Meta Platforms
’
FB
flagship service, Facebook’s growing popularity in international markets, particularly Asia, is expected to have expanded its user base in first-quarter 2022. Meta is set to report
first-quarter results
on Apr 27.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Monthly Active Users (“MAU”) in Asia stands at 1.302 billion, indicating 5.9% growth from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.
The consensus mark for MAU in Europe is pegged at 427 million, suggesting 0.9% growth from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.
The consensus mark for Rest of World’s MAU is pegged at 975 million, indicating 3.7% growth from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.
Click here
to know how Meta’s overall first-quarter performance is likely to be.
Meta Platforms, Inc. Revenue (TTM)
Meta Platforms, Inc. revenue-ttm
|
Meta Platforms, Inc. Quote
Instagram & E-Commerce Initiatives to Aid Revenue Growth
Meta’s monthly active user base of more than 3.58 billion (including its Family of services — Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger) presents a large canvas for advertisers and makes the platform highly attractive.
Instagram’s growing popularity in international markets, particularly in Asia, has helped Meta expand its user base. Much of it can be attributed to the introduction of Instagram Video — a combination of IGTV and feed videos. This new feature has been attracting Gen-Z to the platform amid competition.
Additionally, the introduction of Family Center for parents, which aims at helping the latter control what their teenage children experience across Meta technologies, especially in social media and VR, is expected to increase confidence among teenagers about using Instagram.
The addition of new features is expected to make Instagram more competitive against the likes of
Snap
’s
SNAP
Snapchat and
Twitter
TWTR
.
Snap is a noteworthy competition, given its rising popularity among Gen Z owing to the immersive experience offered by the platform. Snapchat reaches 75% of the 13-34 year-old population of the United States, making it a bigger platform than Meta’s Facebook and Instagram among this demography.
Markedly, Snap’s Snapchat announced new parental controls for its platform in January this year to limit friend suggestions for teen users and protect them from unwanted attention.
Moreover, Twitter’s unique platform, even though it is different from Instagram, has been gaining momentum among users of all age groups due to its openness, real-time content, conversational format and simplicity. It has been able to protect the security of users on its platform and thus boost trustworthiness.
However, Instagram’s ban in Russia is expected to have negatively impacted this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company’s user base as well as advertising revenue growth in the to-be-reported quarter. Notably, Russia accounted for 1.5% of Meta’s advertising dollars. You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here
.
Facebook is expected to have benefited from its e-commerce endeavors in the to-be-reported quarter. Initiatives to build tools and functionalities for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are helping them provide e-commerce services to users.
Markedly, SMBs have become a revenue-generating source for the social media giant, driven by the coronavirus-induced shift in consumer demand for e-commerce services.
However, ad-targeting-related headwinds are expected to have hurt ad-revenue growth rate in the to-be-reported quarter. Changes made by
Apple
AAPL
and Google in their mobile operating systems and browser platforms have limited Facebook’s ability to track user-activity trend.
Apple’s iOS changes have made ad targeting difficult, which, in turn, has increased the cost of driving outcomes. Moreover, measuring these outcomes has also become difficult. Meta expects these factors to hurt advertising growth in the first quarter and throughout 2022.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter advertising revenues is pegged at $27.76 billion, indicating 9.1% growth from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.
Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the
Zacks Earnings Calendar
.
Bitcoin, Like the Internet Itself, Could Change Everything
Blockchain and cryptocurrency has sparked one of the most exciting discussion topics of a generation. Some call it the “Internet of Money” and predict it could change the way money works forever. If true, it could do to banks what Netflix did to Blockbuster and Amazon did to Sears. Experts agree we’re still in the early stages of this technology, and as it grows, it will create several investing opportunities.
Zacks’ has just revealed 3 companies that can help investors capitalize on the explosive profit potential of Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies with significantly less volatility than buying them directly.
See 3 crypto-related stocks now >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.
Click to get this free report