Meta shares soar lifting Zuckerberg's net worth
CEO nets over $10B in less than 24 hours
The market rally is 'fed-based': Ryan Payne
Payne Capital Management President Ryan Payne discusses the market rally following the Federal Reserve meeting, Charlie Munger's call for a crypto ban, and Meta shares.
Meta Platforms is leading the tech stock revival on Wall Street despite the parent company of Facebook reporting a dip in fourth-quarter revenues from a year ago.
Meta's gain is moving CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth to $10.86 billion higher in one day.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Oct. 23, 2019, on Facebook's impact on the financial services and housing sectors. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
During preliminary trading, Zuckerberg's total stake in Meta was worth $64.54 billion, an increase of 20% compared to $53.68 billion in value at Wednesday's close, as tracked by the Dow Jones Market Data Group.
Shares for the social media platform are up significantly on Thursday, moving roughly 25% into the green and boosting Zuckerberg's bank account.
"Meta’s shares have seen a jet-fueled rebound on news of a cost-base rethink," 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 display an effort to address both of those issues."
"Crucially, capital expenditure is set up to be funneled towards the group’s core family of apps, which will go a long way to calming investors’ nerves, as will scaling back certain data center projects," Lund-Yates added.
Meta Platforms
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| META | META PLATFORMS INC. | 569.20 | -4.34 | -0.76% |
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’s shares are up 23% against the Nasdaq which has climbed 14%. The market, which has its eyes firmly on the future, has clearly priced in a rebound of Meta’s advertising revenues. With peak inflation coming into view, and the recovery lane for the economy well signposted, there’s cautious optimism Meta can prove its bulls right," Lund-Yates said.
On Wednesday, the Fed said it would raise its benchmark interest rate by only a quarter of a point, sparking the rally after providing further evidence to traders of a slowing campaign to cool inflation.
Since Fed Chair Powell's remarks, the Nasdaq Composite has spearheaded the U.S. benchmark recovery as other tech companies like Amazon, Apple, and Alphabet continue their charge upward in 2023.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 19218.16623 | +157.69 | +0.83% |
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 207.89 | +2.15 | +1.05% |
| AAPL | APPLE INC. | 237.33 | +2.40 | +1.02% |
| GOOGL | ALPHABET INC. | 168.95 | -0.28 | -0.17% |
Meta’s fourth quarter rundown
A smartphone with Facebook's logo is seen with new rebrand logo Meta in this illustration taken October 28, 2021. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration / Reuters Photos)
Revenue at the social media company reached $32.17 billion in the final quarter of 2022. Although revenue fell 4%, the number still beat Wall Street expectations of $31.65 billion. Advertising revenues peaked at $31.25 billion to also exceed predictions.
Net income for the three months ended Dec. 31 fell 55% to $4.65 billion.
Meanwhile, adjusted earnings per share (EPS) hit $1.76, beneath expert predictions of $2.26.
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Facebook also reported 2 billion daily active users, and 2.96 billion in daily active users across the company’s family of apps.
FOX Business reporter Megan Henney contributed to this story.