Shares of "Magnificent Seven" big tech companies Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL), and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) each rallied hard in the first half of 2024, rising 27.2%, 30.4%, and 42.5%, respectively, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

All three are major players in the digital advertising business, which saw a strong recovery in the first half as the U.S. economy remained resilient. Another commonality is that each is investing in new generative artificial intelligence (AI) functionality, which continued to capture the attention of investors.

Each of these three businesses saw a slowdown during 2022 and early 2023. The downturn forced all three to cut expenses in terms of real estate and personnel. Both Alphabet and Meta engaged in high-profile layoffs in what Mark Zuckerberg called the "year of efficiency," and Amazon completely retooled its e-commerce distribution architecture, from a national to a regional one, after the massive COVID-era overexpansion. The retooled format sped up deliveries and lowered costs significantly.

Continue reading

Source Fool.com