U.S. equity markets opened mixed on Tuesday. By mid-morning, the Dow Jones industrials still clung to a fractional gain, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq continued sinking. UPS crushed estimates when it reported results early Tuesday. Exxon Mobil, NXP Semiconductors and Sirius XM also beat both profit and revenue estimates. Pipeline operator Enterprise Products beat on revenue but missed the profit estimate.
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After markets close Tuesday and before they open on Wednesday, five firms will report quarterly results: Alphabet, AMD, GM, PayPal and Starbucks. Another four companies report quarterly results first thing on Wednesday: AbbVie, Humana, Marathon Petroleum and Novartis.
Here is a look at four firms scheduled to report results after markets close on Wednesday.
Meta Platforms
In late October, the company formerly known as Facebook announced a name change to Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), which became effective December 1. The stock’s ticker will change to MRVS sometime this quarter. The name change slowed but ultimately did not stop a slide in the share price.
Since posting a 52-week high on September 1, the stock lost nearly 23% as of last week. Then Meta stock followed the rest of the tech stocks higher and has added about 7.7% in the past three trading sessions. The company gets credit for winding up interest from investors and companies in the metaverse. It believes it has a lead, and Meta might be right about that.
Analysts are virtually unanimous in their evaluation of Meta. Of 52 brokerages covering Facebook, 34 have given the shares a Buy rating and 10 more have a Strong Buy rating on the stock. Of the remaining nine, seven have a Hold rating. At a recent share price of around $313.30, the upside potential based on a median price target of $405 is nearly 29.3%. At the high price target of $466, the upside potential is 48.7%.
Meta is expected to report fourth-quarter revenue of $33.44 billion, which would be up 15.3% sequentially and 19.1% higher year over year. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) are forecast at $3.83, up 18.8% sequentially but down 1.3% year over year. For the full 2021 fiscal year, revenue is forecast at $117.69 billion, up 36.9%, and EPS is expected to come in at $13.96, up 38.3%.
Meta stock trades at 22.4 times expected 2021 EPS, 21.9 times estimated 2022 earnings of $14.31 and 18.6 times estimated 2023 earnings of $16.88 per share. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $253.50 to $384.33. Facebook does not pay a dividend, and total shareholder return for the past 12 months was 19.6%.
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