Meta Platforms (META) Laps the Stock Market: Here's Why

Meta Platforms (META) closed at $732.78 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.68% move from the prior day. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.61%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.49%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.95%.

The social media company's shares have seen an increase of 2.6% over the last month, not keeping up with the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 5.6% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.85%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Meta Platforms in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on July 30, 2025. The company is expected to report EPS of $5.74, up 11.24% from the prior-year quarter. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $44.5 billion, indicating a 13.89% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $25.35 per share and revenue of $186.34 billion. These totals would mark changes of +6.24% and +13.28%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Meta Platforms should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 0.77% rise in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. As of now, Meta Platforms holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Meta Platforms has a Forward P/E ratio of 28.43 right now. This represents a discount compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 28.96.

Meanwhile, META's PEG ratio is currently 1.77. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Internet - Software industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.22.

The Internet - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 62, positioning it in the top 26% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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