Meta Platforms posted strong first-quarter results
Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) is front and center on Wall Street today, after the Big Tech giant beat top- and bottom-line expectations in the first quarter and issued a strong second-quarter sales forecast. The company's first revenue increase in three quarters has investors hopeful of a larger shift, given the recent tech layoffs, and role of artificial intelligence (AI) isn't going unnoticed either.
Chinese retailers gave numbers a boost with growing advertisement spending, which chief financial officer (CFO) Susan Li noted "was due in part to dropping shipping costs and easing Covid lockdown for those advertisers."
At last glance, META was up 15.1% at $241.00, and trading at its highest levels in a little over a year. Since the start of the year, the equity is up 98.8%.
No fewer than 27 analysts lifted their price targets after the event, bringing the 12-month consensus price target to $257.15 -- a 7.4% premium to current levels. In terms of ratings, 31 of the 36 analysts in coverage carry a "buy" or better rating, with four a tepid "hold," and one "strong sell."
Over in the options pits, 352,000 calls and 295,000 puts have been exchanged, which is 10 times the intraday average. The weekly 4/28 240-strike call is the most active contract, with new positions being opened there.