Meta Platforms Stock Drops Ahead Of Earnings As Snap Results Raise Digital Ad Concerns

Meta Platforms Inc META shares fell 2.44% to $540.91 on Wednesday ahead of its first-quarter earnings report, pressured in part by Snap Inc’s SNAP results the evening prior.

What To Know: While Snap beat Wall Street estimates on revenue and losses per share, concerns emerged from its cautious outlook and lack of formal second-quarter guidance, reigniting fears about a broader slowdown in digital advertising.

Investors may worry that Snap’s advertising headwinds could signal challenges for Meta as well, particularly given overlapping advertiser bases and reliance on macroeconomic ad trends.

Meta Earnings Up Next: Meta, which has a stronger ad infrastructure and broader platform reach than Snap—including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp—is expected to report revenue of $41.39 billion and EPS of $5.28.

However, uncertainty around capital spending, litigation pressures and a possible decline in user engagement—highlighted during recent FTC testimony by CEO Mark Zuckerberg—may weigh on sentiment. Investors will be watching closely for updates on Meta's AI initiatives, monetization of Instagram and WhatsApp, and commentary on ad demand.

Meta’s first-ever GenAI developer event and launch of a standalone Meta AI app signal ambitious long-term bets that will need to prove traction in a cautious ad market.

How To Buy META Stock

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Meta Platforms – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy “fractional shares,” which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share.

In the case of Meta Platforms, which is trading at $540.91 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you about 0.18 shares of stock.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to “go short” a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

According to data from Benzinga Pro, META has a 52-week high of $740.89 and a 52-week low of $427.20.