Rivals: Is Facebook the new Google?

Published Fri, Mar 20 20152:27 PM EDTUpdated Sat, Oct 14 201710:44 AM EDT

Shares of Facebook surged to an all-time high this week and surpassed arch rival Google in terms of year-to-date gains. Facebook is now up 8 percent for 2015, while Google is close behind with a 6 percent gain. These two technology stocks are squaring off tonight against each other on "Fast Money," as part of the show's Madness challenge. Here's a preview of their thoughts so you can make the trade now. The neck-and-neck race between the two stocks highlights the viscious competition between the two companies. The relatively new kid on the block, Facebook , first started to encroach on Google's turf by becoming the preferred way to access the Internet for its users. That was followed last year by an agressive push into video and competition for the digital advertising dollars which, until now, largely went to Google's YouTube. The latest salvo was fired this week, when Facebook announced that it was adding a pay service to its messenger app so users could now send money to friends. The announcement sparked a big rally in the stock this week, the kind of positive reaction that Google has yet to receive from its Google Wallet development. Fast Money 's Brian Kelly and Guy Adami believe Facebook is the better stock. It's "firing on all cylinders, has great momentum and Google is falling further behind on social," said Kelly. Added Adami, "Earnings growth continues to be driven by (an) improving mobile business. I don't think it is ridiculously expensive at 32 times forward earnings." But while Facebook is stealing all the headlines, Tim Seymour and Steve Grasso believe Google offers the better value here. And Seymour has a surprising catalyst that may unlock that value: activism. "Google to me has similar dynamics as Apple a year ago as it pertains to cash on balance sheet and the potential for activism forcing some change in the approach to capital return to shareholders," said Seymour. So we had a stand-off on the Fast Money desk that will now be determined by the viewers. And the winner is... Read More Fast Money Madness: Traders bid up eBay after downgrade The viewers came out in force for Facebook on Twitter. Facebook wins. 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 t