Facebook's name change to Meta Platforms (FB) is in line the new "metaverse" vision that founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out earlier this year, explains Tony Daltorio, growth stock specialist and editor of Market Mavens.
The cynical among us may think this is just a PR ploy to distract from recent criticism of the social media company. But it is more than that: for investors, the rebrand marks a profound shift in the way Zuckerberg plans to generate revenues in the future.
Facebook has plans to invest around $10 billion into Facebook Reality Labs. Its goal is "to build the future of connection within virtual and augmented reality." In other words, it is the crucial component of Facebook's intent to become a metaverse business.
Zuckerberg would like to see all sorts of activity, from work to leisure time to shopping to socializing, all happening on a Facebook platform.
I do not see Meta Platforms succeeding as much in this next stage of the internet as it did in the current stage. Instead, I will stick with my top pick — Roblox (RBLX), which is perfectly positioned to thrive in the metaverse.
Some think that Roblox is just a gaming company. They could not be more wrong — it is increasingly becoming a social media company as well. Roblox's management has said the ultimate goal is for the platform to become part of a series of interconnected digital worlds where people gather to learn, work and socialize. That is the metaverse.
From a brand engagement perspective, Roblox looks as though it could be more attractive than Facebook and others in the long run to advertisers. Companies can create their own interactive games and experiences on the platform, which are much more engaging to users.
For those of you that may have missed it, Roblox's earnings results were out on November 8. The results were so good, it sent the stock soaring by 40%! The company doubled its total revenue in the third quarter and posted another solid quarter of bookings growth. Daily active users (DAUs) rose 9.5% sequentially to 47.3 million in the quarter, while October saw an average of 50.5-million DAUs.
Roblox is also continuing to make strides at narrowing its losses. In the third quarter, it posted a loss of only $0.13 per share, coming in much better than losses per share of $0.25 and $0.46 cents per share in Q2 and Q1, respectively.
Bookings growth also stayed strong, growing 28.5% year-on-year to $637.8 million. Also, October bookings are estimated to be up about 30% to 34% from October 2020. The strong October bookings point to a solid fourth quarter to cap off 2021.
Another piece of standout data in the quarter was that hours engaged were higher than throughout 2021, at 11.2 billion. The first two quarters of the year each saw hours engaged at just 9.7 billion. Also, Q3 hours engaged were up 28% year-on-year and 200% from 2019. October hours engaged suggests that Q4 should be another great quarter for engagement.
Investors are finally taking notice of Roblox's success. But there is a lot more to come. RBLX should continue to see upside, with the stock continuing to climb past all-time highs.