Meta reports third-quarter earnings after the closing bell on Wednesday.
The company is expected to report revenue of $40.25 billion.
Meta’s stock is up nearly 70% in 2024.
It’s a big day for one of Wall Street’s largest tech titans.
Meta will report its earnings for the third quarterafter the closing bell, and Wall Street is feeling upbeat heading into the results.
Analysts are gearing up for another strong quarter of revenue and earnings for the Facebook parent, thanks to the company’s use of AI in its ads business and sweeping cost cuts implemented over the past year.
Shareholders will be keeping an eye out for updates on Meta’s future growth prospects, with focus on the company’s fourth-quarter guidance, as well as a search engine Meta is reportedly working on to supplement its AI chatbot.
Meta shares rose as much as 2% early Wednesday, before paring gains to trade mostly flat. The stock is up 68% year-to-date.
Bullish outlook on reported search engine: JMP
Analysts at JMP said they’re bullish on Meta’s coming search engine, which the company is reportedly developing to feed its AI chatbot.
“Meta is uniquely well positioned to monetize search given its 200M+ active SMBs and 12M+ active advertisers,” the firm wrote. “To that end, we believe Meta could offer a compelling commercial experience for search given its existing advertiser and SMB relationships while also using search intent signal to power its core advertising product on Facebook and Instagram.”
The firm issued an “Outperform” rating on the stock and a $635 price target, implying an 8% increase from current levels.
Long-term growth potential is strong: Bernstein
Meta Connect 2024 holographic glasses Mark Zuckerberg
Met
Meta’s long-term trajectory looks solid, as evidenced by the climb in the stock in recent years, according to Bernstein senior analyst Mark Shmulik.
Meta shares are up over 500% from their low in 2022, Shmulik said in a recent note.
The outlook for Meta’s core business also looks “constructive,” he added, pointing to Meta’s ad businesses, expectation that ads will launch on Threads, and other developments.
“Near term risk and reward feels balanced,” Shmulik wrote in a note, adding that the firm had a “perma-bull position on all things Meta.”
The firm issued an “Outperform” rating on the stock and a $675 price target, implying 15% upside from current levels.
Meta’s consensus third-quarter revenue estimate is $40.25 billion.
3rd quarter
Revenue estimate: $40.25 billion
Advertising rev. estimate: $39.71 billion
Family of Apps revenue estimate: $39.67 billion
Reality Labs revenue estimate: $312.8 million
Other revenue estimate: $390.5 million
Operating income estimate: $16.33 billion
Family of Apps operating income estimate: $20.47 billion
Reality Labs operating loss estimate: $4.66 billion
Operating margin estimate: 39.6%
EPS estimate: $5.25
Ad impressions estimate: +11.5%
Average price per ad estimate: +6.76%
Average Family service users per day estimate: 3.25 billion
