"Long story short, despite an endless list of concerns in recent years - such as ATT, TikTok, fears of the namesake app’s demise, FRL losses, and the huge OpEx / CapEx ramps, to name a few - Meta has emerged with an enviable hand. As we approach what may be another period of discomfort for some market participants - more on the FY24 OpEx guidance and FRL below - it’s useful to take note of how this last bout of (intense) uneasiness played out.

(Some interesting numbers: at the bottom tick in November 2022, Meta had an enterprise value of ~$200 billion. With the benefit of hindsight, it traded at ~3x FY24e FOA EBIT. Even if you tack on -$100 billion for FRL, it traded at ~5x FY24e FOA EBIT. Put differently, despite a >3x increase for the stock from the lows, it trades at a mid-teens multiple of FY24e EPS. Needless to say, the narrative and realities of the business at that time were quite dire.)"