We recently published a list of Mark Cuban Stock Portfolio: Top 10 Stock Picks. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) stands against other top stock picks from Mark Cuban’s portfolio.
Mark Cuban is a well-known entrepreneur and television personality, recognized for his diverse business ventures and outspoken presence in the sports and entertainment industries. He was the principal owner of an NBA franchise, the Dallas Mavericks, of which he now serves as a minority owner. Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Cuban showed an entrepreneurial spirit from a young age. At age 12, he sold garbage bags to afford a pair of expensive sneakers after which, at 16, he capitalized on a newspaper strike by transporting newspapers. Later, he enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh before transferring to Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, where he earned a degree in management in 1981.
Cuban started his career at Mellon Bank, where he developed an interest in technology and networking. After being fired from his sales job in a software retailer, he founded MicroSolutions, a company specializing in system integration and software reselling. Under his leadership, the company flourished, generating over $30 million in revenue before Cuban sold it to CompuServe for $6 million in 1990, netting approximately $2 million after taxes. Cuban’s success continued with Audionet, a company he co-founded in 1995 alongside Todd Wagner. Audionet evolved into Broadcast.com, growing rapidly and generating millions in revenue. In 1999, at the height of the dot-com boom, Yahoo! acquired Broadcast.com for $5.7 billion in stock.
Over the years, Mark Cuban has invested in various industries, including social software, networking, entertainment, sports, and cryptocurrency. He was an early investor in IceRocket, a blog search engine, and backed companies like RedSwoosh, Weblogs, Inc., and Goowy Media. In 2005, he experimented with a new business model for online journalism through Sharesleuth.com and later launched Bailoutsleuth.com for government oversight. Cuban also ventured into film distribution with Magnolia Pictures and invested in Motionloft, a storefront analytics company. His Shark Tank investments since 2011 total nearly $20 million, with mixed success. In 2022, he launched Cost Plus Drugs to lower prescription prices and disrupt the U.S. healthcare industry. His sports ventures include owning the Dallas Mavericks from 2000 until selling a majority stake in 2023. Cuban has also been active in cryptocurrency, accepting Dogecoin for Mavericks merchandise and tickets.
Mark Cuban’s investment philosophy is centered on discipline, frugality, and informed decision-making. He emphasizes “living like a student” in the early years to build a financial cushion, saving at least six months’ income before investing in low-cost index funds. Cuban strongly discourages credit card debt due to high interest rates, advocating for cash or debit card use instead. He also promotes strategic spending by negotiating prices and buying essentials in bulk when discounted. For more experienced investors, Cuban suggests deep expertise in a particular domain and holding cash until a unique opportunity arises, rather than following conventional buy-and-hold strategies. Ultimately, his approach prioritizes financial discipline, smart spending, and long-term investing for steady wealth growth.
The outspoken tech mogul has a well-defined investment strategy focused on generating wealth through smart, long-term decisions. He favors dividend-paying stocks, referring to them as “real-world value generators,” emphasizing their ability to provide steady income rather than relying solely on price appreciation. In the rapidly evolving AI sector, Cuban sees massive potential, believing that AI will be essential for every company’s survival. Comparing AI investments to buying Apple stock in the 1980s, he considers them the future of passive wealth. As he puts it, “Non-dividend stocks are basically baseball cards. But AI? That’s a whole different game.”
Cuban also acknowledges the high-risk, high-reward nature of cryptocurrency investments but warns investors to be cautious. He advises only investing in what one can afford to lose and focusing on cryptocurrencies with real-world applications. His stance is clear: “If you’re not a true adventurer, stay away.” For those seeking a more stable approach, he recommends the broader market, which has historically delivered reliable returns of around 10% annually. Additionally, his involvement with private companies through “Shark Tank” highlights the potential of venture capital, though he recognizes that most investors may need to turn to crowdfunding or venture funds to access similar opportunities.
Our Methodology
The stocks listed below were picked from the public comments that Cuban has made on his investments. He has explicitly mentioned some of his private holdings during these public appearances while only alluding to others. However, based on a careful assessment of the comments, the stocks listed below largely align with his investment philosophy. The list is compiled in descending order of the number of hedge funds having stakes in each firm, which was derived using data from over 1,000 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
Photo by Timothy Hales Bennett on Unsplash
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q4: 262
In January 2025, business mogul Mark Cuban weighed in on Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s policy shift toward free speech, taking to Threads to emphasize the importance of returning to the company’s “roots around free expression.” Cuban also criticized Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and President-elect Donald Trump, warning that foreign governments might impose tariffs on the U.S. in response to the company rolling back censorship policies. His comments followed Zuckerberg’s announcement that Meta would loosen content restrictions to embrace a more open platform. Zuckerberg stated that Meta would work with Trump’s administration to resist international pressures for increased censorship, arguing that the U.S. has the strongest constitutional protections for free speech. Cuban’s remarks highlight the ongoing debate over tech companies’ role in content moderation, as well as the potential economic and political consequences of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s new direction.
At the same time, the company’s rapid advancements in AI and digital advertising have positioned the company for continued financial success, underscoring its ability to balance policy shifts with business growth. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s dominance in digital advertising is propelled by AI-driven innovations that contributed to a 22% revenue growth in 2024, double the industry’s expansion rate.
For Q4 2024, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) reported outstanding results, with revenue climbing 21% year-over-year to $48.4 billion, surpassing Wall Street’s $47 billion estimate. Earnings per share (EPS) surged 50% to $8.02, exceeding projections of $6.76 and pushing Meta’s stock up nearly 9%. The company’s digital advertising sector remains its primary revenue driver, benefiting from advanced artificial intelligence (AI) tools that optimize ad targeting and content recommendations. These AI-powered enhancements have strengthened the company’s market position, enabling it to outperform competitors and attract increased advertising spending.
Institutional confidence in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) has also surged, reflecting strong investor optimism about its long-term potential. Hedge fund interest also increased, with 262 funds holding stakes worth nearly $59.38 billion by Q4 2024, up from 235 in the prior quarter, as per Insider Monkey’s database. With its strong financials, AI-driven expansion, and dominant position in digital advertising, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) remains among Mark Cuban’s top stock picks.
Overall, META ranks 2nd on our list of top stock picks from Mark Cuban’s portfolio. While we acknowledge the potential for META as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than META but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.