Nasdaq FB FaceBook

Twitter Inc has picked up a minority stake in Aleph Group Inc, the digital advertising startup said on Tuesday as it seeks to go public in the United States.

Many technology stocks have been hammered at the beginning of 2022, but the business is performing stronger than ever. Cryptocurrencies have also had a rough past few months, with Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) falling more than 35% from its all-time high. With bargains popping up left an

The tech sector is extremely broad. It is filled with trillion-dollar behemoths like Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), legacy providers like IBM (NYSE: IBM), and fast-growing upstarts like Crowdstrike (NASDAQ: CRWD). It spans hardware, software, cybersecurity, financial technology, and m

Meta Platforms (FB) has been one of my favorite investments for quite some time. While the company has been the subject of great scrutiny over the years, its growth and financials remain robust, and its $58 billion cash pile and $0 long-term debt position are great. At the same time, the stock has remained consistently cheap, which should allow management's growing stock repurchases to deliver fantastic shareholder value creation going forward.

Besides for Meta's core investment case, however, which includes all its current profitable platforms, I am eager regarding Meta's metaverse potential, which in my view, is underrated by investors currently. In fact, I believe that Meta is one of the top Metaverse stocks out there. I am bullish on the stock.

What About the Metaverse?

Most investors do not really know what to think about the metaverse. People are probably imagining someone with a VR helmet on their head, similar to the images in the Ready Player One movie. Indeed, this is partially an element of the metaverse experience, but the metaverse as a whole is rather more mixed and, surprisingly to many, already here to some extent.

Most individuals spend innumerable hours in front of their screens nowadays, and their virtual possessions are gradually becoming the new social currency. This is similar to when gamers buy virtual items in video games to show their friends. It is no different than wearing luxury brands in real life. It's a type of expression and communication.

To understand why the metaverse is not just going to be an essential aspect of our lives but also a very profitable field for companies in the space such as Meta, you just have to integrate people's real-life behavior into the metaverse. For example, people will likely spend lots of money on their virtual character wearing certain brands. Does this sound absurd? Not really, since this is already happening.

Gamers are paying lots of money to buy skins for their virtual characters in video games. It only makes sense, then, that people in the metaverse will be spending way more on the avatar that resembles their real-life personality.

When we add NFTs to the mix, the potential of the metaverse gets outlandish. In real life, your car, your house, and the clothes you wear reveal something about your personality. In the same manner, your NFT assets in the metaverse will reveal a lot about who you are. This time, however, it's not just your neighbors and co-workers who have visible access to you, but the rest of the world too. Accessibility and transparency are crucial in the metaverse, and in my view, this will basically determine people's spending habits, and as an extension, grow the bottom line of Meta at some point.

To guess the financial influence the metaverse will have on Meta in the future would be irrational. That said, we can easily speculate on potential sources of revenue for Meta, including additional advertising, brand deals, royalties from smart contracts through NFTs, and many others. Nobody can forecast how these catalysts will appear in Meta's actual numbers, but note that Meta already has the most prominent infrastructure amongst companies in the field, allowing it to execute on this upcoming trend successfully.

Wall Street’s Take

Turning to Wall Street, Meta Platforms has a Strong Buy consensus rating, based on 28 Buys and five Holds assigned in the past three months. At $409, the average Meta Platforms stock price prediction implies 24.67% upside potential.

Conclusion

Regardless of the metaverse's future benefits for Meta Platforms, the company is already attractive very attractively priced, with its core operations appearing to have momentous upside potential going forward.

Simultaneously, however, I believe the company features a significant long-term upside potential from the metaverse story, which in my view, poses an inevitable shift towards social media 2.0.

Disclosure: On the date of publication, Nikolaos Sismanis had a beneficial long position in the shares of Facebook through stock ownership.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article represents the views and opinion of the writer only, and not the views or opinion of TipRanks or its affiliates  Read full disclaimer >

[Updated 01/07/2022] Twitter Update

Facebook parent Meta Platforms has delayed its U.S. office reopening date and mandated COVID-19 booster shots for employees returning to office, joining the growing list of companies revamping reopening plans as Omicron surges.

Facebook parent Meta Platforms has delayed its U.S. office reopening date and mandated COVID-19 booster shots for employees returning to office, joining the growing list of companies revamping reopening plans as Omicron surges.

(RTTNews) - Meta Platforms Inc. (FB), the parent company of social media giant Facebook, has told its employees that booster shots would be mandatory to work from its U.S. campuses when it reopens.

Messaging app Signal's founder and Chief Executive Officer Moxie Marlinspike will step down and WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton will become the interim CEO, Marlinspike said in a blog post https://signal.org/blog/new-year-new-ceo on Monday.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: FB) has faced its fair share of criticism in recent months despite its rebranding efforts from Facebook, and some investors continue to view the business with mixed skepticism. Whether or not Meta will be able to make meaningful changes to its various soci

What happened Broad market indexes are in retreat again today, building on the declines suffered during the first week of 2022. Investors are mulling the effects of higher interest rates on the economy after minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting, released last week, i

Wall Street's main indexes tumbled on Monday, as heavyweight technology stocks dropped on expectations of a sooner-than-expected rate hike that pushed U.S. Treasury yields to fresh two-year highs.

A weak start to 2022 and a host of looming macro and technical headwinds are setting cryptocurrencies up for a rough ride in the weeks to come.

What happened Shares of the crypto bank Silvergate Capital (NYSE: SI) are trading about 7% down as of 11 a.m. EST after receiving some negative sentiment from an analyst.

What happened President Trump is planning to return to social media in a big way, but not through the platforms offered by Big Tech. Because they summarily banned him from their sites following the 2020 elections, he is making an end run around them by launching his own platform

Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the SPDR— S&P 500— ETF Trust (Symbol: SPY) where we have detected an approximate $6.8 billion dollar inflow -- that's a 1.5% increase we

Wall Street's main indexes tumbled on Monday as heavyweight technology stocks dropped on expectations of a high interest rate environment, which pushed U.S. Treasury yields to fresh two-year highs and supported banks.

Austin, Texas, fell from the No. 1 spot in 2021 to a predicted No. 10 in 2022 on Zillow's list of hottest housing markets in America. Tampa, Florida, has assumed the top spot, but Austin is still a very robust market.

Austin, Texas, fell from the No. 1 spot in 2021 to No. 10 in 2022 on Zillow's list of hottest housing markets in America. Tampa, Florida, has assumed the top spot, but Austin is still a very robust market.

It was a turbulent end of 2021 for shares of social-media kingpin Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: FB), formerly Facebook. After what was the perfect storm of negative headlines and a whistleblower, it’s not a mystery as to why FB stock had stalled in spite of its solid fundamentals.

Facebook gave itself a facelift, and it seems ready to leave last year’s barrage of bad news behind. Many people are still upset at the company’s prior practices. With a focus on improving itself and a broader focus on the metaverse, investors have a lot of reasons to forgive the company and give its CEO Mark Zuckerberg the benefit of the doubt.

Does Zuckerberg deserve such a second shot? Perhaps, but for investors, it’s hard to ignore the incredible growth prospects at a valuation that seems unreasonably depressed.

I remain bullish on FB stock for the year, as do most analysts covering the name.

Meta Stock: Profitable Growth on the Cheap

With the 20% peak-to-trough drop now in the rearview mirror, the name is a rare breed on the Nasdaq 100, offering remarkable growth at what appears to be a deep discount. Investors are discounting the firm’s ability to make things right, as it shifts gears with its aggressive push to build its metaverse.

Headlines still seem bleak, especially from an ethical point of view. The real question on investors’ minds is not whether Meta can continue keeping its impressive growth alive, but if it can repair its reputation with select users.

In terms of growth, Meta has proven it can keep producing incredible numbers through good and bad times. With the metaverse unlocking a new world of opportunities, I think Facebook could raise the bar on its growth. It is a worthy member of the FAANG basket, after all. It’s arguably one of the cohort’s cheapest plays with shares trading at 23.7 times trailing earnings.

Profitable growth for cheap? What’s the catch? You’ll have to put your faith in the leadership of Zuckerberg, a brilliant businessman who’s keen on improving his reputation after a turbulent 2021.

Meta’s Metaverse Ambitions

Meta is a high-growth stock, but it’s one that’s incredibly profitable. As rates rise, real profits in the present are increasingly important to investors. Gone are the days where one can just buy a momentum stock and expect to do well.

Facebook has a reputation to repair, but I think it can, as it brings in the right people to fix the mess that boiled over last year. Can another storm of negative headlines strike once the metaverse is mainstream? That’s a real risk, and it’s hard to gauge the extent of such a risk, especially given the stakes could be higher now that congress is on alert.

Given such risks, Meta’s management team will likely look at ethical considerations closely. Sure, that’s easier said than done, especially once the masses head to virtual worlds. Regardless, I don’t think such room for reputational improvement is yet baked into the stock.

Up ahead, Meta is moving into the metaverse. It’s a risky and expensive move for sure given the competition among top metaverse stocks. Under Zuckerberg’s leadership, the next-generation pivot may be somewhat less risky, given the man’s a brilliant, albeit somewhat controversial, visionary in the tech space.

Wall Street’s Take

According to TipRanks’ analyst rating consensus, FB stock comes in as a Strong Buy. Out of 33 analyst ratings, there are 28 Buy recommendations and five Hold recommendations.

The average Meta Platforms price target is $409.02. Analyst price targets range from a low of $300 per share to a high of $466 per share.

Bottom Line on Meta Stock

The company has proven it knows how to monetize emerging tech in a big way. Further, I do think investors can expect continued profitable growth from the firm, as more light is shed on its next-generation offerings from its intriguing Reality Labs division, which could be the next massive growth driver for FB stock.

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