Meta Platforms: Optimism Despite Falling Stock Prices

The technology giant Meta Platforms surprised the markets with an optimistic forecast for the current quarter, despite a slight decline in stock prices in after-hours trading. The parent company of the social network Facebook expects strong demand for advertisements during the holiday season, which is intended to cover the substantial investments in artificial intelligence. Investors were initially unimpressed, which was reflected in a 2.5 percent drop in stock prices. Analysts, however, see valuable growth stimuli for Meta in the AI-powered advertising tools and the successful monetization of short video content, known as Reels. Given the positive economic outlook and declining interest rates, many market observers are looking forward to a potential boom year for digital advertising in 2024. Analysts emphasize that advertising revenue constitutes the lion's share of Meta's income, so increased spending during the holiday season could provide the company with a critical profit boost. The third quarter brought Meta earnings of $6.03 per share, significantly above the estimates of $5.25. Revenue was $40.59 billion, also slightly exceeding forecasts. For the fourth quarter, revenue is expected to be between $45 and $48 billion, which could potentially surpass analysts' expectations of $46.31 billion.