Meta, formerly Facebook, faced a crisis in 2022 but made a significant recovery in 2023, with shares up 178%, driven by a return to growth in digital advertising.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s cost-cutting measures and focus on shareholder concerns played a pivotal role.
Despite challenges like the impact of Apple’s privacy changes and competition from TikTok, Meta’s investments in AI, particularly the Llama language model, have strengthened its ad technology. (Trending: Supreme Court Delivers Historic Ruling on AR-15s)
According to Longbow Asset Management CEO Jake Dollarhide, Zuckerberg’s “change of attitude” and openness to shareholders’ concerns instead of seemingly dismissing them, initiated the growth.
“It was the change in tone from Zuck,” Dollarhide said.
“He went from thumbing his nose at shareholders” and focusing on spending billions of dollars “to listening and communicating in a different way,” Dollarhide explained.
“As long as the core business is humming along and is kind of improving, I think investors will probably continue to give them a pass,” said John Blackledge, an analyst at Cowen who recommends buying the stock.
Susan Li, Meta’s finance chief reportedly said online commerce and gaming “benefited from spend among advertisers in China reaching customers in other markets.”
JMP analysts estimated that Temu and Shein, which are both e-commerce companies with roots in China, reportedly spent about $600 million and $200 million, in the third quarter, on ads with Meta
This reportedly was part of a 44% increase generated from Asian advertisers.
Tom Champion, an analyst at Piper Sandler said, “We all extrapolated the growth trends around digital advertising that emerged during the pandemic, and Meta management invested behind that extrapolation of the trend as well.”
“The revenue picture changed a hell of a lot faster than cost,” he added.
The company’s shift towards efficiency and advertising, while still investing in the metaverse, has contributed to its rebound.
However, concerns about the digital ad market, lawsuits, and the niche market for virtual reality persist as the company moves into 2024.
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