What happened
Investors were hot on all manner of stocks Tuesday, but some were only cool on the prospects for Meta Platforms (META -10.56%). The social media king's shares rose at a 1.2% clip, but that was notably behind the S&P 500 index's more than 3% surge on the day. The market was weighing a good news/bad news research update on Meta stock from a prominent bank.
So what
Before market hours, Bank of America analyst Justin Post published a new note on top internet stocks. Post made several adjustments to his estimates for both Meta and its fellow tech sector behemoth, Google owner Alphabet.
He trimmed his forecasts for both companies, which has filtered down in a pair of stock price target cuts. He now pegs Meta as being worth $196 per share, and Alphabet at $114. These levels remain comfortably above the current prices of those stocks, however, and as such represent Post's top value stocks in the internet sphere.
As for his concerns, these center on a potential macroeconomic slump and the very strong U.S. dollar -- which negatively affects advertising spend from clients abroad. As Meta is a social media company and Alphabet's big revenue-maker is internet search, neither is constrained by borders and thus they have many partners and clients abroad.
Now what
The analyst wrote, "While the outlook for 2023 advertising revenue has deteriorated over the past 6 months, we think negative sentiment and lower valuations make for a more attractive investment backdrop." Post added that Meta's efforts to draw more revenue from its Reels short video sharing service could develop into a key source of top-line growth for 2013.
