Meta shares soar lifting Zuckerberg’s net worth
Payne Capital Management President Ryan Payne discusses the market rally after the Federal Reserve meeting, Charlie Munger’s call for a crypto ban, and Meta stock.
Meta Platforms is leading the resurgence of Wall Street tech stocks, despite Facebook’s parent company reporting a drop in fourth-quarter revenue from a year ago.
Meta’s win is pushing CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth to $10.86 billion more in one day.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 23, 2019, on Facebook’s impact on the financial services and housing sectors. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
In premarket trading, Zuckerberg’s total stake in Meta was $64.54 billion, a 20% increase from $53.68 billion in value at Wednesday’s close, as tracked by Dow Jones Market Data Group.
Shares for the social media platform rose sharply on Thursday, moving roughly 25% in the green and boosting Zuckerberg’s bank account.
“Meta shares have seen a rebound driven by the jet on news of a cost base review,” said Sophie Lund-Yates, Lead Equity Analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. “The market has been concerned about the company’s bloated expense line and lack of direction for some time, and these results show an effort to address both of those issues.”
“Crucially, capital spending is designed to go towards the group’s core family of applications, which will go a long way to calming investor nerves, as will some data center projects, Lund-Yates added.
Ticker Security Last Change Change % META META PLATFORMS INC. 188.77 +35.65 +23.28% Nasdaq rallies
The Meta rally is helping lift the Nasdaq Composite even higher since its midweek turnaround and the Federal Reserve’s announcement to raise the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a range of 4.25%-4.75%.
“Year-to-date, Meta shares are up 23% versus the Nasdaq, which is up 14%. The market, which has its eyes firmly on the future, has clearly priced in a rebound in Meta’s ad revenue .With peak inflation coming in. outlook, and the recovery lane for the economy well signaled, there is cautious optimism that the Meta can prove its bulls right,” said Lund-Yates.
On Wednesday, the Fed said it would raise its key interest rate by just a quarter point, fueling growth as it gave traders further evidence of a slowing campaign to lower inflation.
Since Fed Chairman Powell’s comments, the Nasdaq Composite has led the recovery in US benchmarks, while other tech companies such as Amazon, Apple and Alphabet continue their upward charge into 2023.
Ticker Security Last Change % I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 12200.818021 +384.50 +3.25%AMZN AMAZON.COM INC. 112.91 +7.76 +7.38%AAPL APPLE INC. +7.38%AAPL APPLE INC. Summary of Meta’s fourth quarter
A smartphone with the Facebook logo is seen with the new Meta rebrand logo in this illustration taken on October 28, 2021. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters Photos)
Revenue at the social media company reached $32.17 billion in the last quarter of 2022. Although revenue fell 4%, the number still beat Wall Street expectations of $31.65 billion. Advertising revenue peaked at $31.25 billion to also beat forecasts.
Net income for the three months ended Dec. 31 fell 55% to $4.65 billion.
Meanwhile, adjusted earnings per share (EPS) came in at $1.76, below analysts’ forecasts of $2.26.
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Facebook also reported 2 billion daily active users and 2.96 billion daily active users across the company’s family of apps.
FOX Business reporter Megan Henney contributed to this story.
