While there have been numerous discussions about the metaverse, the debates about whether or not to invest in metaverse stocks continue to weigh heavily on the minds of several investors.
Mark Zuckerberg recently revealed that Facebook would rebrand as meta platforms or just meta and that the ticker symbol would change to mvrs.Â
On December 1st, he released an hour-long video outlining his vision for the metaverse and how augmented and virtual reality will alter how we view the digital world. In his conception, the metaverse is the point at which the physical and digital worlds collide.
Whether or not you believe this will truly happen is another matter, but given that 10,000 employees, or 20% of Facebook’s workforce, are working on augmented and virtual reality gadgets, the actuality of such is almost certain to become a reality.
Facebook also appears to have an infinite amount of money; it is believed that Facebook spends five billion dollars per year on metaverse-related development and also acquired oculus in 2014 for two billion dollars; that’s a lot of money in seven years.Â
Personally, I believe that some kind of metaverse will eventually manifest. It is not a matter of if, but rather of when. While Facebook does not own the metaverse in general, Mark is definitely attempting to stake a claim on it by changing the company’s name to meta.
For the benefit of those who are still perplexed by the concept of the metaverse. What is the Metaverse, precisely? I’ll attempt to explain it as simply as possible. The metaverse is best described as the internet’s next major iteration, similar to how the mobile internet was built on top of the traditional internet in the 1990s and early 2000s.Â
It’s essentially a world of infinitely connected virtual worlds where people can work, socialize, and play via virtual reality, augmented reality, and other gadgets.
Now that you know a little bit about the metaverse, what metaverse stocks should you buy especially now that it is still quite early.
Top 5 Metaverse Stocks to buy
While the metaverse is likely still a few years away, there are certain firms and stocks that will be critical to its growth. To begin, let’s discuss the market opportunity. According to Bloomberg Intelligence, the global Metaverse market is expected to reach 800 billion dollars by 2024. While Facebook might seem like the obvious metaverse pick, another up-and-coming company has similar upside potential. Below are 5 Metaverse stocks you can buy now.
Roblox
Roblox demonstrates how technology can bring individuals of all ages together and contribute to the creation of unique experiences in an increasingly digital environment. If you are unfamiliar with Roblox, you are most likely beyond the age of 16 or do not have children.
In 2020, half of all Americans under the age of 16 will have played Roblox, and the company’s user base will continue to grow at a breakneck pace. That’s quite an accomplishment in light of how competitive the sector is. In general, some say that Roblox functions as an earlier, more approachable version of the metaverse.
For those who are unfamiliar with Roblox, it is a gaming corporation that produces and manages the same-named online gaming platform. Users can engage with one another via digital avatars in a variety of ways on this site. This includes user-created games and in-game live performances, among other unique experiences. As such, investors interested in metaverse stocks may be considering RBLX stock at the moment.
Evidently, RBLX stock is currently up more than 90% since coming public in March. This is partly due to the recent hype surrounding the metaverse and the companies working on it. Investors appear to be particularly enthusiastic about Roblox’s recent deal with Nike (NYSE: NKE). The duo is currently cooperating to construct Nikeland, a new virtual place in the Roblox world.
As you would imagine, this involves creating a full digital environment packed with Nike-themed structures, arenas, and other features. All of this contributes to the creation of an environment conducive to Roblox user interaction.
In the grand scheme of things, this alliance has the potential to bolster the whole metaverse trade. Simply put, it demonstrates that major corporations are already exploring ways to promote their products in the metaverse. As a result, investors may want to keep a watch on companies that assist this development. On that subject, are you going to be on the lookout for RBLX stock now?
Unity Software
Creating immersive virtual environments is a difficult task, but Unity Technologies has software that can help.Â
The firm offers a development engine for video games and interactive experiences, and it is set to usher in the metaverse era. With Unity’s tools and services, even small teams can create appealing graphics and environments that are appreciated by a large number of people.
Unity has already established itself as a go-to development engine for the construction of AR (augmented reality) and VR experiences, with its tools being used by about 60% of applications in the combined categories. Approximately 71% of this year’s top 1,000 mobile games were also created utilizing the company’s development capabilities.
Unity managed to raise revenues by 43 percent year on year in its most recent reported quarter, which was especially noteworthy given that it was coming off a year of spectacular growth in 2020. As demand for metaverse content and services grows, Unity appears to be exceptionally well-positioned to assist a wide range of enterprises in finding success in the developing medium.
SnapÂ
Snap serves a whopping 306 million daily active users via its camera-centric Snapchat program. Not to add that over 200 million of these users regularly engage with its augmented reality lens services on a daily basis.
Snap is one of the first social media services to integrate augmented reality into its main products. As a result, it would have a leg up in the creation of user-centric solutions of this nature in the metaverse. Even now, it appears as though the corporation is hard at work expanding its user base. Snap appointed its first head of telecom carrier partnerships this week. Anne Laurenson joins the firm from Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL).
Laurenson reportedly handled the expansion of Google‘s Android operating system in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa during her tenure at the company. She accomplished this by forming strategic alliances with smartphone manufacturers and carriers.
Similarly, Snap is seeking to expand its market in countries such as Indonesia and India, where the company just reached a milestone of 100 million monthly users. Given Snap’s current operational momentum, is SNAP stock worth buying at this point of weakness?
Take-Two Interactive
Take-Two Interactive is the publisher of blockbuster video games such as Grand Theft Auto (GTA), Red Dead Redemption, and NBA 2K. Its major source of revenue is GTA, the company’s most metaverse-like franchise.Â
To put this in context, Take-most Two’s recent new premium GTA game, GTA V, was released in 2013. It was the most popular game in the previous decade and has continued to be a major growth engine for the firm in recent years.
What makes this possible? Along with the release of GTA V, Take-Two also made GTA Online available to consumers. GTA Online is a virtual environment set in the fictitious Southern California metropolis of San Andreas. Take-Two has consistently released upgrades and expansions for the GTA Online community since its introduction, and they have fueled spending on things and services inside its virtual economy.
While not as realistic as virtual reality headsets (yet), GTA Online is undoubtedly the greatest example of a living metaverse in operation right now. GTA Online will be released as a standalone game in March 2022, which should increase the number of individuals engaging in the virtual world. The ultimate release of GTA VI, whenever that may be, will almost certainly lead to even more recurrent interaction in the GTA Online environment.
As the virtual world becomes more immersive in the future decade, you can expect GTA Online will as well, which will hopefully benefit any Take-Two Interactive stockholders.
Nvidia
Powerful computer gear, whether through local devices or cloud-based computing platforms, will play a significant part in the emergence of the metaverse.Â
Nvidia is the market leader in graphics processing units (GPUs), and the semiconductor company will most likely be a significant component provider for the expansion of virtual worlds.
With its Omniverse software platform, Nvidia is positioned itself to gain from the metaverse movement in addition to its hardware business. Omniverse is a development, productivity, and sharing service designed for the production of metaverse experiences, and it has the potential to be a significant performance driver for the organization.
Nvidia is already earning very high margins and appears to be on track to maintain its dominance in the GPU market. The inclusion of a significant software-as-a-service (SaaS) component to its business model might offer a significant new source of income while increasing its margins.
The graphics expert already had a strong outlook due to long-term development prospects for the company’s processors in the gaming, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and machine vision industries, and the rise of the metaverse is bringing another potentially explosive growth opportunity.
Why you Should Invest in Metaverse Stocks
Below are some of the reasons you should invest in metaverse stocks.
No limits
The metaverse will never be inaccessible; it will never be down for maintenance, updates, or server restarts. Individuals will be able to log in and out at will, without ever needing to load or preserve their data. Everyone will have a synchronized experience of the metaverse.
Here’s a close analogy: back in 2019, Fortnite hosted an in-game concert where anyone who logged in at the time could watch DJ marshmallow perform a virtual set. Now, if you happened to be on a voice chat with your friends at the time, it’s as if you were all experiencing the marshmallow concert together.Â
The metaverse aspires to be analogous to the real world, where everything occurs in a single instance and millions of individuals can interact in a hybrid digital/physical reality.
Economy
With so many people spending time in this digital Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality world, businesses and individuals alike will be able to sell goods and services within the metaverse. Consider a favourite company selling digital items in the metaverse, for as Channel selling a digital bag that your digital avatar may carry.
I’m sure users will be able to establish their own micro-businesses within the metaverse as well. In this way, attention is commercialized, and the more attention that enters the metaverse, the more transactional opportunities exist.
Unlimited potential for user-created content
while firms and businesses will undoubtedly create experiences and content in the metaverse. Individual users will have a significant influence on the majority of the metaverse’s material; also, a user-generated content model enables the metaverse to be extremely scalable and always relevant to current trends.
Along with user-generated content, numerous firms, such as Nike and Microsoft, have already jumped on board the metaverse’s growing excitement. Nike filed seven trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in late October for essentially downloadable virtual goods retail store services that include non-downloadable virtual footwear. As a result, we are already seeing some institutional adoption of digital goods by businesses within the metaverse.
Compatibility
Everything will be interoperable and will exist in both the digital and real worlds. Thus, Augmented and Virtual Reality will be critical components of the metaverse. What comes to mind immediately is Amazon’s augmented reality vision. With Amazon‘s Augmented Reality perspective, shoppers can visually preview things in their homes before completing their purchase.
Bottomline
While it is a good fit to invest in these stocks, It is imperative that you conduct your own research, since this is not intended to be financial advice.
