In the latest trading session, Meta Platforms (FB) closed at $346.22, marking a +0.01% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500’s daily loss of 0.1%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.26%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.1%.
Coming into today, shares of the social media company had gained 2.41% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 3.66%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.4%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from Meta Platforms as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Meta Platforms to post earnings of $3.78 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 2.58%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $33 billion, up 17.56% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $13.91 per share and revenue of $117.74 billion. These totals would mark changes of +37.86% and +36.97%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Meta Platforms. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company’s business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Meta Platforms currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
Digging into valuation, Meta Platforms currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 24.89. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 65.03, which means Meta Platforms is trading at a discount to the group.
Also, we should mention that FB has a PEG ratio of 1.23. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company’s expected earnings growth rate. FB’s industry had an average PEG ratio of 3.61 as of yesterday’s close.
The Internet – Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 187, putting it in the bottom 27% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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