Hey—
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Talk soon,
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Pro Trader,
Base Camp Trading
Meta Reportedly Plans 20% Layoff: A Sign of Weakness or Strength?
By Leo Miller. Article Posted: 3/26/2026.
Key Points
- AI CapEx at Meta Platforms is set to surge in 2026, leaving many investors uneasy.
- Reports indicate that the Magnificent Seven company is also looking to lay off 20% or more of its workforce despite recent reports indicating that large cost-cutting measures don't do much to help shares.
- Meta has fallen to a forward price-to-earnings ratio near 20x, a level not seen since Liberation Day roiled markets in April 2025.
- Special Report: Elon Musk already made me a "wealthy man"
Despite delivering a very strong earnings report earlier in 2026, the year-to-date (YTD) performance of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) has underwhelmed. The Magnificent Seven member is down nearly 9% YTD despite a roughly 10% jump the day after its earnings release.
Even recent reports of large cost-cutting measures failed to sustain a rally. On March 13, Reuters reported that Meta was planning layoffs that could affect 20% or more of its workforce. The stock rose just over 2% the following trading day but has since relinquished those gains and more.
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See the full warningThat contrast has fueled debate over whether potentially massive layoffs signal weakness or a strategic pivot toward greater efficiency. With enormous capital expenditure (CapEx) commitments, some see layoffs as necessary to rein in costs. Others argue the reductions are evidence that AI is enabling Meta to accomplish the same work with fewer people.
Meta's Massive CapEx Causes Concern Amid Layoff Reports
In 2026, Meta plans to spend between $115 billion and $135 billion on CapEx as it pours resources into artificial intelligence. At the midpoint, that would represent roughly a 73% increase from the $72.2 billion the company spent on CapEx in 2025.
That jump has raised expectations that Meta's free cash flow — a key metric for valuation — will fall sharply. Analysts currently expect Meta to generate about $11 billion in free cash flow this year, which would be an almost 75% decline year over year from 2025.
Under those circumstances, management is clearly motivated to cut costs, and a 20% reduction in headcount would materially offset the expected drop in free cash flow. The open question is whether the move would be primarily a reaction to heavy AI spending or a restructuring enabled by real AI-driven efficiency gains. Company comments to date lean toward the latter.
Meta Touts Emerging AI Efficiency on Internal Workloads
On its latest earnings call, CFO Susan Li said AI tools are already boosting productivity. She reported that output per engineer rose about 30% since the start of 2025, driven largely by wider adoption of agentic AI coding tools, and that "power users" of those tools saw output increase roughly 80% year over year. Li also noted a "big jump" in agentic tool usage in Q4 and said Meta expects productivity gains to accelerate in the first half of 2026.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg echoed the impact of those tools, saying, "We're starting to see projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single, very talented person." Taken together, these comments indicate that AI-driven productivity gains are recent, measurable and ramping — which lends credibility to the idea that some restructuring could reflect efficiency gains rather than just cost cutting.
Li Expresses Concern Over AI Startups
Still, Li has warned that AI-native startups present a competitive risk. At the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference, she observed that a company founded today would "use a lot of AI tools very differently." For Meta — now roughly two decades old — she said the company does not want to "find ourselves behind companies that are being born today and that are AI-native from the very day of inception."
The remark highlights a real concern: firms built from day one around AI workflows may be more efficient at integrating those tools than legacy organizations that must retrofit AI onto long-established processes. Even so, few dispute Meta's dominance in social networking; replicating its massive, global user base of more than 3.5 billion people would be extremely difficult for any newcomer.
In that light, Li's comments read less like an admission of failure and more like a strategic rationale for accelerating AI adoption and internal efficiency improvements to protect Meta's competitive position.
Meta Looks Undervalued as Shares Get Hit in 2026
The debate over Meta's potential layoffs ultimately revolves around motive: are cuts a stopgap to offset aggressive CapEx, or the consequence of genuine productivity gains enabled by AI? Both narratives have merit. Surging costs remain a key overhang on the stock, so it is perhaps surprising the market hasn't awarded Meta more for pursuing cost reductions.
Reports of 20% layoffs — which would likely affect more than 10,000 employees — remain unconfirmed. Media outlets have, however, verified that Meta recently laid off several hundred workers in some teams, according to CNBC. Investors are also weighing a separate legal overhang after a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google liable in a social-media addiction case on March 25, with punitive damages yet to be determined.
Amid these headwinds, Meta's shares have retreated to a forward price-to-earnings ratio near 20x — a valuation level not seen since the market turmoil around Liberation Day in April 2025.
Berkshire, Broadcom & Nucor Are Revving Their Buyback Engines
Submitted by Leo Miller. Published: 3/16/2026.
Key Points
- Berkshire Hathaway is signaling that its shares are below their intrinsic value as it restarts buyback spending.
- Chips giant Broadcom likely sees something similar in its stock as the firm's buyback activity is picking up big-time.
- Steel giant Nucor has surged over the past 52 weeks and now has large buyback capacity.
- Special Report: Elon Musk already made me a "wealthy man"
Two stocks with market capitalizations over $1 trillion and North America's largest steel producer just announced sizable share buybacks. All three companies are signaling confidence in their outlooks. One of them — the world's largest financial services company — appears to believe its shares are undervalued.
Berkshire Announces Resumption of Buybacks After Almost Two-Year Hiatus
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) is one of the most renowned investment firms in history. It is also one of just 12 companies worldwide with a market capitalization above $1 trillion and the only financial services firm in that group.
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See the full warningDespite the company's long-term success, recent results have weighed on the stock. Shares have fallen after each of the past four earnings reports, including a nearly 5% decline after the latest release.
This followed a quarter in which the company missed estimates substantially, with operating earnings down about 30%. Much of the weakness came from Berkshire's insurance operations, where underwriting earnings fell roughly 54%.
Overall, Berkshire shares are roughly flat to slightly down over the past 52 weeks.
Unlike most companies, Berkshire does not announce fixed-dollar buyback authorizations. A 2018 amendment to its buyback policy permits repurchases whenever management believes shares are "below Berkshire's intrinsic value, conservatively determined."
In a recent SEC filing, the company said: “We are disclosing that we commenced repurchasing shares of our common stock under this policy on Wednesday, March 4, 2026.” The amount repurchased has not been disclosed, but the move indicates Berkshire sees value in its shares. Notably, the firm had not repurchased stock since mid‑2024.
AVGO Undertakes Huge Buyback Spending and Reloads Its Chest
Semiconductor behemoth Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO), another member of the $1 trillion club, is ramping up buybacks as demand for its artificial intelligence (AI) solutions accelerates.
In its latest quarter, Broadcom beat estimates on both revenue and adjusted EPS and provided much stronger-than-expected guidance for the next quarter. The company said it sees a path to generating over $100 billion in AI revenue during its fiscal 2027 year, which roughly aligns with calendar 2027.
For context, that $100 billion projection would be about 46% higher than the $68.3 billion in total revenue Broadcom generated over the last 12 months. That AI figure does not include non-AI semiconductor sales or the firm's infrastructure software business, which together made up 56% of revenue last quarter.
Despite these drivers, Broadcom shares remain roughly 20% below their all-time high.
Broadcom's repurchase activity suggests management believes the market has undervalued the company. Last quarter the firm spent $7.8 billion on buybacks — its second-largest quarterly repurchase total — following a two-quarter pause. It also announced a new $10 billion repurchase authorization. While that amount is less than 1% of Broadcom's roughly $1.5 trillion market capitalization, it signals confidence. The program runs only through the end of 2026, implying management intends to act quickly to take advantage of the share‑price weakness.
NUE's Buyback Capacity Exceeds 10% as Shares Put Up Impressive Gains
Last up is Nucor (NYSE: NUE), a leading North American steel producer. Based on 2024 data, Nucor produced more steel than any other North American company, though Asian firms dominate global production. Nucor stock has performed well over the past 52 weeks, delivering about a 25% total return.
Several factors have supported Nucor. Tariffs have reduced U.S. imports, helping domestic producers, and demand from end markets such as infrastructure, data centers, and energy remains strong.
Nucor reports that the foreign share of the U.S. finished steel market was near 25% at the start of 2025 and had fallen to an estimated 14% by November 2025. The company expects that share to remain at or below current levels in 2026.
These dynamics helped Nucor enter 2026 with what it calls "historically strong backlogs." Its steel mill backlog rose 40% year over year, and its steel products backlog increased 15% year over year.
Against that backdrop, Nucor announced a $4 billion share buyback program. That amount represents roughly 11% of the company's about $37 billion market capitalization, giving Nucor substantial capacity to return capital to shareholders over time.
Broadcom's Buybacks Signal Undervaluation as AI Demand Explodes
Among the three, Broadcom's restart of buybacks and its new authorization stand out. Management appears to believe the stock's decline is out of step with the company's results and outlook. Alongside Berkshire's renewed repurchases and Nucor's sizable authorization, these moves are confidence‑boosting signals from companies positioned well in their respective markets.
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