Understanding the Basics of Meta Platforms (META)

By Kim Brooks • Thursday, December 07 21:03 • Permanent Link

With gains of 2.9%, Meta Platforms was one of the winners on Wall Street today. Its shares are now trading at $326.59 and have logged a 1.0% daily outperformance of the S&P 500. Don't join the feeding frenzy before checking some basic facts about this stock:

Meta Platforms has moved 183.0% over the last year, and the S&P 500 logged a change of 17.0%
META has an average analyst rating of buy and is -12.3% away from its mean target price of $372.4 per share
Its trailing earnings per share (EPS) is $11.33
Meta Platforms has a trailing 12 month Price to Earnings (P/E) ratio of 28.8 while the S&P 500 average is 15.97
Its forward earnings per share (EPS) is $17.39 and its forward P/E ratio is 18.8
The company has a Price to Book (P/B) ratio of 5.88 in contrast to the S&P 500's average ratio of 2.95
Meta Platforms is part of the Technology sector, which has an average P/E ratio of 35.0 and an average P/B of 7.92
META has reported YOY quarterly earnings growth of 167.9% and gross profit margins of 0.8%
The company has a free cash flow of $29.44 Billion, which refers to the total sum of all its inflows and outflows of cash over the last quarter
Meta Platforms, Inc. engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately. The Reality Labs segment provides augmented and virtual reality related products comprising consumer hardware, software, and content that help people feel connected, anytime, and anywhere. The company was formerly known as Facebook, Inc. and changed its name to Meta Platforms, Inc. in October 2021. Meta Platforms, Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.

The above analysis is intended for educational purposes only and was performed on the basis of publicly available data. It is not to be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Any buy, sell, or other recommendations mentioned in the article are direct quotations of consensus recommendations from the analysts covering the stock, and do not represent the opinions of Market Inference or its writers. Past performance, accounting data, and inferences about market position and corporate valuation are not reliable indicators of future price movements. Market Inference does not provide financial advice. Investors should conduct their own review and analysis of any company of interest before making an investment decision.