In 2017, Kanye West made a holiday move that may have shocked the internet: He put major company stocks under his family's Christmas tree. He surprised his wife, Kim Kardashian West, with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of shares in popular companies, including Disney (DIS 1.09%), Netflix (NFLX 1.74%), Apple, and Amazon (AMZN -0.17%).
Although Kanye's a billionaire hip-hop mogul, you can still gain access to all the stocks he invests in by purchasing fractional shares. To get started, here are three Kanye-inspired holiday picks that will give your gift recipients partial ownership in the world's top companies.
Image source: Getty Images.
Disney
There's something magical about Disney. The company has been around since 1923, sprinkling fairy dust all over the big screen and giving the world a gift that grows with you from childhood to adulthood. With a market capitalization of over $300 billion and a streaming service that continues to exceed subscription expectations, Disney's stock reached a new all-time high this month.
It's not too late to invest and make your gift recipient's dreams come true, too. Although the company took a beatdown in the Parks, Experiences, and Products segment due to COVID-19, the Disney+ streaming service is rapidly climbing and COVID-19 vaccines are starting to be administered worldwide. Over the next five years, the possibilities for Disney are endless if streaming continues to grow and the theme park business can recover.
If you missed out on a vacation to Disney World this year, don't fret. Purchasing Disney stock for the holidays can provide those to whom you gift the stock with returns that can pay for multiple visits in the future.
Netflix
Buying a subscription to Netflix as a gift may be a good idea. Gifting shares of Netflix stock may be an even better idea.
The streaming platform has experienced tremendous growth almost continuously since the company started in 1997. Although the stock price escalation has slowed down, Netflix still has a market capitalization of over $200 billion and is one of the 50 largest companies in the United States. Leading the way in the streaming video market, it has become the blockbuster of the new millennium.
In December 2017, when Kanye West bought the stock for his wife, it was trading at under $200 per share. Now, it's over $500 a share. If Kanye and Kim are still holding their Netflix stock, their portfolio investment has more than doubled.
Investors believe in the future of Netflix and are getting in now to win later. The company continues to add more to its product portfolio and boost its monthly prices, providing more opportunity to improve cash flow. If the price of the stock is too expensive for you right now, buy fractional shares to give a gift that the recipient won't outgrow next year.
Amazon
Amazon has been classified as one of the hottest stay-at-home tech stocks of 2020, and there's little doubt that the company's momentum will continue this holiday shopping season. Shares of the e-commerce juggernaut surged more than 70% this year, transforming pennies into profits during the pandemic. If your gift recipient doesn't own shares of Amazon yet, you may want to follow Kanye's lead and use them as a stocking stuffer.
When Kanye revealed his purchase of Amazon stock, each share was trading under $1,200, as of December 2017. Now, the shares are worth over $3,000. But there's still opportunity for the stock to grow even more.
Again, don't sweat the price. You can buy fractional shares and gift a piece of Amazon. The gift recipient can start with what they get and increase his or her holding over time.
A gift that pays off forever
While most holiday gifts take up space and collect dust, it's a relatively safe bet that an investment in stocks will grow without taking up a lot of room. Recipients will either walk away with a learning opportunity or a boost in income: Both are gifts that will make them happier and wealthier in the future!
The key to buying stocks for Christmas is selecting assets that have the potential to grow over time. That's exactly what Kanye West did. Instead of making speculative investment decisions, he chose high-quality companies with strong performance records. If his wife still has these stocks in her portfolio today, she's added triple-digit returns from the stock market to her wealth without breaking a nail -- and she'll continue to benefit from the future growth of these companies as long as she owns them.
