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The future of our rapidly advancing world has been unfolding before our eyes over the past 2 years of the digital economic upheaval. The COVID lockdowns (which seemed to come at the perfect point in our technological development timeline) catapulted human civilization 10 years ahead, as the nearly immediate mass adoption of 5G mobile connectivity, cloud computing, ecommerce, internet of things (IoT) devices, electric vehicles (EVs), and so much more, forced society to harmonize and even pursue the ease and convenience of the latest life-changing technologies the world has to offer. Who would have thought that a global economic lockdown was in fact the key to unlocking the innovative potential – and profit opportunities – the Roaring 20's now prolific technological advancements have to offer. The "metaverse" has been one of the principal technology revelations incepted from the lockdown's digitalizing spark. "Metaverse" was originally coined by Neal Stephenson in his speculative fiction novel Snow Crash in 1992, but it wasn't until Mark Zuckerberg rebranded his social media empire to Meta Platforms that this term became ubiquitously recognized. But What Is It? The metaverse is a new and improved way for people to interact with technology, digital assets, and even other humans. The metaverse is expected to deliver a comprehensive interactive experience with boundless life-enlightening applications ranging from architecture to gaming to concepts far beyond our current line of sight. However, analogous to how society viewed the internet in the 80s, the metaverse is still a very loosely defined term as we have yet to fully imagine the extent of its capabilities. The word metaverse can be liberally replaced with cyberspace (not to get into semantics) and remain accurate about 90% of the time. The fully immersive digital experience that virtual reality (VR) headsets offer, is generally the first thing people think of when they hear metaverse, but this nascent technology is so much more. Contrary to popular understanding metaverse technology is not constrained to extend-reality (XR) hardware – VR or even augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) where the real and the virtual world intersect (AR/MR will be most important for the business-related functionalities). Any device capable of rendering a 3-dimensional experience (your computer or even your iPhone) is considered to be metaverse capable. The metaverse will allow for a degree of interoperability – the harmonious fusion of physical and digital worlds. Your virtual self, aka your "Avatar," will eventually be able to seamlessly interact with other Avatars (humans & artificial intelligence) and digital assets across virtual worlds and applications. This technological paradigm is calibrating a digital ecosystem with seemingly infinite possibilities. Every tech giant and its subsidiaries are racing into the metaverse with cash-gushing enthusiasm. Continued . . . | ||||||||||
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| The Meta Opportunity The immediate value proposition for this emerging technology is in the realm of immersive VR gaming & entertainment. This initial use-case of the metaverse will lay the virtually aesthetic groundwork necessary to conquer more advanced challenges. Metaverse technology opens an entirely new digital economy that is yet to be tapped, and despite its nascency, it's still expected to generate as much as $100 billion in annual revenue by the end of 2022. Citi went as far as to claim the metaverse market could reach as high as $13 trillion by the end of the decade (representing more than half of the US's total projected 2022 GDP). Morgan Stanley expressed a similar 2030 outlook of $8 trillion, with half of that coming from burgeoning tech demand in China. Another industry expert predicted the metaverse could reach $30 trillion within the next decade. The metaverse's broad definition makes its market boundaries hard to define within the broader context of Web3 (the next iteration of the internet). Non-fungible token (NFT) denoted virtual land sales are on pace to soar above $1 billion in 2022 (Yuga Labs' "Otherdeeds" mint alone brought in $320 million at the end of April) after these embryonic digital worlds of the future raised over $500 million in 2021. The resources are flooding into metaverse technologies that go far beyond just cash. There are now tens of thousands of metaverse-related job openings in the booming US labor market with tens of thousands more employment opportunities to come in this industry of the future. These jobs range from technical researchers to the digital architects building out these 3-dimensional virtual worlds and companies are paying top dollar for these behind the curtain programmers (Roblox is now offering metaverse workers $430,000 per year). The metaverse is likely not going to be one completely comprehensive and immersive interoperability world (at least not to start), but rather many digital ecosystems built for next-generation economic niches. The Biggest Players In The Metaverse The biggest players in the ultra-high growth metaverse space (most significant cash flows still years in the future) have been absolutely obliterated since 2022's valuation slashing 40-year high inflationary pressures catalyzed a mass exodus of innovation. Metaverse pioneers are now on sale, presenting some unique value-positioned and high-growth focused investment opportunities for the next decade of digital acceleration. Meta Platforms (FB): CEO & Chairman of what was formerly Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, popularized the term "metaverse," when he announced that the world's most valuable and ubiquitous social media company (nearly 4 billion monthly active users of Meta's family of platforms, representing over 75% of the internet accessing world), would be pivoting its operational focus to this ambiguous virtual technology (10/28/21). Autodesk: The world's leading enterprise cloud suite for "design and make technology," is building out its metaverse offering for business utilization. The collaborative 3D design capabilities that Autodesk offers make it one of the most compelling business-focused investment propositions on the market. Microsoft (MSFT): Its HoloLens 2 is the most cutting-edge in the segment, allowing users to really feel like they are actually interacting with the digital assets of their environment. Though its $3,500+ price tag pushes it out of most consumers' and businesses' justifiable budget for such early-stage technology. Alphabet (GOOGL): Google's AR development software, ARCore, is the most powerful cloud-based developer tool for this kind of technology. Alphabet also released smart glasses called Google Glass, which isn't full AR yet but represents the first commercialized efforts to blend digital and physical worlds. Ethereum (ETH): the leading cryptocurrency/blockchain innovation, which supports 95% of decentralized Web3 projects, is already playing a critical role in the buildout of decentralized applications (or dApps) for the metaverse economy. What's the Best Way to Capitalize on the Metaverse? The market is presenting us with a rare investment opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a still nascent and misunderstood $10+ trillion market opportunity. The metaverse is no longer an "if" technology, but a "when" as deep-pocketed institutions pour billions into its development. Fear of the unknown has been one of the oldest and most deeply felt emotions humans can have, but the next generation of highly adaptable dreamers has replaced that fear with curiosity and excitement. I just mentioned some of the big companies leading the development of this groundbreaking technology. But my research points to 5 different stocks as today's most promising metaverse investments. You can get all the details about these 5 stocks in Zacks' just-published special report, The Metaverse - What is it? And How to Profit with These 5 Pioneering Stocks. You'll discover:
But you'll need to act quickly. Your chance to access our report ends midnight Sunday, May 29. Best,
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