Meta Platforms, Inc. (META)

(A Top Pick July 6/16. Up 42.24%.) There is a lot of running room and you can still Buy it today. Trading at pretty reasonable valuations.

This is the seasonal period where markets move out of the high beta, technology sector, so this one is going to be faced with that pressure. Also, they are a little overbought. Chart shows a nice solid up-trend since 2015, but then arched way off the uptrend in 2017 and then arched again. Technically, that is good, but is also really overbought. You might get a pullback, and it might be a good opportunity to buy any of the FANG stocks.

He likes this for the simple fact that people are completely addicted to their phones and social media, and you need to have exposure to this. The advertising dollars that are being spent on Facebook is massive, and that is going to continue. Not a cheap stock, but the balance sheet is perfect. They continue to add more products to compete with Snap.

This continues is a great growth story. His model price of $135.82 is under the current stock price by 11.5%. He would like to see a correction. These are wonderful names to pick up on a correction.

This has a great massive advantage over everybody else in their field. Also, there is more advertising done online now than there is on television with most of it going to this company or Alphabet (GOOGL-Q). The risk is that it is no longer seen as a technology company, but more of a broadcasting company. The multiple you pay for a broadcaster is substantially lower than what you pay for a tech company.

(A Top Pick July 13/16. Up 30%.) There is still $200 billion of TV advertising that is expected to move to the Internet over the next 5-10 years.

It is not his preferred tech stock. There is better value in things like GOOGL-Q. FB-Q is in the early innings of monetizing Instagram. It is just a case of what you want to pay for that growth. 30 times earnings for 20% earnings growth is not compelling to him. He prefers GOOGL-Q. He owns AMZN-Q as well.

(A Top Pick July 6/16. Up 28%.) Trading at 24X forward earnings. Has $29 billion of cash. Growing at 30%-40%. Still a Buy.

Has just started buying this. If you believe, like he does, that they are just getting started in terms of their share of mobile and advertising, the stock could be a double 5 years from now. The valuation from a top level looks expensive, but if you strip out the cash on the balance sheet, the cash that it continues to generate each and every year starts to get really attractive. Valuation is not that expensive.

TSLA-Q vs. V-N vs. FB-Q. He likes both V-N & FB-Q. V-N is a major player when it comes to transactions. FB-Q would be his favourite tech company. They own the world. They are a very innovative company. They have made great acquisitions. TSLA-Q he goes back and forth on. He is a believer in electric vehicles, but does not think that much of TSLA-Q. Every study shows there will be a lot more electric cars on the road in the future.

It just keeps on going. Revenues and earnings are expected to grow 39% this year. What is holding it back is that they have said that the price per ad is going up instead of down, like with Google. They are getting a 14% increase. (Analysts’ target: $170).

They are up to 1.9 billion active monthly users. They have more users with more user time than any other social network. They provide the largest audience, and therefore the most valuable data for advertisers. Their ad revenue per user is growing very nicely, and the runway is very long term. Despite shares being near all-time highs, he continues to buy this for his clients. Shares are trading at a forward PE of 25X, near their historical low. (Analysts’ price target is $170.)

(A Top Pick April 5/16. Up 33%.) The biggest dominant player on the Internet with users. They have the audience that is able to tweak the apps that they have. A higher multiple, but they are definitely growing through that multiple at great rates. Good balance sheet.

A great company. A leader in social media and continuing to grow strongly. A lot has been reflected in the stock. They are continuing to perform really well. In the next 2 to-3 years, the stock will go higher again. He would wait for a pullback.

Too risky for him. P/E ratio is too high, and it is going to be many, many years before they ever pay a dividend. They have very good management and a lot of creative people, and he thinks this is not going to be a fad, but that they are going to find a way to be around for a long time.