Meta slumped, social and metaverse stocks are killed

​$Meta Platforms, Inc.(FB)$ released its first earnings report after it changed companies's name, but it  definitely didn't find a master to calculate

The worst is not only FB, but aslo SNAP, which will releases result tomorrow, but it has fallen by 17% in the aftermarket trading hours. FB successfully broke the two major sectors of social and metaverse, social stocks such as$Twitter(TWTR)$,$Snap Inc(SNAP)$,$Pinterest, Inc.(PINS)$ tumblled, and Metaverse as well, look at$Roblox Corporation(RBLX)$​$Unity Software Inc.(U)$.

According to Meta's financial report, the revenue in the fourth quarter of 2021 was US $33.67 billion, slightly higher than the market expectation of US $33.4 billion (Refinitiv). However, the year-on-year growth rate of 20% was too low. Before the financial report, the market gave such a low expectation, which seemed no any hope, but FB could only beat a little. Compared with the year-on-year growth in Q1-Q3 2021 they were 47.6%, 55.6% and over 35%. The annual revenue in 2021 was US $117.9 billion, an increase of 37% compared with US $85.97 billion in 2020, exceeding the market's original expectation of an increase of 20%.​

The net income in the fourth quarter wasUS $10.3 billion, significantly weaker than the expectedUS$10.9 billion, down 8% year-on-year, which was the first decline in net income since the second quarter of 2019. Adjusted earnings per share EPS was $3.67, missed market expectation of $3.84 (Refinitiv), down 5% year-on-year.​

The operating data is terrible, and the number of users has stagnated. The core product Facebook has 1.93 billion daily active users in the fourth quarter, which is the same as the third quarter, up 5% year-on-year, less than the expected 1.95 billion; The number of monthly active users (MAUs) was 2.91 billion, which was less than the expected 2.95 billion; The average revenue per user (ARPU) was $11.57, up 14% year-on-year, slightly higher than the expected $11.38.

Facebook was ambushed by TikTok on the way to snipe Snap. The daily users of the whole application family including Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp were 2.82 billion, slightly higher than the 2.81 billion in the previous quarter; The monthly users were 3.59 billion, up 9% year-on-year, slightly higher than the 3.58 billion in the previous quarter.​

There are worse things! FB gave a bad guidance of revenue for the first quarter was US $27 billion-US $29 billion, equivalent to a year-on-year increase of 3%-11%, which was significantly lower than the market expectation of US $30.15 billion. The company warned that its advertising pricing ability continues to be negatively impacted by Apple's privacy changes, and macroeconomic challenges such as high inflation and supply chain bottlenecks are affecting advertisers' budgets,The year-on-year increase in revenue in the first quarter of this year was mainly dragged down by the unfavorable factors of ad expression (that is, the number of times advertisements are seen by users in social content distribution) and pricing growth.

Say the worst, Say something worthy of attention, The company disclosed the financial situation of metaverse for the first time, According to the latest financial report structure, in addition to the APP family that relies on advertising revenue, there is also a Reality Lab, namely Virtual Reality Lab, which includes FB's metaverse and AI/VR related hardware, software and content. In the fourth quarter of 2021, Reality Lab earned 877 million US dollars, accounting for only 2.6% of the total revenue, which is not worth mentioning. It can also be considered that the story of metaverse is a story at present. Reality Lab2021 earned $2.274 billion for the whole year.​Overall, Facebook, which accounts for more than 97% of advertising revenue, is facing the new privacy regulations of Apple system, inflation environment and TikTok. The transformation can't wait, but metaverse is a long-term estimateNian, you can imagine that if FB allin metaverse in the next few years, the pressure on the company's profits will be even greater. With the announcement of Microsoft's acquisition of ATVI, Sony also took action, leaving META with little room. . .