Meta Platforms (FB); Former Facebook

[winston]

not vested

Meta Platforms: Among the Best Stocks in the Market

Meta Platforms has cemented itself as one of the most dominant forces in digital advertising and social media, with an astounding 3.35 billion daily active users across its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Despite concerns about competition and shifting digital trends, Meta continues to thrive, proving itself to be an underappreciated cash-generating machine.

Over the last decade, the company has grown earnings at an annualized rate of 36%, and today, it generates $1 billion in free cash flow every week, a staggering figure that highlights the strength of its business model.

Meta has also been at the forefront of AI integration in digital advertising, using it to automate ad creation and optimize targeting across its platforms.

By leveraging AI, Meta has made its ad network more efficient, allowing businesses to achieve better results while driving higher monetization and ad revenue growth for the company. This AI-powered approach is helping Meta stay ahead in an increasingly competitive digital landscape.

Looking ahead, earnings are forecasted to grow at an annualized rate of 18.3% over the next three to five years, reinforcing the company’s long-term expansion potential.

Despite its incredible financial performance and robust growth outlook, Meta is trading at a historically reasonable valuation, with a forward earnings multiple of 23.5x, just below its 10-year median of 24.8x.

Source: Zack's

[behappyalways]

How Facebook Marketplace Amassed More Shoppers Than Amazon
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZTJ8idBFVw

[winston]

not vested

Meta Platforms

Meta is the second-largest digital advertising platform in the world, but it has been gaining market share.

The company has leaned into artificial intelligence (AI) with its Llama model.

Grew its revenue by 21%, with ad impressions increasing by 6% while its average price per ad jumped by 14%.

Meta is currently growing out the Threads audience, with 320 million monthly active users at year-end. Meanwhile, it's been growing its user base by about 1 million users a day.

This can be seen in the large gap between its global average revenue per user (ARPU) and that of its competitors.

For example, last quarter Snap's global ARPU was $3.44 while Pinterest's was $2.12. That was a fraction of Meta's $14.25.

Source: TMF

[behappyalways]

EU Could Slap Meta With €1 Billion Fine, Trump Vows To Retaliate
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ ... -retaliate

[behappyalways]

META Accused Of Using Pirated Books To Train AI
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/met ... are-pissed

[winston]

vested

1. Meta Platforms

Shares of Meta Platforms (META) delivered excellent returns over the last 10 years, rising more than 585%.

The company fueled those returns with annualized revenue growth of 29%, and it’s still growing at high rates that could support more market-beating gains in the coming years.

Meta has more than 3.3 billion daily active users across Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and WhatsApp. This massive base is an advertising magnet.

Meta has half the planet using one of its apps every day, and that’s why it continues to grow, with revenue up 22% to reach $164 billion last year.

Meta’s lucrative advertising revenue is fueling strong growth in earnings. In Q4, Meta spent $19 billion on expenses to support its family of apps, but it still generated nearly $21 billion in net income. For the year, earnings per share grew 60% over 2023.

One of the areas it is investing is artificial intelligence (AI), where the Meta AI assistant is projected to reach more than 1 billion users this year. Investing in personalization is a key part of management’s strategy to increase engagement and drive more advertising growth.

AI could also pave the way for future opportunities in premium services, which doesn’t seem to be reflected in the stock’s current valuation.

Concerns over the economy and advertising market has sent the stock down 22% from its recent highs. However, the last time Meta stock fell over concerns about a slowing ad market proved to be a great buying opportunity. Meta’s share price rocketed 375% since bottoming out in 2022 as the ad market recovered.

The digital ad market is a major long-term tailwind for Meta’s business. The company’s massive audience is a valuable asset that should keep revenue growing as advertisers invest in the platform.

The stock trades at just 22 times this year’s earnings estimate, which is attractive considering long-term earnings growth estimates of 17% based on the Wall Street consensus.

Source: Trade Of The Day

[behappyalways]

Meta To Expand Ray-Ban Smart Glasses Lineup With Display-Enabled Model
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/me ... bled-model

[winston]

vested

Jim Cramer Wants to “Buy Meta Platforms, Inc. (META)” as Others Panic – Calls It a ‘Unique Property’

by Ramish Cheema

Source: Insider Monkey

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jim-cram ... 15532.html

[winston]

not vested

Mark Zuckerberg’s empire faces an existential threat

by Colette Bennett

Mark Zuckerberg could be forced to sell Instagram and WhatsApp due to an antitrust lawsuit that begins today in a Washington courtroom.

Source: The Street

https://www.thestreet.com/technology/ma ... m_content=

[behappyalways]

EU Hits Apple, Meta With €700 Million Fines For Violating Digital Markets Act
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/eu-hi ... arkets-act