Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares are trading higher on Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected second quarter financial results and issued strong guidance.
The Details:
Meta Platforms reported second quarter revenue of $32 billion, up 11% year-over-year and the revenue total came in ahead of the analysts’ consensus estimate of $31.12 billion. Earnings per share totaled $2.98 in the second quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91.
Additionally, Facebook Daily Active Users grew 5%.
“We had a good quarter. We continue to see strong engagement across our apps and we have the most exciting roadmap I’ve seen in a while with Llama 2, Threads, Reels, new AI products in the pipeline, and the launch of Quest 3 this fall,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO.
Meta also issued strong guidance which included revenue guidance for the third quarter in a range of $32 to $34.5 billion, ahead of a Street estimate of $28.29 billion, according to Benzinga Pro.
Meta has seen several analysts’ upgrades following the release of the financial reports.
- RBC Capital analyst Brad Erickson maintained Meta Platforms with an Outperform and raised the price target from $330 to $400.
- HSBC analyst Nicolas Cote-Colisson upgraded Meta from Reduce to Hold and announced a $285 price target.
- Guggenheim analyst Michael Morris maintained Meta Platforms with a Buy and raised the price target from $320 to $375.
- Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein maintained Meta with an Outperform rating and raised the price target from $350 to $385.
- UBS analyst Lloyd Walmsley maintained Meta Platforms with a Buy and raised the price target from $335 to $400.
- Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak maintained Meta Platforms with an Overweight and raised the price target from $350 to $375.
- Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan maintained Meta with a Buy and raised the price target from $335 to $384.
- Credit Suisse analyst Stephen Ju maintained Meta Platforms with an Outperform and raised the price target from $361 to $407.
- JMP Securities analyst Andrew Boone maintained Meta with a Market Outperform and raised the price target from $350 to $380.
- Citigroup analyst Ronald Josey maintained Meta Platforms with a Buy and raised the price target from $360 to $385.
- Barclays analyst Ross Sandler maintained Meta Platforms with an Overweight and raised the price target from $320 to $410.
- Wells Fargo analyst Ken Gawrelski upgraded Meta from Equal-Weight to Overweight and raised the price target from $313 to $389.
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META Price Action: According to Benzinga Pro, META shares are trading 5.7% higher at $315.62 at the time of publication.
Image: TheDigitalArtist from Pixabay
