What to Expect From Facebook Earnings

November 2, 2016 by Chris Lange

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is scheduled to report its third-quarter financial results after the markets close on Wednesday. In the previous quarter, this social media giant posted huge quarterly numbers that blew most of Wall Street away. Since that time, Facebook stock has been on a roll, so we could expect even better earnings this time.

The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters are $0.97 in earnings per share (EPS) and $6.92 billion in revenue. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $0.57 and $4.5 billion in revenue.

As of late July, the company had a stunning 1.13 billion daily active users, of which 1.03 billion accessed Facebook from a mobile device. Most Wall Street analysts point to the fact that Facebook remains the top beneficiary of the adoption of mobile internet trends, with total U.S. internet time spent on Facebook and Messenger.

It should be noted that Facebook had grown to an astounding $372.54 billion market cap in less than five years.

Prior to the release of the earnings report, a few analysts weighed in on Facebook:

  • Stifel reiterated a Buy rating with a $155 price target.
  • Canaccord Genuity reiterated a Buy rating and a $160 price target.
  • MKM Partners reiterated a Buy rating with a $165 price target.
  • Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a Buy rating with a $160 price target.
  • Wedbush reiterated an Outperform rating with a $162 price target.
  • Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating with a $170 price target.
  • Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating with a $162 price target.
  • Baird reiterated an Outperform rating with a $155 price target.
  • BTIG reiterated a Neutral rating.

So far in 2016, Facebook has outperformed the broad markets, with the stock up about 24%. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock is up roughly the same.

Shares of Facebook were trading at $129.97 on Wednesday, with a consensus analyst price target of $156.76 and a 52-week trading range of $89.37 to $133.50.

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