What’s happening to tech stocks is ‘kind of unheard of’ — and ‘we are not done,’ analyst says

The brutal rout in tech stocks has rattled even the most veteran of industry followers, who warned that the selling pressure may still get worse.

“Right now we are seeing [tech] stocks trade at single-digit multiples on EBITDA and low double digits on earnings, which is kind of unheard of from what we have seen the last decade for tech,” Jefferies tech analyst Brent Thill said on Yahoo Finance Live (video above). “Our belief is we are not done with the pressure on tech. We still think there is downside relative to historic multiples.”

Customers walk past an Apple logo inside of an Apple store at Grand Central Station in New York, U.S., August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

To be sure, the carnage in tech has been vast and painful for the bulls as fears of rising interest rates and slowing growth whip through Wall Street.

Just take the major sell-off in one of the hottest tech trades of the past decade: the FAANG complex, which is comprised of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google. All five components have shed more than 17% year-to-date, led by a nearly 69% crash for Netflix.

Netflix shares are currently trading on a forward price-to-earnings multiple of about 17 times, which is relatively in line with the S&P 500, according to Yahoo Finance Plus data. This marks the lowest P/E multiple for Netflix in more than five years.

Other tech stalwarts haven’t been spared either — Microsoft is lower by more than 21% on the year and Salesforce is down by 35%.

For these household names, the declines have brought valuations down to levels once unthinkable in recent memory, raising the question: Has a bubble in the tech sector burst?

“Absolutely,” TKer.co’s Sam Ro told Yahoo Finance recently. “Some of these stocks are getting smoked… In many ways, you could say that the bubble has burst.”

The pullback in tech valuations has impacted funding rounds for private companies — and even Elon Musk’s deal for Twitter. Thill believes Musk’s new effort to tally fake accounts is a tactic to get a lower price for Twitter amid broader market pressure.

“We believe he is just trying to negotiate a lower price,” Thill added.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.