META, weeklyThe stock of Meta soared 23% last week to a 6-month high, its third-best week ever. In its earnings report Wednesday, revenue came in slightly above expectations, despite sales down year over year, and the first-quarter forecast was roughly in line with expectations.
The key to the rally was CEO Mark Zuckerberg's announcement in the earnings statement that 2023 would be the "Year of Efficiency" and his promise that "we're focused on becoming stronger and more nimble." Although the quarter was OK, it was the cost-cutting that finally got investors interested, which is why Meta took off.
The earnings call comes 3 months after Meta announced 11,000 job cuts, which represents 13% of its workforce.
Zuckerberg said he does not expect declines to continue, but acknowledges the business will not return to how it was before. Assuming he’s right, the massive sell-off last year was an overcorrecting overcorrection down to 88.91 USD, and investors may well be slipping back into Meta right now. If that’s true, the optimism will likely hold for the coming quarter.