Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) have both been darlings of Wall Street, and both have fallen from glory. Apple’s all-time high was just this past September at $705 per share, while Netflix hit its all-time high in March 2011 at $295 per share. Of course there’s been plenty of debate about if or when Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock will recover, but what about Netflix? It’s been on the road to recovery within the last two months, but is it doomed to turn around again?
CNBC’s Squawk Box has pitted the two against each other in its March Madness-style tournament. The show has included 16 of CNBC’s most-clicked stocks in the Squawk Box Money Madness stock tournament, and it paired them up head to head.
Squawk Box will post a poll on its Facebook page every day, and today’s poll is Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) versus Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX). The worst performing stock this year in the Squawk 16 is Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), even though it was one of the strongest performers last year. Netflix, on the other hand, is the best performing stock this year so far. The poll allows voters to take a guess at which stock will outperform the other by the end of this year.
Shares of Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) have been soaring high since January when the company smashed earnings expectations and the stock skyrocketed in a matter of minutes, gaining 25 percent within 10 minutes of the report. Since then, it’s trended upward.
On the other hand, Apple’s January earnings report was less than spectacular. It was mostly in line with expectations, but since it didn’t beat those expectations, investors have not been happy. And reports about weak iPhone demand haven’t helped either.
Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell less than 1 percent in pre-market trading on Monday, while Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) shares dropped more than 1 percent.
Other big pairings in this year’s Squawk Box stock tournament are Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) versus General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) versus Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) versus Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). In addition, Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) faces off against Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), while JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) goes up against Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC).
Two other interesting matchups are Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) versus Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) versus Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).
