Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right
Thus far today about 25 people were asked (on Fin TV) why Meta’s ($META) shares are trading much lower in the face of better results and strong forward guidance.
No one has clearly answered the question — just a bunch of B.S. and narratives (miles long but only inches deep).
From my perch these are the principal problems facing Meta, which help to explain the market’s reaction (stated simply):
* Meta disclosed the need for continued and large capital expenditures.
* Nonetheless, the company was uncertain of the timing and whether that AI spend would be monetized and whether the ROIC would be adequate relative to the spend.
* Meta’s balance sheet is debt laden with over $100 billion of balance sheet debt and over $700 billion off balance sheet.
* As a result, to fund the big AI capex, several hundred billions of dollars in equity has to be raised by the company.
We anticipated this need for a large raise — from yesterday:
Guesswork Only
My instincts tell me META beats consensus and offers good guidance.
And then it announces a primary offering of stock…
Position: None
BY Doug Kass · Oct 21, 2026, 3:30 PM EDT
From Ed Zitron following the EPS release:
Position: None
