Mark Zuckerberg's Leadership Gets Praise By Gary Black After Meta's Strong Q2 Performance, Tesla Bull Hails Facebook Founder's 'Drive, Focus, And Ability To Execute'

Future Fund managing partner Gary Black has commended Meta Platforms Inc META for its strong second-quarter performance and the leadership of CEO Mark Zuckerberg. This praise comes as the company’s stock significantly surged after-hours trading.

What Happened: Black, who is also known for his bullish stance on Tesla Inc. lauded the Meta CEO, stating, “Say what you want about Zuck: You have to admire his drive, focus, and ability to execute,” and praised the company’s impressive financials in a series of posts on X.

He noted that Meta’s stock had seen a 41% year-to-date increase and a 220% rise over the past two years, including an over 7% gain in after-hours trading.

Say what you want about Zuck: You have to admire his drive, focus, and ability to execute. $META +41% YTD and +220% over the past two years, including tonight's +7% gain.

— Gary Black (@garyblack00) July 31, 2024

Black pointed out that Meta had outperformed across all second-quarter metrics, with a 22% year-over-year increase in revenue, surpassing the estimated 20% year-over-year. He anticipated analysts would raise their FY’24 Meta estimates by approximately 5% following this performance. Despite a 34% year-to-date increase, Meta’s 2024 P/E ratio remains reasonable at 23x, considering the expected revenue growth of 14% (1.6x PEG).

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Why It Matters: Meta’s second-quarter performance has been impressive, with the company beating analyst estimates on both revenue and EPS. This marks the sixth consecutive quarter of surpassing expectations.

The company reported a revenue of $39.07 billion, surpassing the estimated $38.31 billion, and an adjusted EPS of $5.16, beating the estimated $4.73.

Despite this strong financial performance, Meta has faced criticism for allegedly profiting from ads promoting illegal drugs on its platforms.

The company has also been under scrutiny for its AI assistant’s false denial of an attempted assassination on former President Donald Trump, which Meta attributed to “hallucinations,” a common issue in generative AI systems.

However, Meta has been working to integrate AI into its consumer products, as seen in the recent introduction of AI Studio, a feature that allows users to create custom AI chatbots for their profiles. This move is part of Meta’s efforts to attract creators and integrate AI into its products.

Price Action: Meta shares surged by 7.17% in after-hours trading, reaching $508.87 at the time of writing. The regular session on Wednesday concluded with a 2.51% increase, closing at $474.83, according to Benzinga Pro.

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This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Kaustubh Bagalkote