Top Global Shares of 2022

Top Global Shares of 2022

Some Shares to Watch in 2022

Traders know that interest rates determine the trajectory of global stock markets, and this is particularly relevant with relation to growth stocks in the first months of 2022. With the economic outlook clouded by an imminent trend of US Federal Reserve hawkishness and the Ukraine war, these stocks fell out of favour for a time, as traders sought out a sense of security. But for traders who are looking ahead and planning on CFD shares trading with iFOREX, let’s take a look at some of the stocks that may make a comeback in weeks and months to come.

Alphabet 

Google parent company Alphabet gets most of its revenue from advertising, so the good news for the company in 2021 was that marketers were devoting more and more funds to finding their audiences digitally. The percentage of the global advertising market made up by digital channels went up to 64.4% last year, compared with the 52.1% of 2019. Add to this Google’s commanding position in internet searches, claiming 86.6% of the market as its own. As a result, 2021 was a very good year for Alphabet stock, seeing gains of 65%. Also consider the company’s popular video platform YouTube, which took in revenue of $8.6 billion in Q4 2021, beating Netflix by $1 billion. 

Microsoft Corp

In January this year, Microsoft proved the seriousness of its plans to take part in the video game industry by spending $69 billion on the purchase of Activision Blizzard Inc, a popular gaming developer. Another big plus for the company is its cloud computing segment, Azure, whose revenue leaped by 46% last quarter. After good business growth last year, Microsoft’s most prominent headwind is coming in the form of rising interest rates, which “Could put pressure on expensive growth stocks like Microsoft”, says analyst Jonathan Weber. The company looks well-positioned to ride the metaverse wave, especially considering how it’s expertly managed. Shares have gained 51% over the last year, and a huge 431% over the last five years.

Visa Inc.

Visa is a company with deep roots all around the world, with 3.6 billion people carrying Visa cards and 70 million merchants in the Visa network. Their earnings report this year left room for optimism, and some analysts believe revenue could increase by 19% in 2022. Visa is keeping up with the changing trend to crypto currency payments, allowing its customers in the EU to spend digital currency on their platform. They now also offer Bitcoin rewards on their credit cards. Visa sharpened up its cross-border payment system by purchasing Currencycloud late last year, which allows them to offer wallets in several currencies and up-to-date notifications on transactions. 

Meta Platforms

Meta’s earnings report in February triggered a massive stock sell-off, but the company still occupies a strong position in electronic advertising. Some analysts even predict revenue growth will be over 10% in 2022. Facebook’s facelift in becoming a force in the metaverse has been costly and tricky. Last year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg spent $10 billion on projects in the metaverse and now owns Oculus virtual reality devices. Just to get an idea of the scale of the company, if you added the monthly visitors to Facebook in Q3 2021 to the users of WhatsApp and Instagram, which Meta also owns, the figure would be more than half the number of adult people in the world.

Netflix

Netflix shares lost a huge 35.1% just on April 20th this year, and in the five days that followed, the drop deepened to 45.9%. Year-to-date, Netflix shares were down 66.6% by the end of April. CEO Reed Hastings is forward-focused, though, planning to “Reaccelerate our viewing and revenue growth by continuing to improve… the quality of our programming and recommendations, which is what our members value most”. The company seems to have room to grow in Asia and has been trying various routes to get its ship in shape, for example by increasing prices and trying to monetize the sharing of passwords, from which they may have missed out on as much as 100 million subscribers. At the end of April, Netflix shares had not been so undervalued since 2014. One Netflix enthusiast, analyst Bill Nygren of Oakmark, reminds us the company is “Dominant in the industry, well managed, with a strong moat”. 

Wrapping Up

Those who want to engage with CFD shares trading with iFOREX will need to remain aware, not only of Fed policy plans going ahead, but of the different ways in which interest rates determine the trajectory of global stock markets, depending on factors like the Ukraine conflict, global economic recovery, and the Covid lockdowns in China. Keep an eye on market news including new product launches and company acquisitions.