By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 12th, 2024
With an increase of 43% in 2020, Tencent has added $197.74 billion to its market value on Tuesday, pushing its market cap higher than that of Facebook.
Tencent Holdings Ltd (HKG: 0700) has become more valuable than Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB), shooting past the American social media giant. After a huge rally in Tencent, the company added about $200 billion to its value on Tuesday. Thereafter, Tencent, the world’s largest video game company, was ranked the seventh-largest globally.
Founded in 1998, Tencent controls hundreds of subsidiaries and associates in different industries. The Chinese company provides a number of services including social network, e-commerce, mobile games, internet services, payment systems among others. With more than a billion users, the company is known for its popular mobile games and the WeChat app.
Tencent Valuation Exceeds Facebook
On Tuesday, Tencent’s market cap stood at HK$5.2 trillion, which equals $670 billion. This is over $12 billion more than Facebook’s market value of $657.8 billion. However, MarketWatch data shows that Tencent is currently at a market cap of $635.49 billion, while Facebook is at $665.79 billion.
Tuesday’s performance was not the first of its kind as before now, Tencent has repeatedly surpassed Facebook’s valuation. According to a CNBC report, Tencent became the first Asian technology company to reach a $500 billion valuation mark in 2017. At the time, the Chinese firm’s valuation was at HK$4.17 trillion ($534.5 billion), while Facebook stood at $519.4 billion. Tencent surpassed Facebook’s valuation first in 2017, and a number of times in 2018.
Tencent founder, Pony Ma Huateng, is the richest man in China and the 18th wealthiest in the world. According to Bloomberg billionaire ranking, Pony Ma’s fortune is worth $54.4 billion. Jack Ma, founder of Tencent rival Alibaba, is the world’s 21st wealthiest person, worth $50.3 billion.
Tencent stock has jumped over 43% in its year-to-date performance, while Facebook only climbed 12.12% in the same period. With this increase, Tencent’s value gained about HK$1.56 trillion, which equals $201.44 billion. In addition, Thomas Chong, a Jefferies analyst, predicts Tencent shares will reach HK$651 in the next 12 months. This target is the highest among other analysts The analyst also referred to Tencent as a “global mobile games powerhouse.” He added:
“Tencent looks well positioned to capture overseas expansion opportunities riding on solid execution in different games genres and operating over 480 mobile games.”
First Half Earnings Results
In the first quarter of 2020, Tencent reported $108 billion in revenue. This is a 26% increase over the total revenue of the previous year. The company benefited from the lockdown as lots of its customers spent more time on its apps and games.
Currently trading at an after-hours price of $69.04, Tencent is down 0.12% over its previous close of $69.12. Also, the company’s stock is up 7.25% in the past month and over 28% in the last three months.
Also, Facebook’s Q1 revenue came in at $17.54 billion. This is more than 17% higher than the $15.08 billion reported in 2019 Q1.
For Q2, Facebook has announced that its result will be released after the market close on Wednesday, 29th July. The social networking giant plans to discuss the results at 2 pm PT/ 5pm ET via a conference call. According to data compiled by Yahoo! Finance, analysts are expecting revenue of about $17.40 billion and a per-share net profit of $1.39.
Presently in premarket trading, FB is at $231.58, a 0.63% gain over its last close of $230.12. Also, FB fell over 3% in the past month and 4.6% in the last five days. However, the company’s stock climbed 18.50% in the last three months and over 12% in 2020 so far.