Here's the Key Reason Meta Platforms Stock Has Soared 547% From Its 2022 Low
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) stock suffered a peak-to-trough decline of 76% between September 2021 and October 2022, bottoming at around $90. Meta is the parent of social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg pivoted the company toward the metaverse in 2021. The shift eroded Meta's profitability because of the metaverse's high capital costs and negligible revenue.
Following the plunge in stock price, Zuckerberg heeded investors' complaints and dubbed 2023 the "year of efficiency." He slashed more than 21,000 jobs and committed to slow spending on the metaverse in favor of focusing more on artificial intelligence (AI) and the company's core social platforms.
The chart below displays the incredible improvement in Meta's quarterly net income since 2022. In the recent fourth quarter of 2023, it soared by a whopping 201% year over year, to $14 billion.
Source Fool.com