What happened
It was a big day for Meta Platforms (META -0.77%) as the tech giant unveiled its new Meta Quest 3, launched new smart glasses with Ray-Ban, and announced updates to its AI products.
Investors seemed to initially balk at the news, sending the stock down by as much as 4.1% shortly after CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave his keynote address, but it rebounded nearly as quickly as some investors sensed a buying opportunity in the sell-off.
After whipsawing in the afternoon, Meta stock closed today's session down 0.4%.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
Today's presentation has been highly anticipated as the new technologies that Meta has been investing in for years, like its mixed-reality headsets and artificial intelligence, seem finally ready for primetime.
Rival Apple introduced its own mixed-reality headset, the Vision Pro, which it's calling a spatial computing device, at its own conference, and Zuckerberg took the opportunity to differentiate the Quest 3, calling it the first "mainstream" mixed-reality device and touting its affordability. The Meta Quest 3 starts at $499.99 compared to the Vision Pro at $3,500.
A decade after Google Glass famously flopped, Meta is betting that consumers are now ready for smart glasses, debuting several new models that it's designed together with Ray-Ban.
Zuckerberg also explained his own vision for AI, seeing not one dominant chatbot, like ChatGPT, but a number of specialized AI tools, depending on what the user needs them for. The company introduced Meta AI as a general-purpose assistant and sees individuals or businesses using its tools, like Llama, to build their own AIs.
Now what
The sell-off in the stock came in two waves: one shortly after the event began and Zuckerberg kicked off his keynote address, and one when he began to introduce the company's new AI products.
That movement may have been more of a "sell-the-news" action, and it makes sense that the stock recovered as Meta showed a strong hand at the event with its new flagship mixed-reality (MR) device, the smart glasses, and several new AI features.
The company will share more details on Quest and its Llama foundational model on the second day of the event tomorrow.
The time could finally be right for Meta to capitalize on some of these new markets, and the stock looks affordable even without an impact from products like the Quest 3.
If Meta is able to break through with its new devices and AI features, the stock could still move significantly higher.
