Shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) were climbing today after the tech giant received a price-target increase from Stifel ahead of its third-quarter earnings report on Wednesday.
As a result, the stock was up 2.8% as of 1 p.m.
Image source: Meta Platforms.
Wall Street loves Meta Platforms
This morning, Stifel raised its price target on Meta from $385 to $402 and maintained a buy rating on the stock ahead of the earnings report.
The research firm said that digital ad checks were largely positive and that its growth is at least as good as internal plans, if not better. Stifel also raised its estimates slightly due to those findings.
Is Meta stock a buy ahead of earnings?
The Facebook parent has been one of the comeback stories of the year as a combination of cost cuts, a return to advertising growth, and the roll-off of headwinds from Apple's ad-targeting crackdown have helped the social media giant deliver strong results this year.
Additionally, the company's launch of new artificial intelligence (AI) tools and the Quest 3 virtual reality headset at its Connect event a month ago was well received.
Looking ahead to Wednesday's report, analysts are expecting another round of impressive growth, calling for revenue to increase 21.1% to $33.6 billion and for earnings per share (EPS) to more than double from $1.64 to $3.63.
Based on that forecast, the stock still looks affordable, trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 23.6, a similar valuation to the S&P 500, but analysts expect Meta's profits to continue ramping up.
Pay attention to Alphabet's Q3 earnings report tomorrow for more hints into how the digital ad market performed last quarter. If Alphabet rallies on the news, expect Meta to gain more heading into Wednesday's report.
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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Jeremy Bowman has positions in Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
