The Meta stock bottomed out at $88 each in November of last year after a year marked by tightening monetary policy, higher interest rates and waning interest in technology stocks.
Since November, on the other hand, Meta stock has gained fresh winds under its wings, up more than 176 percent, with the stock trading at more than $245 at the close of trading on Friday.
Bloomberg points to two reasons for the price hike, including Zuckerberg’s focus shifting from the Metaverse to the physical world in competition with Tesla founder Elon Musk, through their new Instagram platform.
At the same time, the company achieved better than expected results during the first quarter of the year, and announced major plans for its investment in generative AI.
This has contributed to the Facebook founder’s wealth now reaching a staggering $88.9 billion, or NOK 9,738 billion based on today’s krone exchange rate. Thus, Zuckerberg’s fortune increased by $44 billion through 2023.
Looks great on the plus side
Markets have been very volatile so far this year with inflationary pressures and bank collapse after bank collapse since March. The Oslo Poor’s Index is down 1.1 percent so far this year, while the US Dow Jones index is up 0.9 percent.
By comparison, the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 21.9 percent in the same period.
Technology analyst Mark Mahaney at Evercore ISI is ranked #57 out of 8,385 analysts on TipRanks and is in the top 1% of all analysts. He can show a return of nearly 24 percent on his recommendations, and at the beginning of May picked a couple of tech stocks with more upside, including Meta.
– I still love Metta on these levels and it’s still my first choice. He told CNBC at the beginning of May that the valuation is still very attractive.
“It’s trading at a discount to the market for what I believe is a company that can sustain more than 20 percent earnings growth,” Mahaney added.
– You don’t see that often.
Mahaney believes the stock could rise to $350, which would give an upside of 42 percent from today’s closing price.
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