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Meta Materials’ stock rockets as Facebook reveals new name

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Meta has been among scores of tech firms to lay off staff this year - but one venture capital investor says there has been some unexpected positive consequences for the wider industry.

Facebook may have unveiled its new identity at a glitzy event yesterday, but shares of a lesser-known Canadian industrial materials company surged in an apparent case of mistaken identity.

Shares of Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Meta Materials Inc jumped 26 per cent in after-hours trading on the Nasdaq.

The stock was up 5 per cent at $4.79 in premarket trading on Friday, with nearly 1m shares changing hands.

Meta Materials’ stock has already been a favourite among retail investors using Reddit and social media, and it hit an all-time high of nearly $22 in June.

The company, which specializes in designing materials used in a variety of industries like consumer electronics and aerospace, has a market value of $1.3bn, according to Refinitiv.

Stock markets have witnessed many instances of share prices reacting due to mistaken identities — like a jump in Zoom Technologies at the height of the pandemic, when the world flocked to the video conferencing platform of the same name.

But it was unclear whether it was just the similarity in names or a coordinated push by “meme-stock” investors — or both — driving Meta Materials’ shares higher.