Facebook 'seems to be in a sweet spot,' and the stock is headed for a record high

Facebook Inc.’s stock was up 7% and headed for a record high after earnings Thursday. That comes as no surprise to financial analysts, who showered the social-networking giant FB, +7.30% with praise following another blockbuster quarter of advertising sales as well as a spike in non-ad revenue. “Facebook seems to be in a sweet spot where it is growing revenue at record cadence while keeping ad load relatively in check (evidenced by the 12% impression growth vs. DAU 8% Y/Y),” Barclays analyst Ross Sandler said in hiking his price target to $410 from $350. “Nascent product areas like commerce, paid messaging and the creator tools provide bulls with new upside scenarios.” Analysts on FactSet, who raised their average price target on Facebook shares to $370.12, are sold on the company’s fiscal first-quarter report Wednesday. Facebook crushed analyst estimates with $26.2 billion in revenue and net income of $9.5 billion, or $3.30 a share. Advertising, which accounts for nearly all of Facebook’s sales, soared 46% to $25.4 billion as millions of small- and midsize businesses take to online ads to reach consumers during the pandemic. Google parent Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, +1.43% GOOG, +2.10% and Snap Inc. SNAP, +0.39% earlier reported similar…
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