Workflow
Legal Liabilities
icon
Search documents
3 Risks That Every Meta Stock Investor Should Know
Forbes· 2026-01-16 14:10
Core Viewpoint - Meta Platforms, Inc. has experienced significant stock volatility, with declines exceeding 30% multiple times in recent years, resulting in substantial market value loss [2] Group 1: Risks - Uncontrolled AI capital expenditure is projected to exceed $100 billion in 2026, impacting free cash flow and leading to a potential devaluation as investors assess ROI on AI infrastructure spending [11] - Ad revenue is expected to slow down due to competition from TikTok, with TikTok's global ad revenue projected to reach $33 billion in 2025, marking a 40% year-over-year increase [11] - Significant legal liabilities may arise from lawsuits related to youth harm, with potential multi-billion dollar fines and mandated product design changes affecting user engagement and advertising revenue [11] Group 2: Historical Performance - Meta's stock has historically faced severe downturns, falling approximately 43% during the 2018 correction, 35% during the COVID crash, and 77% during the inflation shock [7] - Despite robust fundamentals, major sell-offs can occur suddenly, even when the overall market is performing well [8] Group 3: Financial Metrics - Revenue growth has been reported at 21.3% LTM and an average of 17.3% over the past three years [12] - The company has a free cash flow margin of nearly 23.7% and an operating margin of 43.2% LTM [12] - META stock is currently trading at a P/E multiple of 26.7 [12]