4. Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Billionaire David Tepper Q1’2024 Stake Value: $545,063,550
David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management cut its stake in Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 40% in the first quarter of 2024, ending the period with a $545 million stake in Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META). Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) still accounts for about 8% of the total fund portfolio. We recently took a detailed look at what makes Meta Platforms one of the best AI stocks.
Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is using its huge user base and content generated on its platforms to its advantage. Bloomberg recently reported that Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) and Alphabet are in talks with major Hollywood players for a potential “multi-million” arrangement that would allow the two companies to use original video content to train their AI models. Business Insider also reported that Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is in talks with publishers to use their content to train its AI models.
As of the end of the first quarter of 2024, 246 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey had stakes in Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META). The biggest stakeholder of the social media company was Rajiv Jain’s GQG Partners which had a $5.6 billion stake in Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META).
Artisan Value Fund stated the following regarding Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Our top and bottom individual contributors were each found in the communication service sector: Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) was up 37%, while Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) was down -23%. Shares of social technology company Meta Platforms soared after the company reported blowout earnings and announced its first-ever dividend payment. Net income more than tripled year over year as revenue growth accelerated to its fastest pace since 2021 on improving engagement across its social media platforms and broad-based strength in advertising. In spite of its large size, Meta has been able to outgrow the broader digital ad market by integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning tools that boost ad spend by increasing engagement, content creation and measurement. Since its 2022 lows, when shares were trading for less than 10X next year’s estimated earnings, Meta has grown its market capitalization by nearly $1 trillion. To put that into perspective, that is more than the combined market capitalizations of the smallest 225 companies in the large-cap Russell 1000® Index. Shares currently sell for about 24X FY1 earnings. While the stock has benefited from enthusiasm around AI, the re-rating in the price multiple seems entirely rational considering Meta’s growth drivers, consistent free cash flow generation and a large net cash position. While Meta is no longer cheap, we feel it is still reasonably priced for a good business with attractive growth prospects and will continue to manage its position size.”
