UPDATE: Goldman Sachs Raises PT on Facebook on 2Q13 Results

In a report published Thursday, Goldman Sachs analyst Heather Bellini raised the price target on Facebook FB from $40 to $46, after results of the company’s uplifting 2Q13 earnings.

In the report, Goldman Sachs noted, “Given the significant upside posted in 2Q13 coupled with continued solid data points from the field, we are raising our CY13 and CY14 revenue forecasts by 9% and 21% respectively, with our CY13 EPS forecast up 28% and CY14 up 32%. We are now modeling CY13 Ad revenue of $6.5bn vs. our prior view of $5.9bn (+38% yoy). As for CY14, we are now modeling total ad revenue of $9.8bn (+ 51% yoy) vs. our previous estimate of $7.96bn (+35%). Mobile ad revenue is the primary driver of the increases in both periods, with mobile now expected to be $2.7bn in 2013 (+475% yoy and 42% of total ad spend) versus our prior forecast of $1.78bn. For CY14, we are now estimating mobile ad revenue will represent 57% of ad spend to $5.6bn (prior $3.1bn) representing growth of 107%. With apathy on Facebook’s shares running high into the print, we believe the strong upside in ad revenue in 2Q13 will cause many in the market to reassess.”

Facebook closed on Wednesday at $26.51