix hosted the
enormously successful fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul last year, which
was reportedly the most watched sporting event in history. Since the firm has
direct access to a viewer base numbering 300 million people, the field of live sporting
events could prove even more fruitful for them in times to come.
Sony
Sony’s biggest growth
engine is its gaming segment, which lately churns out the popular PlayStation 5
platform. Their fiscal year saw a significant drop in gaming sales in Q2, but
the following quarter saw a heartening 16% increase in sales year-on-year.
Beyond gaming, the company offers services in music, film, and even financial
services, all of which experienced growth in fiscal Q3. Their earnings per
share for the quarter came in at $0.41 – better than analysts’ expectations of
$0.30.
The firm raised their
revenue forecast in February, sparking a 10.7% surge in share trading at
mid-month. Now they anticipated sales for the year to come in 4% higher than
their November estimate. All this came on the back of solid performance in
Sony’s gaming and music divisions in Q3. For instance, 9.5 million units of the
PlayStation 5 console were sold, dwarfing predictions of only 8.2 million. One
figure that makes CEO Hiroki Totoki particularly proud is the company’s 5%
year-on-year rise in active user accounts.
Meta Platforms
The start of February was
positive for Meta, who recorded their 12th consecutive session of
share price gains, bringing their market capitalization up to $1.8 trillion. As
to DeepSeek’s earlier shakeup of AI stocks, this actually left Meta with reason
to smile, namely that the company is “the only one of the ‘Magnificent 7’ to
focus on an open-sourced model”, in the words of Angelo Zino of CFRA Research,
which we’ll explain.
Software is called
open-sourced when its developers publicize its source code, making it possible
for others to use and build upon it. By contrast, closed-sourced software,
whose foundational code remains wrapped in mystery, functions under the control
of the developer. DeepSeek’s most recent AI model, called R1, falls under the
open-source category, and this contributed to its attractiveness. That’s because this software type is cheaper, which lowers
costs for developers, thus promoting more aggressive innovation. CEO Mark
Zuckerberg believes his firm’s AI assistant will become the most popular of
them all.
Intel
Under President Biden,
moves were made to bolster the US’s manufacturing prominence in the face of
East Asian strength. The US Chips and Science Act channeled American taxpayer
funds to Intel – the only American company capable of producing AI chips. In order
to merit the continued flow of capital, however, the firm has to meet deadlines
in terms of new manufacturing activity, which is why a delay – announced at the
end of February – in the opening of Intel’s semiconductor plant in Ohio was
quite disappointing.
Rewinding to mid-month,
however, Intel had clocked in 23.6% gains in only one week, inspired by rumours
of a possible partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSCM) –
Intel’s arch nemesis. It was also reported that the US government might
continue pumping capital into the newly created entity. Trump’s stated
intention of protecting domestic manufacturers could bring even more benefits
to the US chip firm in months and years to come.
Final
Thoughts
The tech sector is home
to some of the most pioneering companies in the stock market today. Operating
in fields like artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, and cloud
computing, they ceaselessly find means of improving the ways we work,
communicate, shop, and use our leisure time. It’s widely agreed that – blips
aside – the sector will adopt a commanding role in our future society. Whether
prices are rising or falling, you can benefit from these companies’ growth
stories through CFD trading on the
celebrated iFOREX CFD trading platform.
