On Wednesday, Stifel, a financial services company, maintained its Buy rating on shares of Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: NASDAQ:META), with a steady price target of $663.00. Meta Platforms reported quarterly revenue that exceeded expectations, with figures reaching $40.6 billion, marking a 19% year-over-year increase. This performance surpassed the anticipated $40.2 billion revenue, which would have represented an 18% year-over-year growth.
The company's Operating Income also outperformed consensus estimates, coming in at $17.4 billion with a 43% margin, compared to the expected $15.8 billion at a 39% margin. Meta Platforms disclosed Daily Active People (DAP) across its family of apps at 3.29 billion, a 5% year-over-year increase, which was slightly below the Street's forecast of 3.31 billion.
Earnings per share (EPS) on a GAAP basis were reported at $6.03, topping the Street's prediction of $5.22. For the fourth quarter of 2024, Meta Platforms guided revenue in the range of $45-48 billion, translating to a 12-20% year-over-year increase, against a consensus estimate of $46.2 billion, which would represent a 15% year-over-year growth. This guidance assumes that foreign exchange rates will not impact year-over-year growth.
Additionally, Meta Platforms revised its total expense guidance for 2024, now expecting it to be between $96-98 billion, which indicates a 9-11% year-over-year increase. This is a slight adjustment from the previous forecast of $96-99 billion, or a 9-12% year-over-year increase.
Capital expenditure (Capex) guidance for 2024 has also been updated, with the company now anticipating it to be in the range of $38-40 billion, reflecting a significant 35-42% year-over-year increase, compared to the earlier range of $37-40 billion. Further insights and analysis from Stifel are expected to be provided following the company's earnings call.
In other recent news, Meta Platforms Inc. recently reported its third-quarter earnings, with a profit of $6.03 per share, marginally exceeding Wall Street estimates. The company's revenue reached $40.59 billion, with projections for fourth-quarter revenue between $45 billion and $48 billion. This forecast is driven by anticipated robust advertising spending during the holiday season. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) reaffirmed its Buy rating on Meta, maintaining the stock's price target at $636.00, following these results.
In a separate development, Meta has partnered with Cornerstone OnDemand Inc., a workforce agility solutions firm. This collaboration seeks to enhance immersive learning and extended reality applications through artificial intelligence, aiming to make these technologies more accessible within corporate settings.
In political news, Donald Trump has threatened legal actions against several tech giants, including Meta Platforms, accusing them of potential election interference. He criticized CEO Mark Zuckerberg's donations to election infrastructure, warning of legal consequences for any illicit activities.
InvestingPro Insights
Meta Platforms' strong financial performance, as highlighted in the article, is further supported by real-time data from InvestingPro. The company's market capitalization stands at an impressive $1.5 trillion, reflecting its dominant position in the tech industry. Meta's revenue for the last twelve months as of Q2 2024 reached $149.78 billion, with a robust revenue growth of 24.28% over the same period. This aligns with the company's reported quarterly revenue beat and underscores its continued expansion.
InvestingPro Tips reveal that Meta has a perfect Piotroski Score of 9, indicating strong financial health across various metrics. This score complements the company's reported operating income outperformance and supports Stifel's Buy rating. Additionally, Meta's gross profit margin of 81.49% for the last twelve months as of Q2 2024 is described as "impressive" by InvestingPro, which aligns with the company's strong financial results discussed in the article.
It's worth noting that InvestingPro offers 17 additional tips for Meta Platforms, providing investors with a comprehensive analysis of the company's financial position and market performance. These insights could be particularly valuable given Meta's recent earnings beat and positive guidance for the upcoming quarter.
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