Which is the better tech stock? Facebook vs. Salesforce

Published Tue, Mar 31 20151:43 PM EDTUpdated Tue, Mar 31 20155:49 PM EDT

The world's biggest social media company squares off tonight with the king of cloud computing as " Fast Money " traders go in the hunt for the best technology stock. Facebook and Salesforce saw their shares rise to new all-time highs in 2015 due to expansion on multiple fronts. While both shares outperformed the market this year, Salesforce 's stock is up twice as much as Facebook. These two technology companies face each other Tuesday night on "Fast Money," as part of the show's Madness challenge. Here's a preview of the traders' thoughts so you can make the trade now. First let's look at the tale of the tape. In the past year, shares of Facebook more than doubled the return of Salesforce, up 38 percent. This quarter, however, ticker 'CRM' has made a comeback, gaining 13 percent while ticker 'FB' is up only 7 percent. Read More First-time home buyer is back. How to trade it Earlier this month, Facebook announced it was adding a pay service to its messenger app so users could now send money to friends. The news sparked a big rally in the stock, and it's currently up 5 percent in March. "Facebook is firing on all cylinders," said Brian Kelly , pointing out the social media company has figured out the model to monetize on mobile trends, which account for 69 percent of their ad revenue. Fast Money trader Guy Adami agrees that Facebook is the better stock. He says the media giant has "many levers left to be pulled" with Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger in the horizon. Wall Street analysts rate both stocks a 'buy' and believe each of their shares have a 10 percent upside potential in the next 12 months, according to estimate figures from FactSet. So valuations may determine which of the two names moves on to the next round. Facebook trades at 39 times forward earnings, compared to 19 times for Google and 14 times for Apple. On the other hand, Salesforce trades at 92 times forward earnings vs. 14 for Oracle and 10 times for IBM. After a lively debate, "Fast Money" traders chose Facebook. The company advances to the next round. How it works: For this year's Fast Money Madness Challenge, 16 technology companies square off against each other. Eight of the leading stocks in the S & P information technology index will go up against eight of the laggards. For the next three weeks on "Fast Money" (5 p.m. ET), the four panelists will vigorously debate the stock matchups in our bracket. CNBC Pro subscribers will get exclusive access to previews of each matchup before the show. There will never be any ties because the viewers' Twitter vote counts as the fifth trader. The winner of each matchup will move on to the next round. Before each game to be played that night, just tweet your ticker picks to @cnbcfastmoney using the hashtag #fastmoneymadness. Then watch "Fast Money" each night to see your how your pick does in the game.

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The world's biggest social media company squares off tonight with the king of cloud computing as "Fast Money" traders go in the hunt for the best technology stock.

Facebook and Salesforce saw their shares rise to new all-time highs in 2015 due to expansion on multiple fronts. While both shares outperformed the market this year, Salesforce's stock is up twice as much as Facebook.

These two technology companies face each other Tuesday night on "Fast Money," as part of the show's Madness challenge. Here's a preview of the traders' thoughts so you can make the trade now.