Meta Platforms reported Q2 EPS of $7.14 versus $5.92 expected and revenue of $47.52 billion versus $44.80 billion expected. Q2 ad revenue reached $46.56 billion, beating the forecast of $43.97 billion. Shares fell 5.27% over five trading sessions, narrowing the year-to-date gain to 22.97%. Multiple analysts raised price targets, including Barclays, Benchmark, KeyBanc, Bernstein, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Cantor Fitzgerald, Canaccord, and Citi. The company authorized a $50 billion share buyback and announced a new dividend paying about $0.53 quarterly ($2.12 annualized) at the current yield of 0.27%. Meta is prioritizing investments in artificial intelligence and forecasts show large long-term upside potential.
Shares of Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) lost 5.27% over the past five trading sessions, dragging down the Magnificent Seven mainstay's year-to-date gain to 22.97%. When the company reported Q2 earnings on July 30, it announced EPS of $7.14 versus an expected $5.92 and revenue of $47.52 billion versus $44.80 expected. The company's Q2 ad revenue was $46.56 billion, beating Wall Street's forecast of $43.97 billion.
Recently, the Mark Zuckerberg-led tech stock has seen a flurry of analyst upgrades. On Aug. 1, Barclays raised its price target to $810 from $640. In July, Benchmark ($800 from $640), KeyBanc ($800 from $655), Bernstein ($775 from $700), Bank of America ($765 from $690), Wells Fargo ($783 from $664), Cantor Fitzgerald ($828 from $807), Canaccord ($850 from $825) and Citi ($803 from $690) all issued bullish price target adjustments on META.
This year, META announced - alongside authorizing a $50 billion stock buyback - that shares of META would begin paying a dividend. And while its current yield of 0.27% may not seem like much, at its current price, that equates to 53 cents per share quarterly, or $2.12 per share annualized. As the dominant player in the social media landscape, Meta Platforms is now branching out more broadly into tech, and specifically, the artificial intelligence (AI) space.
Collection
[
|
...
]