After a difficult 2022 that saw shares crater 64%, Meta Platforms (META -1.73%) has been a phenomenal investment. The stock has climbed 267% since the start of last year, gaining investors' admiration once again.

But after Meta reported its latest financial results, investors seemed discouraged. As of this writing on the afternoon of April 25, shares are down about 10% since the announcement.

Does this setup make this "Magnificent Seven" stock a once-in-a-generation opportunity right now?

Meta reported a strong quarter

It was another strong showing for this tech leader. During the first three months of 2024, Meta's sales totaled $36.5 billion, which was up 27% year over year. This was the company's fastest growth since the third quarter of 2021. That indicates a strong recovery for the digital ad market, which took a temporary hit throughout 2022.

That top-line gain was driven by a 7% expansion of the user base, a figure that currently sits at 3.2 billion daily active users. Ad impressions, a measure of the number of ads displayed, soared 20%.

Meta is continuing to focus on efficiency gains. The company's head count shrunk by 10% in the past 12 months, which partly helped diluted earnings per share (EPS) skyrocket 114%.

With such a positive earnings report, shareholders should rightfully be wondering why the stock was down by double-digit percentages immediately following the news. It's hard to know exactly why shares move the way they do, but one reason might be management's weaker-than-expected second-quarter guidance for an 18% year-over-year increase in revenue.

Another reason for the shares tanking could be the forecast of higher spending in 2024. Management expects operating costs and capital expenditures to be higher than projected in prior guidance.

The bright side of this spending strategy is that it should position Meta to be a top player in the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) race. The investment focus is to "continue to accelerate ... [Meta's] infrastructure investments to support ... [its] AI road map," chief financial officer Susan Li said on the 2024 first-quarter earnings call.

Numerous competitive strengths

It's crazy to see the share price of such a massive and widely followed business bounce around so much. Witnessing a 10% drop in a day could be gut-wrenching for some shareholders. Nonetheless, it was certainly encouraging to see Meta report a strong quarter overall. There are other favorable big-picture attributes about this business to focus on, instead of getting caught up in one three-month period's numbers.

Thanks to its gargantuan user base, Meta has arguably one of the widest economic moats in the world. Network effects underpin the company's competitive standing. As the user base expands, it becomes more valuable to everyone.

Critics might disagree with Meta's sizable capital expenditures, but this is still an insanely profitable enterprise. Thanks to cost-cutting, the company's operating margin went from 25% in the first quarter of 2023 to 38%. Generating copious amounts of free cash flow isn't an issue. And the business has a pristine balance sheet.

In order to add one of the world's most dominant businesses to your portfolio, all you need to pay is a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 22. That represents a discount to the Nasdaq 100 Index. And it looks like an attractive valuation to pay given consensus analyst estimates of revenue and EPS rising at annualized rates of 14% and 21%, respectively, over the next three years. Meta clearly still has meaningful growth potential.

Investors shouldn't hesitate at all with this decision. They should pounce at this buying opportunity.