Josh Brown explains why he wouldn’t buy FB on sale

Shares of Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: FB) crashed 26% on disappointing earnings and weak guidance that many see as a buying opportunity. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s Josh Brown, however, has a different opinion.

Brown’s remarks on CNBC’s ‘Halftime Report’

Brown isn’t interested in buying FB even at the current discounted valuation because he’s not convinced of the company’s strategy related to the metaverse. On CNBC’s “Halftime Report”, he said:

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I think they made a classic strategic error in changing the name of the company to a thing that’s not even in existence and will not make them money. In fact, it’ll cost them tons of money for like a decade. It’s too long to ask people to wait for this company to actualize into this new incarnation.

On the flip side, Meta Platforms is the most traded stock among retail investors on Fidelity today, with volumes beating Tesla – the second-most traded stock, by five times. Roughly 80% of the individual traders are buying FB on Thursday, as per Fidelity.

The bet is really on Mark Zuckerberg now

According to Brown, the core “family of apps” business is facing headwinds from Apple’s privacy changes, but the bigger problem still is the company’s push into a whole another direction. He added:

You have to bet that Mark Zuckerberg can build a brand-new business from scratch, the way he once did Facebook. He didn’t build Instagram or WhatsApp, he built Facebook. Can he build another one? He has the cash flow and the foundation, but can he catch lightning in a bottle again?

In contrast, however, Mad Money host Jim Cramer said this morning he had total faith in Mark Zuckerberg, both in terms of his ability to drive the company out of the iOS headwinds as well as his push into the metaverse.