Meta Gets Back to Reality


Facebook母公司Meta Platforms周三盘后大涨18%，此前该公司公布的财报显示，第一财季展望好于市场担心的情况。


Meta曾表示，将把总投资的80%用于改善其传统业务。

从事后诸葛亮的角度，一切总是清清楚楚，不过回头看看，当初事情并非无迹可循。 6park.com
Hindsight is always 20/20 but, looking back, it was all there in not-so-fine print. 6park.com
   
Facebook母公司Meta Platforms (META)周三盘后大涨18%，此前该公司公布了财报，其中给出的第一财季展望好于市场担心的情况。就在一天前，社交媒体竞争对手Snap Inc. (SNAP)对近期的业务前景描绘了一幅不祥的图景，指出当前财季截至目前收入同比下降了约7%。 6park.com
Facebook-parent Meta Platforms’ surged 18% in after hours trading Wednesday following an earnings report that included a first quarter outlook that was better than feared. It came just one day after social media competitor Snap, Inc. painted an ominous picture of its own near-term business prospects, noting revenue was down about 7% quarter to date year on year. 



Meta周三显示出相对的韧性，该公司公布第四财季收入同比下降4%，好于华尔街此前预计的超过6%的降幅。该公司第一财季的预测显示，收入可能会恢复增长，这一预期的中间值与华尔街大致一致。 6park.com
Meta on Wednesday showed relative resilience, reporting a fourth quarter revenue decline of 4% year-over-year—better than the more than 6% decline Wall Street had estimated. The company’s first quarter forecast suggested a potential return to revenue growth, an outlook that came in roughly in-line with the Street at the midpoint.  6park.com
  
但Meta的投资者有更多理由欢呼。继去年11月宣布将裁员11%后，Meta周三将今年的资本支出预期中间值下调了约40亿美元。该公司表示，今年预计的300亿至330亿美元资本支出中，“基本上全部”都将用于其传统的应用业务系列。 6park.com
But Meta investors had more reason than just that for cheer. After announcing in November that it would lay off 11% of its staff, Meta on Wednesday lowered its capital expenditure outlook for this year by about $4 billion at the midpoint. “Substantially all” of the forecast $30 billion to $33 billion in capex for the year will be dedicated to its legacy family of apps business, the company said.  6park.com
   
除了对整个行业广告支出下降的担忧之外，在经济呈低迷之势、投资者关注近期盈利能力的整体环境中，Meta此前宣布打算向元宇宙投入数以十亿计美元，显得有些我行我素。周三，首席执行官扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)似乎终于回应了关于他的公司投资目标的担忧，宣布2023年是”效率之年”，他坚持说，自己实际上在相当长一段时间里对这件事情都是抱着开玩笑的态度。 6park.com
Aside from fears around falling ad spending sector wide, Meta’s previous declarations that it intends to throw billions of dollars at the metaverse have seemed a little tone deaf in a recessionary environment that has seen investors focus on near-term profitability. On Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg seemed to finally address concerns around his company’s investing goals by declaring 2023 “the year of efficiency,” something he insisted he had actually been teasing for quite some time.  6park.com
  
Meta发布财报后的股价涨幅显示出，其表现大有令市场惊喜之处，或者至少是宽慰，但还是有一些线索可循。 6park.com
While the magnitude of Meta’s share price move following its report suggests a good deal of surprise, or at least relief, there were some clues. 6park.com
  
例如，Snap明确表示，其第四财季收入的疲软是由品牌广告业务造成的，并指出直效广告实际上没有那么糟糕。直效广告指那些激发立即点击或转换的广告，Meta在这方面很出名。Snap还明确表示，造成其疲软预测的“最重要”因素不是整体的广告前景，而是该公司正在对自己平台进行的调整，以优先考虑更多的直效广告业务。虽然Meta没有透露具体的广告构成，但该公司表示，这类广告长期以来一直是其广告收入的“大头”，是其增长的关键驱动力量。 6park.com
Snap, for example, was clear that its revenue weakness in the fourth quarter was driven by its brand ads business, noting direct response ads, those directed toward immediate clicks or conversions, for which Meta is well known, weren’t actually that bad. Snap also was clear that the “most significant” driver of its weak forecast wasn’t the broader ad landscape but changes it is making to its own platform to prioritize more direct response business. While Meta doesn’t disclose its exact ad mix, the company has said that these types of ads have long represented “the bulk” of its ad revenue and have been a key driver of its growth. 6park.com
  
几乎就在一年前，刚刚转向“元宇宙优先”公司的Meta报告称，作为上市公司，Facebook的日活跃用户首次出现季度环比下降。这导致许多人怀疑该平台身为社交媒体领域霸主的风光是否已时日无多。广告支出放缓之际，Meta的股价暴跌，去年市值蒸发了约6,000亿美元。 6park.com
It was almost exactly a year ago that Meta, fresh off its pivot to be a “metaverse first” company, reported that Facebook’s daily active users declined quarter over quarter for the first time as a public company. That led many to question whether the platform’s days atop the social media heap were numbered. Amid an ad spending slowdown, Meta’s stock cratered, erasing some $600 billion in market value last year. 6park.com
  
现在看来，Facebook的下跌可能只是一个小插曲。该平台用户在过去四个财季均取得了环比增长，截至第四财季末，日活跃用户总计20亿。《华尔街日报》(Wall Street Journal)上周的一篇报道显示，Meta传统的“蓝色”应用“仍然是它的主力”。报道援引了《华尔街日报》看到的内部统计数据，显示尽管分析师普遍估计Instagram占Meta广告总收入的一半之多，但实际上该平台产生的广告收入仅占30%。 6park.com
Now it is looking like Facebook’s falloff could have been a mere blip. The platform has added users on a sequential basis in each of the last four quarters, with daily active users totaling 2 billion as of the end of the fourth quarter. A Wall Street Journal report last week showed that Meta’s legacy “Blue” app “remains its workhorse.” Citing internal statistics viewed by the Journal, the report showed that, while analysts have generally estimated Instagram accounts for as much as half of Meta’s total ad revenue, that platform generates barely 30% of it. 6park.com
  
Meta在去年12月份的一篇博客文章中表示，将把总投资的80%用于改善其传统业务，这与该公司优先考虑应用业务系列的意图是一致的。这也表明，无论Meta认为未来如何，它都知道必须活在当下。 6park.com
Meta’s intent to prioritize spending on its family of apps business overall is consistent with a December blog post in which the company said it was devoting 80% of its total investment dollars to improving its legacy business. It is also an indication that, no matter what it sees as its future, Meta knows it must live in the present.  6park.com
  
任何投资者都不会忽视一个事实：在更名一年多之后，Meta 98%的收入仍然来自社交媒体。 6park.com
One fact no investor is missing: Well over a year after its name change, 98% of Meta’s revenue still comes from social media. 6park.com