Based on weight, the S&P 500 has been dominated by a few stocks for several years: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft. From time to time, Tesla gets thrown into the group, and Nvidia has been recently. Yet, the big five continue to rule the list regarding index performance. (These companies have the best reputations.)

Why Meta Is the Bull Market Winner

One stock among these five is the bull market winner so far, and that is Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META). Its share price is up 178% in the past year, compared to an increase of 15% for the S&P 500. Meta was on the ropes recently in a way the others in the group were not. It has almost completely recovered from modest revenue growth, attacks about how it controls content, sales of its data and the departure of its famous second in command. The most damaging of these was the departure of Sheryl Sandberg, who had been at the company for 14 years and ran it daily for founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Sandberg left in June 2022.

Nothing marks the turnaround as well as Meta’s financials. In the most recently reported quarter, its revenue rose 23% to $34.1 billion. Net income rose 164% to $11.6 billion. The figures were almost as impressive for the first nine months of the year. Revenue reached $94.8 billion, while net income for the nine months was $25.1 billion.

The numbers may be as good as or better for the current quarter. The year’s final quarter is often the largest for advertising, which is the foundation of Meta’s revenue.

The company also made a move late last year that investors applauded but employees did not. It cut 11,000 people, which drove savings this year.

Wall Street sold Meta in 2022 because its Reality Labs business has lost the company billions of dollars. It continues to lose money, but Meta appears to believe that this unit is not the engine of short-term growth. Investors appreciated the company’s candidness.

Can Meta outpace the stock price growth of America’s big tech companies next year? A great deal has to do with the health of the ad market. As the chance of a recession recedes, the odds of continued growth in that sector are still good.

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