The "Magnificent Seven" stocks have delivered mixed performances year to date, but shares of Meta Platform (META -2.29%) have gained 22% due to strong financial results and positive investor sentiment concerning its artificial intelligence (AI) strategy. The company will announce second-quarter earnings results after market close on Wednesday, July 30.
Wall Street is optimistic ahead of the report. Among 72 analysts, the stock has a consensus rating of buy, and the median target price is $750. That implies 5% upside from its current share price of $712.
Here's what investors should know about Meta Platforms.
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What Wall Street expects when Meta Platforms announces its second-quarter results
Meta Platforms will announce financial results for Q2 2025 after the U.S. stock market closes on Wednesday, July 30. Management guided for 12.6% sales growth but didn't share an earnings estimate. The consensus forecasts among Wall Street analysts are listed below:
- Revenue will increase 14.7% to $44.8 billion.
- Earnings will increase 14.5% to $5.91 per share.
Meta stock may not rise even if the company beats the consensus estimates and provides strong forward guidance. The company checked both boxes in Q3 2024, but the stock still declined 4% following the report due to concerns about heavy spending on AI projects.
As of July 28, prices on options contracts imply a post-earnings move of 5.5%. In that scenario, the stock would close between $674 and $751 on July 31. But that range is subject to change, depending on how the stock trades in the days before the report.
More importantly, while options prices are used to estimate volatility, there's no guarantee the estimates are accurate. The risk premiums on options contracts simply reflect what investors anticipate.
Meta Platforms is using artificial intelligence to strengthen its advertising business
Meta owns 3 of the 4 most popular social media platforms in Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, as measured by total downloads last year. It also owns the sixth most popular social platform (Threads) and the eighth most popular social platform (Messenger), according to Sensor Tower. That ability to engage consumers and collect data makes Meta Platforms an ideal advertising partner.
Consequently, Meta Platforms is one of the largest ad tech companies in the world, second only to Alphabet's Google, but Meta is gaining market share. It accounted for 21.6% of digital ad spending last year, up two points from the previous year. Market-share gains could continue as Meta leans on artificial intelligence to improve user engagement and help marketers optimize their advertising campaigns.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently told analysts, "In the last six months, improvements to our recommendation systems have led to a 7% increase in time spent on Facebook, 6% increase on Instagram, and 35% increase on Threads." Also, the number of advertisers using AI creative tools increased 30% in the most recent quarter.
Zuckerberg reported growing traction with the conversational assistant Meta AI. The technology has nearly reached 1 billion active users across its ecosystem of social media platforms. Finally, the company recently announced new AI features that let brands personalize the same ad for different people, embed conversational AI agents into ads, and stitch together static images into cohesive video ads.
Meta Platforms stock is worth buying at its current price
Looking ahead, Grand View Research estimates ad tech spending will grow at 14% annually through 2030. In turn, Wall Street expects Meta Platform's earnings to grow at 15% annually in the next three years. That makes its current valuation of 28 times earnings look tolerable. However, analysts have a tendency to underestimate the company.
Meta Platforms beat the consensus estimate by an average of 13% in the last six quarters and may continue to top forecasts as it leans into AI innovation and new products. For instance, Meta dominates the burgeoning smart glasses market, which tripled in size last year, and sales are projected to increase more than 60% annually through 2029, according to Counterpoint Research.
Patient investors should feel comfortable buying Meta stock. With the second-quarter financial report imminent, the most prudent strategy is to buy a few shares today and a few more shares after the report. That strategy will smooth out some of the share-price volatility, ensuring investors capitalize on any post-earnings gains, while also hedging against potential post-earnings losses.
