And just like that,META

is back to its glory days. At its bottom last year,META

was down as much as 76%. After rising over 250% since the end of last year — the stock is now just 16% below its all-time highs.

Yesterday, Meta continued its massive ascend after reporting earnings that showed sales rising, costs under control and future growth on an upward trajectory.

Highlights from Meta’s earnings call

1/ Reels product is delivering on sales growth. The product’s annualized sales has reached $10B — triple that of last year’s third-quarter $3B and rivaling TikTok’s estimated $10B in sales last year.

2/ AI is delivering big results for Meta. Some AI helps users save time, and other AI helps users waste time. Thanks to Meta’s AI improvements — which are powering ad and content recommendations — time spent on its platforms increased by 7%.

3/ Threads is still a pet project. And Meta won’t monetize it until it reaches “hundreds of millions of people.” But there’s a long way to go. Between July 7-22, daily active users on Threads fell from 49M to 12M.

Staying focused: Zuck says Meta will ride “two technological waves” — AI and the metaverse (longer term).

Total metaverse losses reach $40B

How much longer will that go on? According to Zuck on the earnings call, it’s “a very long-term bet” — one that’ll cost even more. He also chose the right time to tell investors that metaverse investments will be “meaningfully” higher than last year.

But unlike past earnings calls where analysts grilled Meta for its metaverse bet, they were enjoying the sh*t sandwich Zuck prepared — squeezing the bad between the good.

The final slice: Meta’s sales are expected to rise as much as 20% this coming quarter — its highest since the end of 2021. It’s back to growth for Meta.