The so-called “FANG” stocks are Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX), and Google (GOOG). These are some of the most talked about stocks in the market the last several years.

If you notice, every bull market has some catchy phrase or acronym the media likes to focus on.

The Nifty 50 was a group of 50 stocks that were most favored by institutional investors in the 1960s and 1970s. Companies in this group were usually characterized by consistent earnings growth and high P/E ratios. Examples of nifty-50 stocks were companies like IBM,  Coca-Cola, and General Electric. The list also included companies that have been had challenges the past decade, like Xerox and Polaroid.

The FANG stocks are popular for good reason. They are some of the best companies in the world. I say that based on the things or services they provide, but also their earnings growth. Earnings growth is the key driver of a stock price. For example, the Investors’ Business Daily shows a EPS Rating of 98, which means NFLX EPS growth rate is above 98% of other stocks. The RS rating is relative strength and means the stock has outperformance 93% of other stocks.

However, in recent months these stocks have shifted from market leaders to laggards. As the overall market has been flat recently, these stocks have declined -5% or so.

We’ll see if they continue to drift down or reverse back up.