Research archive for META

I've written about some of the companies we recommend - particularly those sitting on large amounts of valuable data, that they use to build and train world-class AI technologies. It turns out that processing all that data is not easy.

Yesterday Paul wrote about the Magnificent 7 stocks and how well they have served us. A successful story often sounds easy and obvious in hindsight. But in reality it has been far from plain sailing.

Meta is doubling down on AI, rolling out tools by the end of next year that will allow advertisers to create and target entire ad campaigns, text, video, imagery, and all, using just a product image and a budget.

Yesterday was a busy day for Meta, as they also announced a 1.1 gigawatt power deal with Constellation Energy. The tech-giant has committed to buying all the power for 20 years from one nuclear reactor. In December, Meta announced that it was seeking to sign power supply agreements for between 1 and 4 gigawatts. This deal is at the lower end of that scale.

Meta's first quarter results came out last week, and they were well ahead of expectations. Revenue for the 3 months was $42.3 billion, up 16.1% year-on-year. They are taking a larger slice of the overall digital advertising pie.

Meta released a new set of smart glasses dubbed the Hypernova, a premium AR wearable set to launch by year-end at a price north of $1 000. The device will feature a monocular display in the right lens, which can be used for notifications, apps, and media beamed directly into your field of vision. The glasses will be paired with gesture controls enabled via a neural wristband.

I saw an Instagram video last week where a financial analyst compared the total amount of gold mined to the market caps of the Magnificent 7. Roughly speaking, the total value of gold ever mined is about $22 trillion and the total market cap of the Magnificent 7 is around $15 trillion.

Meta's $22 billion bet on WhatsApp is finally paying dividends. A decade after acquiring the messaging giant, Meta's non-ad revenue surged 48% year-on-year in the latest quarter, largely driven by WhatsApp business messaging, where companies pay to chat with customers.

You have to go back to the 16th of January for the last time Meta shares closed in the red. The stock is currently on its 18th consecutive day of share price gains, and after-hours trading says it will open in the green again this afternoon. This winning streak is unprecedented and hasn't been done before by any stock on the Nasdaq 100.

Last week Meta released results that were positively received. Daily active users on their various social media platforms rose 5% to 3.35 billion. That's a lot of people!

Meta is a hugely profitable company that has built up a $70 billion cash hoard. The advantage of having all that dry powder is that it can invest heavily in infrastructure, like the $40 billion project to improve its AI capabilities. Now, Techcrunch is reporting that Meta is considering a $10 billion investment in an undersea cable that goes around the world.

Two weeks ago, the EU fined Meta EUR 800 million for what they perceived as market dominance abuse by promoting its market place feature to users. In short, the EU took exception to Facebook users having automatic access to Facebook Marketplace. The European Commission thinks that it creates an unfair advantage for Meta.

Vestact-recommended Meta Platforms reported third-quarter numbers on Wednesday night, showing that it is doubling down on its long-term AI and augmented reality ambitions. CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined plans for sustained investment in infrastructure and emerging products. The company's pivot into AI has been a driving force behind its 67% stock price increase this year, making it one of the S&P 500's top performers.

I was quite surprised to see in the latest EssilorLuxottica results that the Ray-Ban Meta glasses were their best-selling Ray-Bans around the world. In the EMEA region, which includes Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 60% of all sales from Ray-Ban stores were the Ray-Ban Meta glasses.

A client wrote to me at the end of 2022, complaining about the poor performance of Meta Platforms. The company had renamed itself in October 2021 and hit a high a few days later of around $380 before crashing to $93. It lost 76% of its value in a matter of months.