Research archive for META

Last week Meta Platforms posted very strong results, pushing the stock up 14% for the day. The company beat expectations for revenue and profits, and set guidance for the coming quarter higher than previously forecast. Its underlying operations, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp each performed well.

Meta is one of our more controversial holdings. Many clients don't like it because it went from $330 a share in January 2022 to $90 in November 2022. Ouch! Also, despite how much we love interacting on our phones, some people view social media companies as the modern equivalent of cigarette companies - highly profitable and selling an addictive product that is bad for society.

The competition for online advertising is dominated by three companies. Google and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) are established players but Amazon has really burst onto the scene in the last two years.

Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, reported numbers on Wednesday night that were very well-received by the market. Shares soared 23% on Thursday after fourth-quarter revenue beat expectations and management announced a $40 billion buyback programme.

The Meta share price has been crushed this year. A lot of that has to do with the huge amounts of money being ploughed into the Metaverse. Zuckerberg is certainly feeling the pressure and has recently assured investors that he has a few tricks up his sleeve.

There are 4 main reasons the Meta Platforms share price has crashed. It's heavy investment in the metaverse, stronger competition, Apple changing iPhone privacy settings and the general weak market sentiment. I have a counterargument for all four of these issues. Some of them are strong, other factors might take longer to unravel, if ever.

Investors are very interested to see what is happening under the Meta Platforms hood. After Wednesday's results release, the market did not like what it saw. Revenues were down 4%, costs were up 19% and users only increased by 4%. The stock tumbled 24% on Thursday. Ouch.

Meta just unveiled its latest virtual reality headsets as it makes its way into the world of premium VR devices which are designed for creators and corporates. Their latest device is called the Meta Quest Pro which includes a number of technological improvements from the Oculus Quest 2, which was launched in 2020.

Hopper HQ has released data showing the top individuals who earn the most per post on Instagram. I'm glad to say the list is not just dominated by the Kardashian clan, but it's a fair mix of self-starters.

Last night, Meta Platforms (formerly known as Facebook) reported disappointing Q2 numbers, on already low expectations. It was the first time in the company's history that they didn't deliver year-on-year revenue growth, with a decline of 1%. Flat revenue but growing costs resulted in profits falling by 32%. The good news is that they managed to very slightly grow their user base in the face of stiff competition.

According to data put together by the Insider Intelligence team, this year, US adults will spend 25.7% of their social media time on Facebook, down 9.6 percentage points from 2019. Instagram is holding steady at 17.0%. TikTok is the rising star at 16.7%, up from just 4.5% in 2019. This makes sense as people spend less time on older apps as they discover new ones.

In October 2021, Meta, changed its name from Facebook to emphasise its intention to be at the forefront of the metaverse. That's where virtual environments are accessed through 3D interactions, and Mark Zuckerberg's business has been working on it for years.

Facebook (now officially known as Meta Platforms) came to market 10 years ago on the 18th of May, 2012 in what was then the largest IPO in history. The Menlo Park-based social media giant raised $16 billion at a $104 billion valuation. Something that was unheard of back in those days.

Meta Platforms released a decent set of earnings on Wednesday night, showing that its main service, Facebook, added more users than projected. Capital spending was also reined in. The shares surged as much as 19% on these twin surprises. The market clearly approves of these developments, which indicate that the group is dealing with growing competition, maintaining margins and satisfying its advertisers, despite technology and privacy challenges.

The real world is pretty rough right now, so let's delve into the Metaverse for a bit. According to Wikipedia, the Metaverse is a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection. Access to these virtual worlds will happen mostly through augmented reality headsets.