
NASDAQ:META
This summary was created by AI, based on 7 opinions in the last 12 months.
Meta Platforms, Inc. has shown significant performance in its recent earnings report, surpassing both earnings and revenue estimates, which fueled a substantial rise in social media mentions. Despite this initial surge, the stock experienced a notable decline following CEO Mark Zuckerberg's announcement of increased capital expenditures to support AI infrastructure. Analysts remain divided, with some expressing confidence in the company's long-term growth potential, especially related to advertising boosted by AI. Current evaluations suggest that the stock appears reasonably valued in comparison to competitors, with a favorable growth rate relative to its price-earnings ratio, indicating solid market positioning as it navigates the evolving social media landscape.
More recently, stock has gotten hit because of privacy and data issues. Trading below 200-day moving average. Long-term, we’re not going to shift from targeted, digital advertising. Trading at 22x earnings, with a 22% growth rate, which is pretty cheap. Put your stop losses in place, but he continues to like it.
He is responding to a question about the impact of privacy or antitrust regulation on Facebook. Facebook is huge and is wildly profitable. However, privacy issues are not going away, and the regulatory environment can only get tougher, at some point. In addition, individuals are getting smarter, and many younger users are not using Facebook. Some of the alternatives are beneficial to Facebook, but others not. User growth has matured. Management has done a fantastic job, but the stock is still priced for significant growth. If the stock misses earnings by even a penny or two, investors might see a 10% to 15% drop in share price, and that could be a time to buy.
He was amused by its last earnings. They already have two billion users, so they won't grow by leaps anymore. Be real--investors were disappointed by their weak user growth? Rather, what share of online advertising do they hold? With Google, Facebook dominates here. Their ad revenue stream is deep and long. Advertisers continue to go to the internet, which is Facebook and Google. Advertising, not user growth, is the metric to look at. The plunge on Facebook after earnings last month was way overdone.
He says it is a hold because of the regulatory environment. There is not another option for small businesses to go to to advertize because of the number of users. If they can keep chipping away at the revenue per user, it will be positive. There could be some regulatory pressures as we head into mid-term elections.
Revenues are going to be lower and expenses are going to be higher. They have the cash. To be able to buy this on this dip is an opportunity. Going to generate $20B in cash. Valuation is a struggle with these types of stocks, but the cash flow is incredible. Yield = 0% (Analysts’ price target is $206.74)
It’s had a bumpy road, with the reputational risk that it has been addressing. This happens with all big companies. As they get large, third parties and governments get involved and pose new challenges. He does not expect much new regulation given the current attitudes toward intellectual property protection and free speech. They have 2 billion active monthly users, which is an advertiser’s dream. Along with monetizing their Facebook user base, they are monetizing other things such as Instagram, which is taking new technology forward. This illustrates that the traditional Facebook model has morphed, which is what successful companies do. Facebook was a high-valuation stock that has come down in valuation as both price and earnings have risen, because earnings have come up faster than price. He has trimmed his holdings of Facebook as its price has come up, to keep it from taking up too much space in his portfolio.
It has certainly gotten cheaper. It is hard to give recommendations over the long run on this stock. Despite their earnings miss, they have still not recovered. Their valuation is okay and reasonable relative to other tech stocks. For now it is a neutral and if it keeps declining it will be a sell.