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

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 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.

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