Amazon, Netflix among Monness, Crespi's top 2022 Internet picks
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Analysts at Monness, Crespi, Hardt took the first business day of 2022 to provide insight into what they consider to be the top Internet and software companies to watch this year.
In a report attributed to the brokerage, the Monness research team said one of the companies it is upbeat on in e-commerce giant Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). Among the reasons is that Monness expects Amazon (AMZN) to bounce back this year after its stock was "shunned in 2021 as countries re-opened for business" and comparing Amazon's (AMZN) year-over-year results were "too onerous" for many investors to stomach.

Monness added that by the end of 2021, "revenue growth at AWS was on the mend" and with the cloud service's strength, "Amazon is uniquely positioned to emerge from the [Covid] crisis as one of the biggest beneficiaries of accelerated digital transformation." Monness has a buy rating and $4,500-a-share price target on Amazon's (AMZN) stock.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) is also viewed positively due to its expanding into new areas such as gaming, and wildly popular series like Squid Game. Monness has a buy rating and a price target of $730 a share on Netflix's (NFLX) stock.
Monness said Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) was able to deliver strong financial results last year, and improved its offerings with the addition of Slack, but the company's stock performance "trailed the broader market." This year, Monness said it expects Salesforce (CRM) "to capitalize on accelerated digital transformation with a platform that is stronger and more relevant than ever," and "is well positioned to play catch up in 2022." Monness holds a buy rating and $328-a-share target price on Salesforce's (CRM) stock.
Monness also has a buy rating and $230-a-share price target on Elastic (NYSE:ESTC) saying that the data-storage and management software company suffered at the hands of a "tech tantrum" in late 2021 that sent its shares from an all-time high in November to end the year in the red. However, Monness said that because of software portfolio, "we believe it can rise from the ashes in 2022."
Monness also said that Facebook parent company Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:FB) is presenting a longer-term view that "became more intriguing in the later part of 2021," as the company began outlining its metaverse vision. Along with its metaverse opportunities, Meta (FB) is seen as benefitting from digital advertising trends that will add to its revenue this year. Monness has a buy rating and $460-a-share price target on Meta's (FB) stock.
Last week, Meta (FB) received high marks from Baird analyst Colin Sebastian, who named the company one of his top picks for 2022.