Look back a short 10 to 15 years ago, and the Internet and media landscape we are so familiar with today barely existed. Carriers had not rolled out fiber-optic networks for huge content delivery and superfast Internet. DSL was the fast Internet service and satellite TV was considered cutting edge, despite the constant issues with rain fade. Plus, to record something? Sure, I “Tivo” it. Social media? What is that? Maybe that newfangled MySpace will catch on. I have a cellphone, but it’s not what I would consider smart. A tablet? You mean like one to write on in pen? 64 gigabytes of memory? Only supercomputers have that, dude.

The landscape has changed at a breakneck pace. Guess what? It will only continue. The genie is long out of the box. Children have the same tech device acumen now that most adults had in the 1990s. This is not lost on the Internet and media analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald. They have assembled a top-notch list of stocks to buy for investors to take advantage of the technology tsunami.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has become the model for Internet commerce. With the holiday season right around the corner, and Internet sales growing every year, it is a pretty good bet that sales will skyrocket yet again for this Internet monster. Cantor Fitzgerald has a $315 price target. The Thomson/First Call estimate is even higher at $330.50.

EBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) has created and revolutionized the online auction process. From sports and entertainment tickets to vintage musical instruments, eBay is one of the first places that consumers looking to buy or sell go. The Cantor Fitzgerald price target is $62, while the consensus target is slightly higher at $64.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) is a stock that truly makes investors insane. Priced too high, with too many shares added at the initial public offering, the share price fell into the teens and Wall Street analysts did not like it. Mobile computing comes around, the company blows out numbers and the stock doubles, and then Wall Street likes it. Facebook has more than a billion users, and they are not going away. Cantor Fitzgerald only has a $40 price target to match its Buy rating, but that may change. The consensus target for the social media giant is $45.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) dominates search, its Android operating system for smartphones is huge, and it continues to innovate and grow. The company also just added longtime Microsoft veteran Christian Kleinerman as the director of product management for YouTube. The Cantor Fitzgerald target for this Internet beast is $1,000. The consensus target is not far behind at $996.

LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD) has dominated the business and job social media domain. A recent large secondary offering priced way under the closing price failed to shake investors enthusiasm for the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald has a $250 price objective for the stock, the same as the consensus target.

Shutterstock Inc. (NYSE: SSTK) has a secondary offering also ready to be priced this week. The company is the undisputed leader for online commercial digital imagery. It is the “you name, we have it” one-stop shop for any commercial or personal image or video need. The company offers its products for users to enhance their visual communications, such as websites, digital and print marketing materials, corporate communications, books, publications and video content. Cantor Fitzgerald has a $60 price target, which may move higher. The consensus price target is at $61.

Vistaprint N.V. (NASDAQ: VPRT) operates as an online provider of coordinated portfolios of marketing products and services to micro businesses worldwide. The company offers a spectrum of products and services for the business, home and family markets. The Cantor Fitzgerald price target is $60, the highest on Wall Street. The consensus for the stock is much lower at $50.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) has changed its chief executive officer and its logo, and all seems better now that traffic is back up. Hedge fund manager Dan Loeb sold 40 million of his 60 million shares back to Yahoo! for $1.6 billion in July. Loeb had been an aggressive buyer in 2011 and gained a board seat. He pushed for longtime Google executive Marissa Mayer as the new CEO. Cantor Fitzgerald has a $29 price target, while the consensus is at $30.

The future surely will make most of these companies innovations look old hat within another 10 or 15 years. Owning the industry leaders is the best strategy for investors, as they have seen what happens to laggards from an innovation and technology standpoint. The best in class will not let that happen to their franchises.

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