Meta Platforms IncMETACOMMENTSep 18, 2017Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 05, 2026. Market Open.
He likes all the hyper-scalers but META has only an 18X PE ratio and has the best upside over the next 12 months. It has had the most incremental advertising dollars over the past five years and is growing its business. Has $250 billion in revenue. It is down because investors feel it is spending too much on AI. It is using AI already in its core business and expanding it to new products. Should be the biggest beneficiary of the AI rollout.
Buy 71 Hold 8 Sell 0
Financial results were excellent. But $125B in spending this year (at the low end), and CEO has been vague about where returns will be seen. Sales up 30% last quarter, clearly benefiting from AI (content recommendations and ad targeting).
Noteworthy is that they keep all compute for themselves, and don't sell to others. This avenue could be monetized in future.
AI spending is going to get to a point that the market just won't accept. As long as share price continues to be "OK", these companies will keep spending.
Problem here is that it's spending almost all of cashflow on capex, now outspending its own profitability. Started taking on debt. May not matter right now, but sometime it will.
His choice among the Mag 7 because of where it's trading. Fell on eye-popping AI concerns and legal challenges. Whole tech sector swooned. Cut workforce 10%, scrapped plans to hire.
He is concerned about the lawsuits, but it's something they'll have to get through and write some really big cheques. Like tobacco. Already priced into the stock.
Leadership is smart. Capex is high, but bolstering position in AI. Trades ~17x PE and growing 17%. Yield is 0.32%.
$1,000 in 5-10 years?An ROE over the long-term should also predict the movement of the stock price. For example, if a company has an ROE of 20%, they are increasing the value of the shareholder equity by 20% a year. 20% compounded over a ten-year period actually leads to a fivefold increase in the equity which, theoretically, should also lead to a fivefold increase in the stock price. If you were to multiply the current stock price of this by 5, that gets you relatively close to $1000. However, he doesn’t think it gets to $1000 over the next 5 years, but if they are able to achieve those ROE’s that they have in the past, it wouldn’t shock him. Thinks their runway for growth is long and very good.