Analyzing Q4 Earnings On 'Briefing With Brent': 'Investors Are Getting More Selective'

Brent Slava, head of the Benzinga Pro Newsdesk, is using the wild price action following recent earnings reports as a guide for the remainder of the fourth-quarter earnings season. He stated:

“Investors are getting more selective and that makes sense with the current macro environment,” he said Monday on PreMarket Prep's "Briefing with Brent" segment. 

Reactions To Previous Price Action: With the price action of some of the big guns that were reported last week, the overreactions on both the upside and downside echo the current sentiment of the investing environment, he said. 

Is the correction over and are markets headed higher? Or are the recent macro headwinds too much for the market to overcome?

Growth Stocks Punished: "The old-growth names are being punished and only the best in breed names will be rewarded," Slava said. 

“Over the past year there has been three to five best in breeds in the different growth sectors, now with the heightened sensitivity by investors, it is going to be narrowed down to one, maybe two.”

With respect to Meta Platforms Inc. FB, investors responded as if to say “that there is everything wrong with social media, not a problem specific to the company.”

Apparently, not all social media companies are having the same problems as MetaPlatforms, as evidenced by a better-than-expected fourth-quarter report from Snap Inc. SNAP. Not only did the reports differ, but the price action following the report was the complete opposite as well.

How Will Meta Recover? Now that the company has fallen way of out favor with the investing public, how will they win back the investing public? Slava said he would not be surprised if the company returned to a past tactic and and acquired a company to reinvigorate growth.

Slava did not name any specific companies, but the company’s push into developing the metaverse may help limit the choices of potential targets.

The entire interview with Brent Slava from Monday’s PreMarket Prep Broadcast can be found here: