Eh, they're not in freefall any more. Very strong is probably an overstatement since they're still down over 65% YTD and even more from ATHs. I'm a big Meta (stock) fan though. I think they're insanely undervalued at the moment (says the guy holding a bunch of their stock that's down close to 50% all together lol)
#1 reason is because they're running WhatsApp, a 2 billion+ MAU service, and not monetizing it at all right now. Hypothetically a single text ad on the home screen would add billions to their bottom line overnight. #2 reason is because their core products have staying power. They've lived through twitter, snapchat, pintrest, a ton of other smaller social networks, and are still wildly profitable. I fully anticipate they'll outlive (or at least co-exist with) tiktok in the long run and do fine. #3 is "the metaverse" has like a 0.1% chance to make trillions of dollars if it works out like they think. Worst (and most likely) case is that it fails, but it isn't like they bet on something that destroyed their core business. They can just stop investing at any time really and add another $10B in profit. Even after their investments in "the metaverse" they're still pulling in nearly $30B in profit on $120B in revenue.
Obviously if I knew the future I'd be rich already, but that's my 2 cents. shrug
If WhatsApp had ads, people would quickly move to an alternative without… it has historical inertia but don’ does not really offer anything unique. Fb is in the same situation, meta has almost zero intrinsic value and is just coasting on having been the first mover, which will dissipate over time.
Because their advertising business is still wildly profitable even with the ad tracking changes. If they continue to reduce costs and stop investing in the metaverse they’re a great company.
Now, add in TikTok potentially being banned in the US and you can see their social media apps being even stronger positioned.
