Stock Market Power Rankings: Facebook Cashes In

Each week, I'm ranking the biggest companies that trade on U.S. exchanges based on their size ( market capitalization), momentum (total return over the past year), and recent news. Before we get to the rankings, a quick word on a major player.

It's not easy being Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) these days. The stock has shed more than a fifth of its value, and investors continue to be concerned about the social networking giant's ability to spruce up its reputation as data privacy fears intensify.

Thankfully for investors, there's more to Facebook than its namesake site. It owns several platforms that are holding up considerably better than its flagship platform, and Facebook may be ready to cash in on the success of its sister projects. The New York Times reports that that Facebook plans to mesh its WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger platforms together. The three services will continue to run on their own, but the messaging infrastructure will be unified as early as next year.