Media
How Far, and Why, Analysts Are Chasing Facebook Much Higher
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Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) reported fiscal second-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Wednesday, and it may have been one of the best earnings reports that the company has seen. As a result, shares are just off their off their all-time highs and analysts are practically salivating over this stock.
Here we have included a few key highlights from the earnings report, then added what a couple of analysts are saying about Facebook after the fact.
The social network said it had $0.77 in earnings per share (EPS) on $5.4 billion in revenue, versus Thomson Reuters consensus estimates that called for $0.62 in EPS on revenue of $5.26 billion. In the same period of last year, the social media giant posted EPS of $0.42 and $3.54 billion in revenue.
Daily active users (DAUs) totaled 1.09 billion for the three months that ended in March, an increase of 16% from last year, while mobile DAUs were 989 million, an increase of 24%. Monthly active users (MAUs) were 1.65 billion at the end of the quarter, an increase of 15%. At the same time, mobile MAUs totaled 1.51 billion, which was an increase of 21%.
The whole point of the restructuring is to create a capital structure that will allow the company to remain focused on its long-term vision or objectives. However, the adoption of the proposal is still subject to the approval of its shareholders at the 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which is scheduled be held on June 20.
After the Facebook report, Merrill Lynch reiterated a Buy rating and raised its price target for the stock to $145 from $140. The firm believes that the network effects were highlighted in a solid user and strong revenue quarter, and the company remains or top idea for the mobile internet. With Instagram ($5 billion opportunity) monetization still mostly ahead, the analysts at Merrill Lynch think Facebook is in the best position in the sector to meet or beat expectations. Also, messaging is starting to roll out tools for monetization, while live videos should be a positive for usage — and eventually for revenues.
The brokerage firm gave its investment rationale as follows:
Facebook is an investment in increasing social and mobile Internet usage, and also offers exposure to growing Internet usage in emerging markets. Driven by user growth, new product offerings, and new ad formats, we expect Facebook to gain share in advertising markets and grow 30%+ over the next three years, which warrants a premium valuation to its Internet peers, in our view.
Wells Fargo maintained an Outperform rating and gave its valuation range as $145 to $150 for the shares. This investment bank believes that Facebook’s leadership position, improving mobile monetization, growth profile and long-term potential merit a premium valuation. Wells Fargo presented its investment thesis as follows:
We view the evolution of social platforms as the most significant digital marketing development since the emergence of search, and believe Facebook’s audience scale, targeting capabilities, and social connectivity offer opportunity for marketers across the category, size, and regional spectrum.
An incredible number of analysts weighed in on Facebook after its earnings were reported:
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