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Takeaways
- Meta is expected release its first quarter results after the bell Wednesday.
- Analysts are bullish about the tech giant. Revenue and profit are expected to increase by more than 10% in the next year.
- Ongoing legal and regulatory concerns could negatively impact Meta's business.
Meta Platforms is scheduled to report its first quarter results after the close of markets on Wednesday. Analysts are still bullish on Facebook’s parent company despite uncertainty over tariffs and legal disputes.
Of the 27 analysts covering the stock tracked by Visible Alpha, 25 call Meta a "buy," while just two have a "hold" rating. The stock has an average price target near $687, a roughly 25% premium to Monday's closing level of about $550.
Meta, parent company of Facebook Instagram and WhatsApp is expected to report earnings of $5.24 per share on revenue of 41.35 billion dollars, which would represent an 11% and a 13% increase, respectively, over the previous year.
Morgan Stanley analysts wrote that Meta may be hurt by a pullback of advertising from Chinese companies due to tariffs, but that the company should be better equipped to withstand this than Alphabet (GOOGL), or Amazon (AMZN), which are owned by Google.
Recent headlines are dominated by Regulatory and Legal Concerns
Legal and regulatory disputes have nagged Meta, with the European Union last week fining the tech giant 200 million euros ($227.5 million) for violating its Digital Markets Act. Meta plans to appeal against the fine.
Meta’s antitrust case began this month. The Federal Trade Commission has asked Meta to sell Instagram or WhatsApp or spin them off. They also claim that Meta used an “illegal scheme to buy or bury” competitors to maintain their dominance.
Meta shares are down 6% by 2025. They have lost a quarter of the value they had in February, when they hit an all-time peak of $740. This was during a period of market turmoil that was unprecedented and which has affected the Magnificent Seven companies.
UPDATE—April 28, 2025: This article has been updated since it was first published to reflect more recent analyst estimates and share price values.
