Meta Platforms (META) to Report Q4 Earnings: What to Expect
Meta Platforms META is set to report its fourth-quarter 2022 results on Feb 1.
Meta expects total revenues between $30 billion and $32.5 billion for the fourth quarter of 2022. Unfavorable forex is expected to hurt year-over-year top-line growth by 7%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter revenues is pegged at $31.31 billion, indicating a decrease of 7.02% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.
The consensus mark for earnings is pegged at $2.23 per share, up 4.7% over the past 30 days, suggesting a decline of 39.24% from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.
Meta’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in one of the trailing four quarters and missed thrice, the average negative surprise being 2.55%.
Meta Platforms, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise
Meta Platforms, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Meta Platforms, Inc. Quote
Let’s see how things have shaped up for the upcoming announcement.
Factors to Note
Meta’s fourth-quarter top line is expected to have been affected by a challenging macroeconomic environment, high inflation, and rising interest rates hurting the ad spending budgets of enterprises. This is expected to have weighed on the ad revenues of Meta in the to-be-reported quarter.
Meta’s ad revenue business is facing declining growth due to ad targeting-related headwinds created by Apple’s AAPL iOS changes.
Apple’s iOS changes have made ad targeting difficult, which has increased the cost of driving outcomes. However, measuring these outcomes is tough.
In the third quarter of 2022, Meta’s ad revenues represented 98.3% of the total revenues, which decreased 3.7% year over year to $27.24 billion. The declining revenue trend is expected to have continued in the fourth quarter.
Nevertheless, Meta is banking on adding users, driven by features like protections against malicious links in Facebook messenger and Instagram direct messages using automated systems, Instagram impostor alerts, and increased Instagram verified badge specialty.
Meta also announced the introduction of age verification technology to Facebook Dating in the United States to prevent users under the age of 18 from accessing experiences meant to be enjoyed as adults.
However, higher operating expenses due to an estimated $900 million in additional charges related to the consolidation of office facilities are expected to have hurt profitability.
What Our Model Says
Per the Zacks model, the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat.
Meta currently has an Earnings ESP of +13.39% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Other Stocks to Consider
Here are a few other companies worth considering, as our model shows that these too have the right combination of elements to beat on earnings in their upcoming releases:
Juniper JNPR has an Earnings ESP of +1.89% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Juniper shares have declined 8% in the past year. JNPR is set to report its fourth-quarter 2022 results on Jan 31.
Perion Network PERI has an Earnings ESP of +13.40% and a Zacks Rank #3.
Perion shares have gained 62.1% in the past year. PERI is set to report its fourth-quarter 2022 results on Feb 8.
Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.
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