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Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) announced very strong Q3 2024 results underlined by revenue growth and a strong commitment to AI and the metaverse.

Key Takeaways Netflix ad-supported plans will drive new revenue Revenue per user will decrease in short term from ad plans, but increase longer term Margins will continue to improve as costs grow slower than revenue (operating leverage) User growth expected from password sharing crackdown I believe these 3 catalysts will result in $52bn in revenue and $12.5bn profit by 2028 Catalysts Industry Catalysts There is Room For More Than One Streaming Platform The video streaming industry has become very competitive, and the market has been hyper focused on the question of “who will win the streaming war.” I don’t think this is a winner takes all situation, and there is room for a handful of platforms. There are pros and cons to each platform and many households end up subscribing to two or three platforms.

Key Takeaways Alphabet has challenges in its search business unaccounted for by investors Alphabet’s best bet is to focus on the Cloud, but it’s an uphill battle AI will contribute to revenue growth, but profitability may come later Cloud and AI industries to grow, but analysts may have extrapolated too much Catalysts Company Catalysts AI Moat Lies In Proprietary Data Not Models A leaked Google internal memo outlines some controversial thinking inside the company. The anonymous employee argues that smaller peers are rapidly producing Large Language Models (LLM) models that can yield comparable results to Bard and GPT-4, with the added benefit of being cheaper to produce.

Alphabet’s Q3 2024 results reveal an impressive 15% revenue growth to $88.3 billion, driven by robust ad revenue and a 35% surge in Google Cloud. With strong gains across Search, YouTube, and AI-powered enterprise solutions, Alphabet remains a leader in digital advertising and next-gen tech, pushing margins higher amidst fierce competition.

Meaning During the tech bubble of the late 90’s, Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google which later went public in 2004. Larry and Sergey’s founding motto, “Google is not a conventional company.

Key Takeaways Spotify is wisely focusing on long-term objectives over short-term profitability. Leverage will shift from labels (suppliers) to Spotify (the aggregator) as scale continues to grow.

Key Takeaways Increased licensing and production costs will see Disney's profitability decline or they'll pass on these increasing costs to subscribers and risk alienating them. Competition from non-traditional media platforms like YouTube or Tik-Tok could draw younger audiences away from Disney's services.

Key Takeaways Google’s dominance in search, and digital advertising industry growth will remain in tact. Cloud computing trends will support Google Cloud revenue growth Alphabet may implement AI slightly slower, but won’t fall behind Current estimates on costs per generative AI query are prohibitive to profitability Until processing power improves and makes generative AI cheaper, Google is unlikely to lose much market share.

Key Takeaways Possible consolidation in the streaming market will benefit NFLX with better negotiating leverage Internal initiatives of ad-plans and paid sharing will drive user and revenue growth ARPM will increase due to future price increases and advertising revenue Advertising dollars will transition from Cable TV to NFLX as its ad-supported members base grows Discipline on content costs will increase net margins and push future earnings and cash flows higher Catalysts Industry Catalysts Consolidation Of Content In The Streaming Market After 25 years of expensive growth, Netflix has now become the most dominant, profitable streaming player in the world. With 238m subscribers, trailing 12 month revenues of $32bn and cash flows of $4.6bn (all as of June 30 2023), the company has reached scale economics that allow the streaming model to work profitably.