It may take a hot minute or two before investors consolidate their emotional hangover from Meta’s awful earnings day and begin to buy the dip in the tech giant’s valuations.
“I think there are some dark days ahead for Facebook. You can change your name every month if you want. Their strategy is ultimately social media and digital advertising,” said Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives on Yahoo Finance Live.
It’s almost hard to imagine a darker day for Meta than Feb. 3.
Shares crashed 26% by the close of trading after a very disappointing fourth quarter and outlook.
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Facebook said it added just 2 million monthly active users in the quarter, barely moving the needle from the prior quarter. In the third quarter, the platform added 15 million monthly active users.
Daily active users fell by 1 million as Facebook saw increased competition from TikTok. The company missed analyst profit estimates by a whopping 14 cents.
For 2022, Facebook sees slowing growth and a $10 billion hit from privacy changes to Apple’s iOS operating system.
The stock’s slide wiped away $251.3 billion in market value from Meta. It marked the biggest one-day loss in value for any U.S. company ever.
Shares have continued to trend lower in the wake of the destruction.
Adds Ives, “[Facebook CEO] Mark Zuckerberg has an uphill battle to get back to growth.”
Even Meta bulls such as long-time tech analyst Mark Mahaney are cautious on the stock price in the near-term.
“Shares are probably dead money at this level of growth for at least the next three months,” Mahaney said on Yahoo Finance Live.
Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.
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