Raymond James Raises Facebook Price Target Noting Continued Strength of Ad Spend

In a report published Thursday, Raymond James analyst Aaron Kessler raised the price target on

from $60.00 to $63.00 and maintained an Outperform rating given strong expectation for increased estimates. Kessler noted that fourth quarter ad spend is tracking above Raymond James and consensus estimates after recent channel checks with Facebook agency partners. In addition, mobile ad strength continues to grow as mobile app install ads saw the greatest demand. New horizontal ads in mobile news feed also aided strong fourth quarter growth. The analyst included notes from a call with a leading Facebook SPMD (strategic preferred marketing developer). "The SPMD indicated that ad spend increased 28% q/q (vs. ~15% q/q in 3Q). For 4Q we have modeled ~18% q/q ad spending growth for Facebook. While we believe the SPMD's spend growth is likely to be higher than the reported number, we do expect Facebook to generate upside to our/consensus revenues estimates. The SPMD noted strength across all verticals and pointed out particular strength in mobile app install ads and unpublished page post ads. According to the SPMD, mobile represented 48% of spend, which marks an increase from mid 40s in 3Q." Facebook closed at $57.60 on Wednesday.