Reasons for the Decline of Meta Platforms (META) in Q4

Weitz Investment Management, an investment management firm, released its “Partners III Opportunity Fund” fourth-quarter 2022 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. In the fourth quarter, the fund’s Institutional Class returned +5.45% compared to a +7.18% return for the Russell 3000 Index. For the full year, the fund returned -22.46% compared to -19.21% for the benchmark. In addition, you can check the top 5 holdings of the fund to know its best picks in 2022.

Weitz Partners III Opportunity Fund highlighted stocks like Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the Q4 2022 investor letter. Headquartered in Menlo Park, California, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is a technology company that develops products to connect people. On March 9, 2023, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) stock closed at $181.69 per share. One-month return of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) was 4.33%, and its shares lost 3.16% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has a market capitalization of $471.057 billion.

Weitz Partners III Opportunity Fund made the following comment about Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its Q4 2022 investor letter:

“Unfortunately, the performance story of the year is told by the Fund’s detractors. We’ve written at length in prior quarters about Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s struggles to adapt both to changes in Apple’s iOS platform, as well as pivots to new formats like short-form video (Reels) and platform investments in the metaverse that have dragged shares lower all year.

Meta, Alphabet, Amazon and CarMax were all top detractors for the quarter and calendar year periods (FIS and Liberty Broadband, respectively, complete the quarterly and calendar-year detractor lists.) To varying degrees, each is managing through cyclical challenges during a period of substantial investor pessimism. Drawdowns of this magnitude are painful, and it may be prudent for management to moderate the pace of some investments, but we remain encouraged by their long-term focus. In the short run, cutting spending indiscriminately to “defend earnings” may lessen the pain of a drawdown, but it seldom grows a company’s business value — the ultimate prize. We added to both CarMax and Meta on weakness, and all four remain core holdings.”

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is in 4th position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 194 hedge fund portfolios held Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) at the end of the fourth quarter which was 177 in the previous quarter.

We discussed Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in another article and shared the list of most promising metaverse stocks to buy. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2022 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.