Analysts Are Increasing Price Targets of These 5 Stocks

1. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 177

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) closed higher on Friday, January 20, after receiving a price-target hike from MKM Partners. The research firm lifted its price target for the social network giant from $140 per share to $155 per share.

MKM Partners analyst Rohit Kulkarni expects ad spending to improve in the coming quarters, with YouTube and Instagram potentially being the top beneficiaries of the increased spending. In addition, Kulkarni kept a “Buy” rating for Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META).

Separately, investment management firm Wedgewood Partners also discussed Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its third-quarter 2022 investor letter, stating:

“Meta Platforms detracted from performance during the quarter and for most of the year. Meta’s advertising revenue grew slightly (currency-adjusted) over 2021 but was up over +60% compared to 2019 (pre-Pandemic). The Company reported 2.9 billion “daily active users (DAUs)” of its Family of Apps (as of September 2022), up nearly +30% from December 2019. Despite these impressive gains, the stock now trades at absolute levels well below where it traded before the Pandemic. Much of the market’s concern revolves around slowing revenue growth and aggressive reinvestment. It is now quite evident that there was a tremendous pull-forward of demand for many businesses and services over the past couple of years. The normalization of revenue growth from that pull-forward is hardly an existential crisis. Further, while Meta’s profit margins have fallen below pre-Pandemic levels, the business likely hired well in excess of what it needed because it assumed the Pandemic induced growth would continue. Meta has plenty of room to moderate its expense base and drive significant value by repurchasing shares at today’s historically depressed multiples.”

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