Meta Platforms (META 1.95%) impressed investors with another strong earnings report Wednesday. The social media giant easily beat analyst expectations as it delivered another round of stellar growth across the board.
Revenue rose 21% to $48.4 billion, and operating income surged 43% to $23.4 billion. With the help of a lower tax rate, earnings per share jumped 50% to $8.02.
Its key business metrics also showed underlying growth. Daily active users across its family of apps, which include Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp, rose 5% to 3.35 billion, meaning the company added 160 million users, equivalent to half of the population of the U.S.
Ad impressions also rose 6%, showing growth in the ad business, and average price per ad jumped 14%, indicating a robust demand for ads on Facebook and Instagram.
Investors cheered the results, with the stock jumping as much as 5% on Thursday before ending the day up 1.6%. Wall Street also took note of the report, with several analysts issuing bullish notes. This included Benchmark, which upgraded the stock to a buy on the news.
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Benchmark gives a stamp of approval
In the wake of the earnings report, Benchmark raised its rating on the stock from hold to buy, according to media reports, and gave Meta a price target of $820, nearly the highest on the Street.
Benchmark said Meta's guidance gives it a low bar to overcome in 2025 and also noted that the company has made real progress in making AI agents that can serve its own coding development needs.
Is Meta a buy?
Meta's guidance calls for a slowdown in growth, forecasting revenue growth of 8% to 15% for 2025. That may be a conservative forecast, but it also reflects a deceleration in the digital advertising market from the surge that followed the lull in 2022.
Even with slower growth, Meta looks like a solid buy at the current price. The business is firing on all cylinders, and it's cheaper than most of its big-tech peers.
