Facebook Inc FB, Silicon Valley’s golden child, never ceases to impress the public with clever innovations. Most recently, the social media giant announced an endeavor to share AMBER alerts on newsfeeds, unrolled Facebook at Work, and expanded Facebook’s Audience Networks.
Facebook will release fourth quarter results on January 28.
A handful of Wall Street analysts remain bullish.
On January 14, analyst Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research reiterated a Buy rating on Facebook and raised his price target from $103 to $105.
Wieser noted: “Facebook remains our favorite name in the sector… Facebook can point to a wide range of factors which will sustain growth through 2015 and beyond, as increasing share of spending from small businesses and large brands alike as well as ongoing improvement in focus on performance-based marketers will all help to sustain rapid growth.”
Brian Wieser has rated Facebook 15 times since May 2012, earning a 92 percent success rate recommending the stock and a +41.2 percent average return per FB recommendation.
Overall, Wieser has an 77 percent success rate recommending stocks with a +20.6 percent average return per recommendation.
Separately on January 14, analyst Stephen Ju of Credit Suisse reiterated an Outperform rating on Facebook and raised his price target from $88 to $102, mostly based on potential revenue to be derived from Facebook’s Audience Network. J
u says that FAN will allow Facebook to “drive revenue growth without a material lift in ad loads,” and he estimates $1.1 billion in gross revenue from the service in 2016, from which Facebook will get a 20 percent cut.
Ju also explains how he arrived at this figure from two directions; the first method began with “looking at the most recent average revenue per seller statistic,” and the second method was achieved after “compiling a list of user mobile engagement metrics by publisher in the U.S. to serve as a proxy for potential mobile ad volume.”
Stephen Ju has rated Facebook 13 times since October 2012, earning an 83 percent success rate recommending the stock and a +10.7 percent average return per FB recommendation.
Overall, Ju has a 54 percent success rate recommending stocks with a +12.3 percent average return per recommendation.
According to SmarterAnalyst, analyst Jason Helfstein of Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating on Facebook and raised his price target from $88 to $100 on January 14.
Helfstein noted: “We expect strong 4Q results, driven by better engagement and strong monetization. Consistent with recent [quarters], the company will likely beat its expense guidance resulting in higher margins, in our view.”
He also explained that “organic reach is becoming more difficult, due to competition for newsfeed impressions, which is driving pricing… We also see upside from increased video adoption.”
Jason Helfstein has rated Facebook 16 times since June 2012, earning an 87 percent success rate recommending the stock and a +48.7 percent average return per FB recommendation. Overall, Helfstein has a 56 percent success rate recommending stocks with a +17 percent average return per recommendation.
On average, the top analyst consensus for Facebook on TipRanks is Strong Buy.
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