Meta Platforms
Shares of Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) have soared in 2023. The stock is up more than 72% over the past 12 months, and the year-to-date gain is more than 142%. There is no question that firing 21,000 people has contributed both to a sharp cut in expenses and a sharp increase in EPS. Are more job cuts coming? Are other cost-saving measures in the offing? Will Threads, Meta’s Twitter/X killer, rebound? How’s Meta’s AI initiative going? Is advertising picking up again? Inquiring minds want to know.
Of 56 analysts covering the stock, 43 have a Buy or Strong Buy rating and nine have Hold ratings. At a share price of around $292.00, the upside potential based on a median price target of $320.00 is 9.6%. At the high target of $380.00, the upside potential is 30.1%.
Meta is expected to report second-quarter revenue of $31.03 billion, up 8.3% sequentially and by 7.7% year over year. Adjusted EPS are pegged at $2.89, up 31.3% sequentially and by 17.5% year over year. For the full 2023 fiscal year, consensus estimates call for EPS of 11.67, up 35.8%, on sales of $126.82 billion, up 8.8%.
The stock trades at 25.0 times expected 2023 EPS, 20.3 times estimated 2024 earnings of $14.37 and 17.5 times estimated 2025 earnings of $16.68 per share. The 52-week trading range is $88.09 to $318.64. Meta does not pay a dividend, and the total shareholder return for the past year was 72.28%.
ServiceNow
Enterprise cloud-computing software provider ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE: NOW) has seen its stock price rise by more than 29% in the past year and by 49% in 2023. In May, the company announced a partnership with Nvidia to develop generative AI capabilities to add more horsepower to ServiceNow’s workflow automation solutions. The potential for developing specialized AI-powered applications promises to be a big, if not the biggest, arena for generative AI.
Analysts are stoutly bullish on the stock, with 34 of 37 brokerages giving the shares a Buy or Strong Buy rating. The rest rate it at Hold. At a share price of around $578.00, the upside potential based on a median price target of $605.00 is 4.7%. At the high price target of $718.00, the upside potential is 24.2%.
Second-quarter revenue is forecast at $2.13 billion, up 1.6% sequentially and 21.7% higher year over year. Adjusted EPS are pegged at $2.05, down 13.6% sequentially but up 26.5%year over year. For the full 2023 fiscal year, consensus estimates call for EPS of $9.53, up 25.5%, on revenue of $8.84 billion, up 22%.
ServiceNow stock trades at 60.7 times expected 2023 EPS, 48.6 times estimated 2024 earnings of $11.89 and 39.2 times estimated 2025 earnings of $14.75 per share. The 52-week trading range is $337.00 to $614.36. The company does not pay a dividend, and the total shareholder return for the past year was 29.38%.
Originally published at 24/7 Wall St.
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