Meta Platforms Inc. changed its narrative in a big way this week, and that’s resonating on Wall Street. Three months ago, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and his leadership team sounded fairly defiant as they laid out big spending plans despite economic angst, an attitude that helped send shares toward one of their worst days on record.
But Meta’s
META,
+22.50%
management sounded more disciplined on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call Wednesday, and the stock is now enjoying a big move higher. Shares of the Facebook parent company were up 25.9% in afternoon trading Thursday. Those gains put Meta’s stock on track for its second-largest one-day percentage rally on record, and its best performance since July 25, 2013, according to Dow Jones Market Data. On that day in July 2013, Meta had a market value of just $83.7 billion, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Now, the company is on pace to add more than that amount to its valuation in Thursday trading alone. Meta shares recently changed hands at $192.78. A close of $191.69 or higher would translate to upwards of $100 billion in market-cap gains on the day. There have been 28 one-day gains of at least $100 billion through Wednesday’s close, but none of those came from Meta. See mor …