Core Insights - Meta has laid off an undisclosed number of employees in its Reality Labs division, which focuses on hardware and virtual reality, as part of a restructuring effort [1] - The layoffs specifically impact Oculus Studios and the Supernatural team, which is responsible for the VR fitness app [1][2] - Despite the layoffs, Meta remains committed to investing in mixed reality experiences, including fitness and gaming [2] Restructuring and Layoffs - The recent layoffs follow a broader reduction earlier in the year, where nearly 4,000 roles were eliminated, including at least 560 employees from Reality Labs [3] - Meta's CTO Andrew Bosworth emphasized that 2025 is a critical year for Reality Labs, determining the future of the company's metaverse ambitions [4] - The Reality Labs division has undergone reorganization, with new leadership and a focus on integrating with Meta's main business [5] Employment Opportunities - Despite the layoffs, there are still 495 open roles within Reality Labs, and affected employees are encouraged to apply for internal opportunities [6] - An internal email indicated that employees who do not seek new roles or are unsuccessful will have a termination date set for May 23, 2025 [6]

IRVINE, Calif., April 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apple iSports (OTC-QB: AAPI) ("Company" or "Apple iSports" or "AiS"), a digital gaming, entertainment, and technology company, is pleased to announce it has entered into a strategic and financial agreement with Pacifico Financial Group ("PFG"), a respected leader in investment and capital advisory services. This agreement marks a significant milestone for both organizations and represents a shared commitment to long-term growth, innovation, and market expan ...

Core Insights - Meta for Business has been recognized as a top marketing platform for its comprehensive suite of advertising and marketing solutions, empowering businesses of all sizes in a digital landscape [1][12] Group 1: Marketing Solutions - Meta for Business offers a robust set of tools designed to help businesses grow, engage audiences, and optimize advertising across Meta technologies [2][3] - The platform provides an integrated approach to digital marketing, including targeted advertising, performance tracking, and AI-enabled automation [3] Group 2: Key Tools and Features - Meta Ads Manager serves as the primary tool for creating, managing, and analyzing advertising campaigns across various Meta platforms, allowing real-time adjustments to targeting strategies [4][7] - Meta Business Suite offers a centralized dashboard for managing marketing efforts across Facebook and Instagram, enhancing efficiency through integrated content management and analytics [5][8] - Meta Pixel is an analytics tool that tracks visitor actions on websites, enabling data-driven advertising strategies and improving return on ad spend [9] Group 3: Advertising Capabilities - Businesses can choose from six campaign objectives, including awareness, traffic, engagement, leads, app promotion, and sales, providing flexibility in campaign management [7] - Advanced targeting tools and automated audience targeting help businesses reach relevant audiences and optimize ad spend [7][15] - Meta Advantage is a suite of AI-enabled tools designed to automate and optimize ad performance, allowing businesses to achieve better results with less manual effort [11][15] Group 4: Customer Engagement - Facebook Pages serve as a foundational digital presence for businesses, allowing them to share updates, engage with followers, and promote products or services [10][14] - The platform enables businesses to respond to customer inquiries and track performance metrics in real time, improving engagement and response times [8][10] Group 5: Accessibility and Cost - Meta Business Suite is available at no cost, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes [8] - Businesses can easily set up a Facebook Page for free and manage it from both desktop and mobile devices [14]

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSM) is scheduled to report its first-quarter 2025 results on Thursday.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter earnings is pegged at $2.02 per share, implying a 46.4% increase from the year-ago quarter’s reported number. The estimate has been revised a penny downward over the past 60 days.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchTaiwan Semiconductor expects revenues between $25 billion and $25.8 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at $25.2 bi ...

Core Insights - The article discusses the current landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) stocks, highlighting two strong investment opportunities and one stock to avoid [1][3]. Group 1: AI Market Overview - The AI market is projected to reach a $15.7 trillion addressable market by the end of the decade, indicating significant growth potential [2]. - Historical trends suggest that not all stocks associated with emerging technologies will succeed, emphasizing the need for careful selection [3]. Group 2: Recommended Stocks - **Alphabet (GOOGL)**: - Alphabet is highlighted as a strong buy due to its dominant position in internet search, holding an 89% to 93% market share over the past decade [5]. - The company is expected to benefit from economic cycles, as recessions are typically short-lived, allowing ad-driven models to thrive [6]. - Alphabet's integration of generative AI into Google Cloud, which became profit-generating in 2023, is anticipated to enhance cash flow from this high-margin segment [7]. - The company ended 2024 with approximately $95.7 billion in cash and equivalents, allowing for aggressive reinvestment and share repurchases, with shares trading at a 33% discount to their historical average [8]. - **Meta Platforms (META)**: - Meta is also recommended as a strong buy, leveraging its vast user base of 3.35 billion daily active users across its platforms [10]. - The company generates nearly 98% of its $164.5 billion in net sales from advertising, positioning it well for economic expansions [11]. - The incorporation of AI into its marketing platforms is expected to enhance revenue and profits, with potential growth in the metaverse as a future revenue stream [12][13]. - Meta's stock is considered reasonably priced, with a forward P/E ratio of 20, which is 6% below its five-year average [14]. Group 3: Stock to Avoid - **Nvidia (NVDA)**: - Nvidia is identified as a stock to avoid, despite its previous success and market dominance in AI GPUs [15][16]. - The company faces increasing competition from rivals like AMD and from customers developing their own AI-GPUs, which could erode Nvidia's market share and pricing power [18]. - Historical patterns suggest that new technologies often experience early bubbles, and Nvidia may be particularly vulnerable if the AI bubble bursts, as it derived over 88% of its net sales from data centers in fiscal 2025 [20]. - Nvidia's valuation remains concerning, with a price-to-sales ratio that peaked at 42, indicating potential overvaluation compared to its peers [21].

The so-called "Magnificent Seven" stocks have helped power the market higher for the past few years. However, just like other stocks, these names have pulled back in recent weeks over macroeconomic concerns affecting earnings, some angst about the potential for diminishing returns related to artificial intelligence (AI), and uncertainty over tariff actions by the Trump administration. But pullbacks tend to be short-term setbacks for great companies that eventually find ways to recover. Let's look at the bes ...

Group 1: Meta Platforms - Meta Platforms is a leading digital advertising platform with significant user engagement through its apps like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, leveraging AI to enhance advertising effectiveness [2][3] - The company reported a 6% increase in ad impressions and a 14% rise in average ad price in the last quarter, showcasing its strong monetization capabilities with an ARPU of $14.25 [2][3] - Meta's new platform, Threads, is rapidly growing, adding approximately 1 million users daily, with projections of reaching 320 million monthly active users by the end of 2024 [4] Group 2: Pinterest - Pinterest operates an online vision board with over 550 million monthly active users, predominantly female, and has a strong international presence [6] - The company has been enhancing its platform to be more shoppable, introducing features like in-app checkout and AI recommendations, and partnering with Amazon [7] - Pinterest aims to close the ARPU gap with competitors, particularly in its rest-of-world market, which constitutes 56% of its MAUs but had an ARPU of only $0.19 last quarter [8] Group 3: Netflix - Netflix remains the leader in the streaming media sector, continuing to grow its subscriber base while phasing out lower-tier subscription plans [9] - The company is focusing on ad-supported subscription tiers, with 55% of new signups in ad-supported countries opting for this option last quarter [10] - Netflix is expanding its ad offerings, including ads for live events, which could enhance its revenue streams as it builds its ad-supported user base [11] Group 4: Adobe - Adobe is a leader in creative software and digital marketing solutions, with a solid revenue growth of 10% last quarter [12][13] - The company is at the forefront of AI with its Adobe Firefly generative AI models, which enhance creative processes [13] - Adobe's future growth potential lies in monetizing its AI solutions more effectively, moving towards a subscription model rather than a credit-based system [14][15]

Core Business Performance - Meta's advertising business has shown solid performance, with revenue growth of 22% and operating income growth of 39% in the last year [2][3] - The company generated $133 billion in revenue and $63 billion in operating profit in 2023, marking a significant turnaround from challenges faced in 2022 [3][4] - Daily active users (DAU) reached 3.35 billion, growing by 5% year over year, indicating strong user engagement across its platforms [4][5] Advertising Business Dynamics - In 2024, ad impressions and pricing increased by 11% and 10% respectively, highlighting the attractiveness of Meta's advertising business [5] - The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into its applications is expected to enhance user engagement and sustain advertising growth [6][7] Reality Labs Investment - Despite the success of its core business, Meta's Reality Labs continues to incur significant losses, with operating losses increasing from $16 billion to $18 billion in 2024 [8] - Revenue from Reality Labs remained stagnant at $2 billion, indicating challenges in monetizing this segment [8][9] - The potential market size for the metaverse is projected to reach $508 billion by 2030, prompting Meta to invest early despite current losses [9][10] Stock Valuation and Investor Considerations - Meta's stock currently has a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 28, which is on the higher end of its historical range, suggesting that it may not be a bargain at this valuation [12] - The company ended 2024 with strong advertising growth, but the ongoing losses from Reality Labs could impact overall profitability [13] - While the stock is not recommended for selling, potential investors are advised to wait for a more favorable entry point [14]

Core Viewpoint - Meta Platforms is focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) as a new growth opportunity, planning to launch a stand-alone AI app to enhance visibility and potentially create a new revenue stream [1][2][3] Group 1: AI Strategy and Launch - Meta is set to introduce Meta AI, a stand-alone application, later this year, expanding its portfolio which already includes popular apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram [2] - The launch of Meta AI aims to improve the visibility of its chatbot and could mirror subscription models seen in other AI platforms like ChatGPT [3] Group 2: Competitive Landscape - Meta AI claims to have 700 million active monthly users, leveraging its existing user base from its popular applications, which provides a significant advantage over other chatbots [4] - The success of Meta AI will depend on user willingness to download it as a separate app, rather than opting for established competitors like ChatGPT [5][6] Group 3: Financial Considerations - Meta reported over $62 billion in profit last year, a 59% increase year-over-year, despite incurring $18 billion in losses from its Reality Labs division [7] - There are concerns that heavy spending on AI may not guarantee success, as the company has previously pursued trends that did not yield profitable results, such as its metaverse ambitions [8][9] - Currently trading at 26 times its trailing earnings, Meta stock is not considered overly expensive, but the potential for long-term profit growth may be hindered by heavy investments in AI [10]

What’s the most undervalued #metaverse token right now? 🤔 ...