Meta is clinging to its 7% gain, as the only Big Tech stock that’s up this year

Tesla and Nvidia have led Big Tech lower, but Meta is holding on to some of its 2025 gains after a remarkable 20-day green streak earlier this year.

David Crowther

3/10/25 8:08AM

Last week, the Nasdaq Composite Index finally crossed into correction territory, having dropped more than 10% from its previous peak, as the AI trade reversal, tariff turmoil, and growing concerns about an economic slowdown weighed on markets. Collectively, Big Tech stocks have shed their postelection gains, with all of the BATMMAAN stocks now in the red for 2025... except for Meta.

Though Mark Zuckerberg’s company certainly hasn’t been immune to the sell-off, it still has some precious gains to hold onto, after a 20-day green streak earlier this year.

So why has Meta outperformed?

On the surface, it’s not immediately obvious why the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp managed to outpace its rivals so strongly in the first six weeks of this year. Like its peers, Meta is shelling out insane dollar sums on AI infrastructure, with plans to spend a whopping $65 billion this year, while its VR and AR division (Reality Labs) is still burning cash like there’s no tomorrow. With all of the usual caveats — we never really know why any stock does anything — here are a few possible reasons:

TikTok sale or ban: Though it’s taken a back seat after President Trump signed a 75-day delay via executive order, the potential sale/ban of one of Meta’s chief rivals for American doomscrolling could be propping up the stock. On Sunday, Trump said the US was talking to four different groups about the potential sale of TikTok.
The fundamentals: Meta crushed its earnings, posting Q4 revenue that was up 21% and net income that had risen 49%.
Tariffs: Companies like Amazon, Tesla, Apple, Nvidia, and Broadcom all sell more physical stuff and rely on complicated global supply chains, which could be impacted by the escalating US trade wars. Meta’s core money-spinner remains digital advertising, which might be indirectly affected — advertisers from China might be less likely to buy an Instagram ad if they face tariffs on any goods they sell, for example — but would potentially avoid the direct hit of escalating tariffs.
AI monetization road map: As my colleague Jon Keegan put it, this year is all about hitting a billion Meta AI users. Next year will be all about monetizing them.
Endless efficiency era: Zuckerberg has been ruthlessly focused on keeping his workforce lean, with the company reportedly planning to fire 5% of its workforce this year. Indeed, on a “profit-per-employee” metric, Meta ranked second behind Nvidia.
Political cover: After cozying up to the new administration, investors might be expecting a more favorable regualory landscape over the coming years — with Meta successfully stopping legislation “that would have regulated social media for the first time” in December 2024, per Politico.

Tasha Matsumoto

12/5/25

Stocks eke out a gain as inflation remains mild

The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 all posted weekly gains.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - DECEMBER 23: Benny the Bull, the Chicago Bulls mascot, dresses as Santa Claus in the game against the Milwaukee Bucks during the second half at the United Center on December 23, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois

Luke Kawa12/5/25

Microsoft is in talks to shift its custom chip business to Broadcom from Marvell, The Information reports

The Information’s profile of custom chip specialist Broadcom includes this tidbit:

“And now Microsoft is also in talks to design future chips with Broadcom, which would involve Microsoft switching its business from Marvell, another maker of custom chips, according to one person involved in the discussions.”

Shares of Marvell Technology briefly dipped into the red after this report hit the wires, but then pared that drop to trade modestly higher. The company codesigns the Maia line of ASICs for Microsoft that are custom-built for Azure. Microsoft is its second-biggest hyperscaler client, behind Amazon.

Marvell tumbled on a ho-hum earnings report earlier this week before going on to surge after CEO Matt Murphy offered a $10 billion revenue target for its upcoming fiscal year, which was above analysts’ expectations.

Perhaps this is a bit of Information fatigue, given how Microsoft was quick to deny a report from the outlet earlier this week about how the tech giant lowered its sales targets for AI products.

Luke Kawa12/5/25

Memory stocks soar as AI supporting cast repairs damage from steep November declines

There’s not much rhyme or reason to it, but memory stocks are ending the week with a stellar showing.

Shares of high-bandwidth memory specialist Micron, hard disk drive sellers Seagate Technology Holdings and Western Digital, and flash memory company Sandisk are all rising today.

Three of these stocks dropped about 20% in November as credit risk seeping into AI and a downturn in speculative momentum stocks weighed on the theme, with Sandisk faring the worst.

Micron, Western Digital, and Seagate have all since rebounded strongly and are about 5% or less from reclaiming all-time highs, while Sandisk has made up the least ground.

While GPUs (and, more recently, TPUs) get most of the headlines, data centers also need a boatload of memory chips that store information and feed it to those processors.

Nia Warfield12/5/25

Ulta soars as Q3 beat sparks flood of price target hikes

Ulta’s latest makeover is happening on Wall Street. Shares leapt Friday morning as analysts hiked their price targets after the beauty retailer topped Q3 estimates and raised its full-year outlook after the bell Thursday.

Earnings came in at $5.14 per share, handily beating analyst expectations of $4.64. Revenue also topped estimates at $2.86 billion, compared with the $2.72 billion expected. Ulta has benefited from resilient beauty spending, even as consumers pull back elsewhere and hunt more aggressively for discounts.

Ulta now expects full-year net sales of about $12.3 billion, up from a prior forecast of $12.0 billion to $12.1 billion. The retailer also lifted its earnings outlook to $25.20 to $25.50 per share, up from $23.85 to $24.30 previously. This marks Ulta’s second straight quarter of hiking its sales and profit forecast. Analysts are taking note:

Goldman Sachs maintained its “buy” rating and raised its price target to $642 from $584.
DA Davidson maintained its “buy” rating and raised its price target to $650 from $625.
JPMorgan maintained its “outperform” rating and raised its price target to $647 from $606.
Baird maintained its “outperform” rating and hiked its price target to $670 from $600.
Telsey Advisory maintained its “outperform” rating and raised its price target to $640 from $610.
Piper Sandler maintained its “outperform” rating and raised its price target to $615 from $590.
Canaccord Genuity maintained its “neutral” rating and raised its price target to $674 from $654.

Max Knoblauch12/5/25

Southwest cuts its earnings outlook on lost revenue due to government shutdown

Another big four airline has put a price tag on the 43-day government shutdown.

Southwest Airlines on Friday said lower revenue due to a temporary decline in demand during the shutdown, together with higher fuel costs, will ding its annual earnings before interest and taxes by between $100 million and $300 million. The carrier lowered its full-year EBIT outlook to $500 million, down from a prior range of $600 million to $800 million.

According to Southwest’s filing, bookings have returned to previous expectations following the end of the shutdown. Its shares dipped down about 1% in premarket trading.

The carrier joins Delta Air Lines in assigning a cost to the government closure. Earlier this week, Delta said the shutdown would cost it $200 million in the fourth quarter.