
NASDAQ:META
This summary was created by AI, based on 5 opinions in the last 12 months.
Meta Platforms, Inc. (META-Q) has shown strong performance in its recent earnings report, beating estimates with earnings per share (EPS) of $8.88 and revenue of $59.89 billion. However, the stock faced volatility, experiencing a significant drop of 11.33% following an announcement by CEO Mark Zuckerberg regarding increased capital expenditures aimed at enhancing AI infrastructure. Despite initially surging by 10% after the favorable earnings report, shares have been trailing downward, confusing investors. Analysts remain cautiously optimistic, forecasting lower earnings and revenues in the upcoming quarter while social media mentions have seen a substantial increase of 319% in the past 24 hours, pointing to heightened interest in the stock.
This always trades at a pretty expensive multiple based on short-term earnings, and becomes even more when it becomes clear that this is a default place people go when they want to do online advertising. They’ve been pretty smart in deploying capital and making acquisitions. As long as they continue to do that, this will continue to do well.
This is firing on all cylinders. There are a billion users on Facebook and are growing on Instagram and WhatsApp. The average revenue per user grew 30% last year. From a valuation point of view, the growth is far and away north of 30%, and the stock is trading at less than 25X, so you are getting more growth than what you are paying for. (Analysts’ price target is $158.)
This has tremendous promise with 1.7 billion active monthly users. If you look at the immense advertising power, it is quite dramatic. Advertising in the digital age is behind the times. We are seeing a lot of money pouring into digital advertising. However, looking at statistics, with about 25%-26% of time spent by us on mobile devices, only 11% of the advertising dollar is aimed at that market. That will catch up, and will be to the benefit of companies like this.
Even though it has 1.7 billion users, they are still growing their user base by double digits. This year revenues are going to grow 37%, and EPS up 28%, and is trading at 25.5X this year’s earnings. Next year, revenues and EPS are going to grow in the mid-20s, and is trading at 20X expected earnings. (Analysts’ price target is $162.)
(A Top Pick Jan 14/16. Up 40.53%.) He doesn’t see where he would need to sell this at any time in the near future. Trading at a valuation of 25X forward earnings, but still growing at a 25% EPS clip. He sees strong growth in the Instagram, video areas boosting revenue. There is future revenue catalyst when you look at WhatsApp Messenger and Virtual Reality.
A really good company. There are 1.8 million active users. Great metrics this past quarter. They are the dominant franchise. They clearly get mobile, which was an overhang. They have a huge amount of things, especially in mobile advertising and video advertising. Reasonable valuation and a great management team. (Analysts’ price target is $162.00.)
It has a lot of room to go. The metrics are outstanding. They are monetizing various areas very effectively. They are coming out with VR and AI. Their core business is where there is potential. People’s time on Facebook is increasing. 25% of the average adult’s time is spent on mobile, but advertising budget allocation does not reflect this. (Analysts’ target: $153.24).
He is very interested, but hasn’t pulled the trigger yet. It has grown a lot, the price has gone up a lot, but earnings have gone up even faster. Valuation is a lot more reasonable now. It is still a fast grower and still trades at a modestly high multiple in the mid-30s, but it is in line with its growth rate.
He does not think it is expensive. It is at a discount to companies that can’t grow, like utilities. FB-Q still has growth opportunity. They are well positioned.