Analysts Stocks

      Daily Update - April 27, 2023

      Selected stock price target highlights of the day

      By Matthew Otto

       

      Meta Platforms 

       

      Experienced a significant jump in late trading on Wednesday following the release of the company’s better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and revenue. Meta reported revenue of $28.65 billion and earnings of $2.20 per share for the first quarter, surpassing the Wall Street consensus of $27.7 billion in revenue and earnings of $2.02 per share.

      In addition to strong first-quarter results, Meta also provided guidance for the current quarter that exceeded expectations. The company expects revenue in the range of $29.5 billion to $32 billion, compared to a consensus estimate of $29.5 billion.

      Meta Platforms, as the parent company of social networks Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has recently prioritized cost-cutting measures. Investors have been optimistic about the company’s newfound focus, anticipating higher margins and improved profitability. Meta further reduced its spending outlook, adjusting its full-year expense forecast to a range of $86 billion to $90 billion, down from $86 billion to $92 billion, with a $1 billion reduction in the midpoint. The company maintained its 2023 capital expense guidance of $30 billion to $33 billion.

      Wall Street Action

      • JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth reiterated its overweight rating and raised its price target from $270 to $305, reflecting its positive outlook on the company’s performance and growth potential.
      • Huber Research’s Craig Huber upgraded Meta from Neutral to Overweight and set a new price target of $290.
      • RBC Capital’s Brad Erickson reaffirmed his Outperform rating and increased his price target from $225 to $285.
      • Oppenheimer’s Jason Helfstein reiterated his Outperform rating and raised his price target from $260 to $285.
      • TD Cowen’s John Blackledge maintained his Outperform rating and lifted his price target from $195 to $220. The analyst is one the few that has his price target below the META stock price.
      • Baird’s Colin Sebastian restated his Outperform rating and upped his price target from $220 to $260.
      • Morgan Stanley’s Brian Nowak kept his Overweight rating and raised his price target from $250 to $300.
      • Mizuho’s James Lee maintained his Buy rating and lifted his price target from $235 to $280.
      • Credit Suisse’s Stephen Ju reaffirmed his Outperform rating and raised his price target from $251 to $277.
      • B of A Securities’ Justin Post held his Buy rating and increased his price target from $250 to $300.
      • Bernstein’s Mark Shmulik maintained his Outperform rating and raised his price target from $250 to $275.
      • JMP Securities’ Andrew Boone retained his Outperform rating and raised his price target from $240 to $270.
      • Stifel’s Mark Kelley upheld his Buy rating and raised his price target from $230 to $280.
      • Raymond James’ Aaron Kessler maintained his Outperform rating and raised his price target from $238 to $287.
      • Barclays’ Ross Sandler maintained his Overweight rating and lifted his price target from $270 to $320.
      • Wolfe Research’s Deepak Mathivanan maintained his Outperform rating and increased his price target from $260 to $300.
      • Evercore ISI Group’s Mark Mahaney maintained his Outperform rating and raised his price target from $305 to $350.
      • Goldman Sachs’ Eric Sheridan retained his Buy rating and raised his price target from $245 to $300.
      • Piper Sandler’s Thomas Champion maintained his Overweight rating and raised his price target from $250 to $270.
      • Keybanc’s Justin Patterson held his Overweight rating and increased his price target from $240 to $280.
      • Deutsche Bank’s Leo Horowitz lifted his price target from to $290.

       

      Majority of the analysts have lifted their price targets in advance of the earnings report as you can see in the snapshot below.

       

      Roku 

      Reported better-than-expected first-quarter results, with a net loss of $193 million, or $1.38 a share, from sales of $741 million. This exceeded the analyst consensus, which was a loss of $1.47 a share and sales of $708 million.

      Roku’s number of active accounts increased 17% year over year to 71.6 million, while the number of hours spent watching streaming content rose 20% to 25.1 billion. However, the company warned that macro uncertainties, including inflation and recessionary fears, will continue to persist throughout 2023 and that discretionary spending is likely to remain muted.

      Roku expects second-quarter revenue of $770 million, which is above the analyst consensus call of $766 million. The company also announced a partnership with Instacart that will make it easier for companies selling consumer packaged goods firms to track the success of advertisements placed on Roku’s platform.

      Roku has forecasted second-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates, driven by increased cord-cutting and a shift to ad-based streaming. The company’s ad-supported streaming platform has gained popularity with users attempting to reduce discretionary spending. Furthermore, as streaming giants like Netflix and Disney+ add ad-supported tiers to their services, more advertising dollars are flowing to streaming from TV.

      Wall Street Action

      • Wedbush analyst Alicia Reese reiterated an Outperform rating and maintained a $80 price target.
      • Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein kept anOutperform rating but lowered his price target from $85 to $75.
      • Needham analyst Laura Martin reiterated Buy rating and a $80 price target.
      • Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall Maintained Equal-Weight rating but lowered his price target from $67 to $63.
      • Pivotal Research Maintained Sell rating and lowered price target from $55 to $53.
      • Jefferies analyst Andrew Uerkwitz Raised his price target to $41.
      • Evercore ISI analyst Shweta Khajuria Lowered his price target to $70.
      • Rosenblatt analyst Barton Crockett Lowered price target to $61.
      • BofA Securities analyst Ruplu Bhattacharya Raised price target to $86.

      Opinions on the stock are divided after the substantial drop that Roku experienced from its peak in 2021 when it was traded at $480.

      Wolfspeed

      reported its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2023. Here are the highlights:

      • Revenue of $228.7 million, an increase of 22% compared to the same quarter last year.
      • GAAP gross margin of 29.8%, compared to 34.0% in the previous year’s quarter.
      • Non-GAAP gross margin of 32.3%, compared to 36.3% in the previous year’s quarter.
      • GAAP net loss of $99.5 million, or $0.80 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $66.5 million, or $0.54 per diluted share, in the previous year’s quarter.
      • Non-GAAP net loss of $16.0 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $14.3 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, in the previous year’s quarter.
      • Quarterly and year-to-date design-ins totaling $1.7 billion and $6.7 billion, respectively.

      Wolfspeed CEO Gregg Lowe highlighted the significance of shipping the first product from the Mohawk Valley fab, a manufacturing facility owned by Wolfspeed, Inc. that produces silicon carbide wafers for use in various electronic devices, including power electronics and electric vehicles, during the quarter.

      For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, Wolfspeed targets revenue in the range of $212 million to $232 million. The company expects a GAAP net loss of $98 million to $108 million, or $0.79 to $0.87 per diluted share, and a non-GAAP net loss in the range of $21 million to $29 million, or $0.17 to $0.23 per diluted share.

      Looking ahead to fiscal year 2024, Wolfspeed targets revenue in the range of $1 billion to $1.1 billion, based on the current ramp plan for 200mm silicon carbide substrate capacity.

      The company’s fourth-quarter adjusted loss was projected to be wider than Wall Street expectations.

      Wall Street Action

      • Piper Sandler analyst Harsh Kumar maintains Wolfspeed with an Overweight rating and lowers his price target from $100 to $75.
      • Goldman Sachs analyst Brian Lee maintains a Buy rating but lowers his price target from $90 to $80.
      • Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch downgrades Wolfspeed from Outperform to Perform.
      • Wells Fargo analyst Gary Mobley retains an Overweight rating and lowers the price target from $110 to $80.
      • Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore keeps an Equal-Weight rating and lowers the price target from $80 to $54.
      • TD Cowen analyst Matthew Ramsay reiterates an Outperform rating and lowers his price target from $95 to $65.
      • BMO Capital analyst Ambrish Srivastava holds a Market Perform rating and lowers the price target from $80 to $55.

      All analyst covering the stock kept their respective price target above the stock price on WOLF during the beginning of 2023 despite the ongoing decline that the company is experiencing

      Above is a snapshot of the top daily stock price target moves on AnaChart