Live updates: Meta to report quarterly earnings today after market close


Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during the Meta Connect event on September 27, 2023
  • Meta reports first-quarter earnings on Tuesday.
  • The company recently released its latest AI chatbot, Llama 3.
  • Meta's stock is up roughly 40% in 2024.

Meta will report first-quarter earnings on Wednesday after the closing bell.

The company has had a strong start to 2024, riding the wave of interest in artificial intelligence. JPMorgan says that even though AI dominates investor chatter, the buzz is shifting towards recognizing Meta's early wins in coding efficiencies and cost savings.

Meta's stock was up 40% year-to-date through Tuesday's close, handily outpacing the the S&P 500's 6% gain.

RBC Capital spotlights Meta's growing lead in the ad business.

The Canadian bank touted a significant ramp up in ad volumes across Meta services, with Instagram Reels advertising taking center stage.

In fact, ad loads on Reels jumped 22% from January's 16.4%, outpacing declining volumes among competitors such as TikTok.

"While slower growth out of Facebook is to be expected going forward, we believe few others in the space can come close to matching META's scale for incremental spend, and we therefore expect META to at least maintain share going forward," analysts led by Brad Erickson wrote last Thursday.

The bank also considers Meta to be trading at a discount to the broader internet segment, a gap that will persist or narrow based on whether the firm can demonstrate stability in the ad business.

However, some pullback could occur in the first half of the year given China's economic slowdown, which could impact ad spending. Still, the firm offers other positives, analysts said.

RBC rates Meta at "Outperform" with a $600 price target.

Bank of America sees Meta's AI assets as under-appreciated.
In this photo illustration, a Meta logo is displayed on a smartphone with stock market percentages in the background.

Bank of America expects to see upside in Meta's first-quarter report, citing higher ad spending that was boosted by seasonal events, such as Easter.

Meanwhile, Meta's AI assets remain under-appreciated, and the firm will benefit by highlight its growing capabilities in the space, the bank said in a note last week.

"We remain positive on Meta and reiterate our thesis that Reels, Messaging, and AI driven ad improvements are still early, and could lead to positive product surprises & revenue momentum in 2024," analysts Justin Post and Nitin Bansal said.

Meta also looks to be the biggest winner amid a possible TikTok ban, which has now made its way through the Senate.

Bank of America rates Meta at "Buy" with a $550 price target.

Meta's consensus first-quarter revenue estimate is $36.12 billion.

1st quarter

  • Revenue estimate: $36.12 billion

    • Advertising rev. estimate: $35.57 billion

    • Family of Apps revenue estimate: $35.52 billion

    • Reality Labs revenue estimate: $494.1 million

    • Other revenue estimate: $286.4 million

  • Adjusted operating income estimate: $13.45 billion

    • Family of Apps operating income estimate: $17.76 billion

    • Reality Labs operating loss estimate: $4.52 billion

  • Operating margin estimate: 37.2%

  • EPS estimate: $4.30

  • Facebook daily active users estimate: 2.11 billion

  • Facebook monthly active users estimate: 3.08 billion

  • Ad impressions estimate: +17.1%

    • Average price per ad estimate: +5.85%

  • Average Family service users per day estimate: 3.16 billion

  • Average Family service users per month estimate: 3.97 billion

2nd quarter

  • Revenue estimate: $38.24 billion

Full-year 2024

  • Total expenses estimate: $96.87 billion

  • Capital expenditure estimate: $34.5 billion

Read the original article on Business Insider

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