On February 02, Meta Platforms Inc. (FB) declared its results for Q4 and full-year 2021, along with future outlook and ticker change. Consequently, the stock nosedived in the after-hours.
In anticipation of the earnings release, investors flocked towards the stock on Wednesday. The regular session saw 277% of its average volume at 58.46 million shares. FB was able to gain 1.25% during regular trading to close the session at $323.00. Following the announcement, the stock plunged by 22.89% at an after-hours volume of 24.52 million. Thus, FB was trading at $249.05 per share in the after-hours on Wednesday.
The global social technology company, Meta Platforms Inc. has a market capitalization of $887.38 billion. Currently, the company has 2.37 billion shares outstanding in the market.
FB’s Financial Results
In Q4 and fiscal 2021, the company generated total revenue of $33.67 billion and $117.92 billion, respectively. Comparatively, the total revenue was $28.07 billion in Q4 2020 and $85.96 billion in fiscal 2020. This shows a YOY change of 20%.
Moreover, FB had a net income of $10.28 billion in Q4 2021 and $39.37 billion in fiscal 2021. This compares to $11.21 billion and $29.14 billion in Q4 and fiscal 2020, respectively. Resultantly, the company had EPS of $3.67 and $13.77 in Q4 and fiscal 2021, respectively. Furthermore, analysts were expecting EPS of $3.85 for Q4 of 2021.
Additionally, Family daily/monthly active people and Facebook’s daily/monthly active users showed a below 10% increase YOY in December 2021.
Future Outlook
FB expects total revenue for Q1 2022 to be between $27 and $29 billion, with a YOY increase of 3-11%.
In addition, the company also revised its total expenses guidance from $91-97 billion to $90-95 billion for 2022.
Ticker Symbol Change
Based on the company’s recent name change from Facebook to Meta, the company has decided to change its ticker as well. Therefore, in the first half of 2022, FB’s Class A common stock will commence trading under the ‘META’ symbol.
FB’s New Segment
Recently, the company implemented a new financial reporting structure in a devised segmented way. The new segmented structure comprises two main segments: Family of Apps (FoA) and Reality Labs (RL).
The FoA segment includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and other services.
RL segment consists of augmented and virtual reality-related consumer hardware, software, and content.
Conclusion
While the company’s previous quarter/year’s results were already unimpressive with mild growth, the gloomy outlook fueled investors’ disappointment. As a result, the stock took a hit in the after-hours on Wednesday.
