Here’s Why Meta Platforms (META) Gained But Lagged the Market Today
January 3, 2025
The latest trading session saw Meta Platforms (META) ending at $604.63, denoting a +0.9% adjustment from its last day’s close. The stock’s performance was behind the S&P 500’s daily gain of 1.26%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw an upswing of 0.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq appreciated by 1.77%.
The social media company’s stock has dropped by 1.59% in the past month, falling short of the Computer and Technology sector’s gain of 0.84% and outpacing the S&P 500’s loss of 2.82%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Meta Platforms in its upcoming release. The company’s upcoming EPS is projected at $6.76, signifying a 26.83% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $46.98 billion, showing a 17.13% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Meta Platforms. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company’s business and profitability.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To capitalize on this, we’ve crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 0.04% upward. Meta Platforms is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
In terms of valuation, Meta Platforms is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 23.8. This signifies a discount in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 27.87 for its industry.
We can additionally observe that META currently boasts a PEG ratio of 1.19. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company’s expected earnings growth rate into account. The Internet – Software industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.04 as trading concluded yesterday.
The Internet – Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 25, placing it within the top 10% of over 250 industries.
The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
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