Selected stock price target news of the day - May 1st, 2025

By: Matthew Otto

Meta Beats Q1 Expectations, Guides Higher Despite Ongoing Reality Labs Losses

Meta Platforms reported earnings per share (EPS) of $6.43, exceeding the consensus estimate of $5.24 by $1.19. Revenue reached $42.31 billion, surpassing analyst expectations of $41.48 billion and marking a 16% increase year-over-year.

Net income grew 35% to $16.64 billion, while operating income rose 27% to $17.56 billion, lifting the operating margin from 38% to 41%. Meta’s advertising business remained with a 5% increase in ad impressions and a 10% rise in average price per ad. Family daily active people hit 3.43 billion in March, up 6% year-over-year.

Meta also returned capital to shareholders with $13.40 billion in share repurchases and $1.33 billion in dividends. Meta ended the quarter with $70.23 billion in cash and equivalents, and free cash flow of $10.33 billion. Looking ahead, Meta forecasts Q2 revenue between $42.5 billion and $45.5 billion, bracketing the consensus estimate of $43.3 billion.

Meta’s Reality Labs division continues to weigh on results, posting an operating loss of $4.2 billion on revenue of $412 million in Q1. The unit, which oversees Meta’s VR and AR initiatives, has now accumulated over $60 billion in losses since late 2020. Although analysts had anticipated a slightly higher loss of $4.6 billion, they also expected stronger revenue of $492.7 million.

Analysts Lift Price Targets Following Q1 Beat and Upbeat Guidance

UBS analyst Lloyd Walmsley maintained a Buy rating and lifted the price target from $650 to $683.
Citigroup analyst Ronald Josey reiterated a Buy rating and boosted the price target from $655 to $690.
JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth kept an Overweight rating and raised the price target from $610 to $675.
Needham analyst Laura Martin reiterated an Underperform rating.

Which Analyst has the best track record to show on META?

Analyst Nat Schindler (SCOTIABANK) currently has the highest performing score on META with 4/4 (100%) price target fulfillment ratio. His price targets carry an average of $40.34 (8.32%) potential upside. Meta Platforms stock price reaches these price targets on average within 13 days.

eBay Reports Q1 2025 Earnings Above Expectations, Issues Mixed Q2 Guidance

eBay reported first quarter 2025 revenue of $2.6 billion, slightly ahead of the consensus estimate of $2.55 billion and representing a 1% increase year-over-year (2% on a currency-neutral basis). Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) totaled $18.8 billion, also up 1% as reported and 2% when adjusted for foreign exchange.

Net income from continuing operations was $505 million, with diluted earnings per share of $1.06. On an adjusted basis, earnings per share reached $1.38, exceeding analyst expectations by $0.04. Operating cash flow for the quarter was $787 million, with $644 million in free cash flow. Operating margins were reported at 23.8%, with an adjusted margin of 29.8%.

Advertising revenue totaled $442 million, with $418 million generated from first-party ad products—up 13% year-over-year. eBay also partnered with Meta to extend reach through Facebook Marketplace and collaborated with OpenAI on a virtual shopping assistant.

For the second quarter of 2025, eBay expects earnings per share between $1.24 and $1.31, compared to the analyst consensus of $1.28. Revenue guidance was set between $2.59 billion and $2.66 billion, roughly in line with the consensus of $2.59 billion.

Analysts Lift Price Targets Following Q1 Results

Evercore ISI Group analyst Mark Mahaney maintained an In-Line rating and raised the price target from $63 to $69.
Baird analyst Colin Sebastian reiterated an Outperform rating and increased the price target from $68 to $75.
Needham analyst Bernie McTernan kept a Buy rating and lifted the price target from $72 to $78.

Which Analyst has the best track record to show on EBAY?

Analyst Deepak Mathivanan (CANTOR FITZGERALD) currently has the highest performing score on EBAY with 7/8 (87.5%) price target fulfillment ratio. His price targets carry an average of $6.52 (10.27%) potential upside. eBay stock price reaches these price targets on average within 98 days.

Microsoft Reports Q3 Earnings Above Expectations; Azure and AI Drive Growth

Microsoft reported fiscal third-quarter earnings per share of $3.46, surpassing the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.23. Revenue totaled $70.1 billion, compared to analyst expectations of $68.53 billion.

Cloud revenue reached $42.4 billion, with the Intelligent Cloud segment contributing $26.8 billion, up 21% year-over-year. Azure revenue increased 33%, exceeding the projected 29.7%, with AI-related services accounting for 16 percentage points of that growth, compared to 13 points in the previous quarter.

Microsoft forecast constant-currency Azure growth of 34% to 35% in the fiscal fourth quarter, implying cloud revenue between $28.75 billion and $29.05 billion. Commercial bookings rose 18% from the prior year, driven in part by a new contract with OpenAI. Total company revenue grew 13% year-over-year.

Capital expenditures rose 53% year-over-year to $21.4 billion. The share of spending on longer-lived assets declined to approximately 50%, reflecting a reallocation toward shorter-lived assets such as semiconductors. Microsoft indicated that in fiscal 2026, capex will continue to rise but at a slower rate. CPUs and GPUs from suppliers including Intel, AMD, and Nvidia are central to this shift.

Analysts Raise Price Targets Following Q3 Cloud and AI Performance

Evercore ISI Group analyst Kirk Materne maintained an Outperform rating and raised the price target from $435 to $500.
JP Morgan analyst Mark Murphy kept an Overweight rating and increased the price target from $465 to $475.
WestPark Capital analyst Curtis Shauger reiterated a Hold rating.
Piper Sandler analyst Brent Bracelin maintained an Overweight stance while lifting the price target from $435 to $475.

Which Analyst has the best track record to show on MSFT?

Analyst Mark Murphy (JPMORGAN) currently has the highest performing score on MSFT with 26/28 (92.86%) price target fulfillment ratio. His price targets carry an average of $60.27 (14.89%) potential upside. Microsoft stock price reaches these price targets on average within 117 days.