Facebook Analyst: Uneventful Quarter Only 'Strengthens' Thesis

In a report published Thursday, Credit Suisse analysts maintained an Outperform rating on

, with a price target of $106. Facebook reported its 1Q results in-line with expectations. The company reported revenues and adjusted EPS of $3.54 billion and $0.42, respectively, vs consensus estimates of $3.56 billion and $0.41, respectively. "Facebook remains one of our highest-conviction ideas – particularly in context of the stacked product release slate we believe it has in store as well as the multiple paths to shareholder value creation via monetization of existing users as well as laying the groundwork to build users on the non-Facebook.com properties," the analysts stated. The company's results depicted acceleration in the forex-neutral growth rate for Facebook's advertising revenue in Europe as the key source of outperformance. Facebook's growth prospects continue to be bright. "Facebook will be able to drive revenue growth without a material lift in ad loads," the analysts added.