Technology stocks have seen constant growth in 2024 except for three significant periods of decline. In early April, however, investors' fears of a delay in the start of interest rate cuts in the US became fully apparent, to which stocks responded by falling. In the summer, they fell on concerns about economic growth. At the end of the year due to the absence of the Santa Claus Rally effect and the Fed's restrictive monetary policy measures for 2025 in response to Donald Trump's announced pro-market but highly inflationary policy.
All of these events also played a key role in the value of the Metaverse Index compiled by Wonderinterest Trading LTD, which includes eight major players in the sector. Let's take a closer look at how they fared.
Microsoft's shares have seen a relatively modest 12.9% growth in 2024, up from 57% last year. This year's growth has been driven by success in artificial intelligence, particularly the adoption of Copilot and investment in generative AI. However, the company still has not tapped its full potential, especially in the hardware segment, and therefore missed out on several rallies in the previous year. Azure cloud service is expected to accelerate in 2025, which, along with further development of Copilot, will bring new growth opportunities for Microsoft.
Alphabet controls more than 90% of the online search market, which contributed to its stock rising 35.6% in 2024. The launch of Gemini, an AI software similar to GPT chatbot, opens up new investment opportunities for the company this year. Google owns several products, including YouTube, Waze or Google Maps, with more than a billion users, strengthening its global position.
Amazon shares are up 44.4% in 2024 and have had a successful year, as evidenced by the fact that Amazon reached a new high in December. Web services, which account for 16% of revenue, provided as much as 74% of operating profit and, along with the e-commerce and advertising segments, continue to fuel the company's growth. Thanks to innovations, especially in the field of artificial intelligence, Amazon is expected to continue its steady growth in 2025.
Nvidia, the stock with the largest weighting in the Metaverse Index, posted the highest growth in 2024, up 171.3%. The success was driven by record data center revenue, which accounted for 87% of total revenue. The company also launched its next-generation Blackwell chips, which are expected to fundamentally improve the performance of AI applications. Demand for its products is expected to continue, which should ensure growth through 2025.
Meta has seen impressive growth in 2024, with its share price rising 66%. Despite an initial decline following the announcement of a huge investment of up to $10 billion in artificial intelligence, the company's strategy is paying off. AI has reinvigorated the firm's online advertising business and is central to innovative products such as Ray-Ban's Meta smart glasses. Mark Zuckerberg's focus on integrating AI across platforms has positioned Meta as a key player in generative AI, which will benefit the company significantly in 2025.
The last three stocks included in the Metaverse Index underperformed the others due to their higher riskiness. Their performance was lower in 2024 than in 2023. Qualcomm shares rose 8.3%, Coinbase gained 42.8% and Roblox gained 26.6%.
By mid-January 2025, shares of companies included in the Metaverse Index had risen 44.2%. The outlook for 2025 thus remains strongly positive, although it will depend primarily on the next steps of Donald Trump's administration and the Fed's monetary policy.
