$Meta Platforms (META.US)$ Meta Platforms, Inc. engages in t...

Meta Platforms, Inc. engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs.

The U.S. and some Western countries perceive TikTok to be a threat to national security. With the backdrop of deteriorating US-China relations, TikTok's overseas operation will face more headwinds and bans. Meta's Reels is one of the benefactors favoured indirectly by the policy tailwinds as Americans could be forced to switch from TikTok to Reels. In fact, Reels plays more than doubled in 2022.

Meta has toned down the development of Metaverse which the market sees too ahead of the current trend. The company announced another round of layoff of 10,000 employees, following the previous round of 11,000 job cuts. The right-sizing accounts for 25% of the total employment. Meanwhile, Meta is one of a strong rivals to ChatGPT. It announced its latest AI language model, LLAMA, which is an open-source package that anyone in the AI community can request access to.

4Q22 revenue dropped by 4.5% YoY to USD32.2b. GAAP EPS was USD1.76. 1Q23 revenue guidance ranges between USD26.0b and USD28.5b.

The updated market consensus of the EPS growth in FY23/24 is 40.8%/23.1%, respectively, which translates to 20.7x/16.7x forward PE. Current PER is 18.7x. Bloomberg consensus average 12-month tp is USD225.63.