Meta Platforms Inc

Meta Platforms performed a mixed result with earnings below expectations, ending a rather difficult fiscal year. Despite the layoffs, the company’s heavy spending on the metaverse continues to eat into its profits significantly. The management claims that number of daily users of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp is at an all-time high. Facebook’s engagement is decent, and it is expanding globally, with over 2 billion daily and approximately 3 billion monthly active users. Given the fact that there has been a year-over-year drop in online commerce, growth remained negative in their two largest categories, CPG and online commerce. The company saw in-feed suggestions boost engagement as they assist users in finding new material in their feeds. Meta also reported a significant increase in click-to-message ads. The management is making significant long-term investments in AI to create and implement privacy-enhancing technologies and to keep creating new tools that should make it simpler for advertisers to produce and deliver more relevant and engaging ads. We give Meta a ‘Hold’ rating with a revised target price.