Tech Stocks Going Down as Investors Hedge against Recession

A series of disappointing quarterly results saw investors dump stock of two of the largest tech companies, Meta and Google, while gambling tech stocks show little signs of recovery.

Meta Share Price Meltdown

A sluggish third-quarter report from Meta was the final straw that broke the camel’s back as investors, concerned about the global economic outlook, began divesting stock of the largest tech companies.

Following the company’s downbeat quarterly report on Wednesday, a sell-off of Meta stock began and continued on the next day as the share price briefly fell below $100, its lowest level since 2016, to register a decrease of 25% since its Wednesday high.

Meta is like being between a hammer and a hard place, put under pressure by its competitor TikTok on one side and deprived of advertising revenue as part of the global slowdown in advertising spend due to recession fears, on the other.

The social media giant registered 4% less in sales during the quarter and 52% lower profit year-over-year. On top of that, Meta warned investors that more of the same is coming.

Meta was also impacted by the change in the App Tracking Transparency policy of Apple’s App Store implemented last year as Apple’s requirement for developers to let users opt-in or opt-out of in-app tracking is messing with Meta’s primary advertising model and can result in a $10 billion ad revenue loss this year.

Apple’s idea to force developers to spend more on advertising their products  brought side effects such as gambling apps to advertise beneath problem gambling apps and apps for children’s education.

Google Also Feeling the TikTok Pinch

Meta’s results were the latest in a series of disappointing earnings reports this week as the biggest tech companies are battling with an industry-wide slowdown.

Google’s parent, Alphabet, reported a 6% increase in revenue on Tuesday but failed to meet market expectations and the company’s share price lost more than 5% in after-hours trading.

Similar to Meta, Google is also under competitive pressure from TikTok amid a global economic downturn, and its advertising revenue, albeit 2.6% up on the previous year’s respective period, fell short of analysts’ expectations.

Gambling Stocks Down in 2022

Gambling tech B2B supplier Evolution AB also published its third-quarter report this week, posting a 37.1% increase in revenue and a 37.5% increase in operating profit year-over-year. Evolution’s share price was down nearly 40% in 2022 alone but has since recovered half of the losses.

Entain, another of the large-cap gambling stocks, had a similar downward trajectory in 2022 having lost to date over 25% of its share value, while since January, 888 Holdings is down nearly 70%.