BofA Securities has reiterated a Buy rating on Meta Platforms Inc. and maintained a $810.00 price target as the social-media and advertising company approaches its January 28 earnings report. That target implies substantial upside compared with Meta’s then-current share price of $658.76, and the stock was trading close to InvestingPro’s calculated Fair Value.
On the operational side, BofA projects fourth-quarter revenue of $59.2 billion and earnings per share of $8.27, each above consensus Street estimates of $58.3 billion and $8.20, respectively. The firm highlights several potential sources of revenue upside, including healthy macroeconomic conditions, continued user engagement growth, and more effective AI-enabled ad targeting.
Supporting BofA’s outlook are Meta’s reported financial characteristics: an 82% gross profit margin and year-over-year revenue growth of 21.3% over the most recent twelve months. Those metrics underpin the firm’s confidence in the company’s near-term performance.
Looking to the first quarter of fiscal 2026, BofA anticipates revenue of $52.3 billion and EPS of $6.31, modestly above the Street’s expectations of $51.2 billion in revenue and $6.29 in EPS. The bank expects Meta itself to guide first-quarter revenue in a $50.0 billion to $52.5 billion range, which would correspond to 18% to 24% year-over-year growth.
For fiscal 2026, BofA models expense guidance in the range of $153 billion to $160 billion, representing a 30% to 36% increase from the prior year. This compares with consensus estimates centered near $150 billion. On capital expenditures, BofA expects guidance between $109 billion and $114 billion, roughly in line with the Street’s $110 billion forecast.
The firm notes that investor concern about expense growth for 2026 has been building over the past five months. In BofA’s view, a guidance midpoint near 30% growth could be received favorably by the market, whereas guidance at or above 35% may be interpreted negatively by investors.
Other broker-dealer activity has produced a mix of views and targets. HSBC reiterated its Buy rating and maintained a $905 price target, citing Meta’s early involvement in and sizeable investments in AI as beneficial to its advertising operations. Stifel cut its price target to $785 from $875 despite positive takeaways from advertising checks, noting particular strength in Instagram Reels. Wells Fargo trimmed its target to $754 from $795 while keeping an Overweight rating on the shares.
Regulatory and legal developments add complexity to the fundamental picture. A Brazilian court has suspended an antitrust measure that had been imposed by CADE; the measure had restricted Meta from limiting third-party AI tools on WhatsApp Business amid allegations of anticompetitive conduct. Separately, the UK telecommunications regulator Ofcom is investigating whether Meta provided incomplete or inaccurate information during a review of the wholesale market for business bulk SMS messages.
These analyst endorsements and price-target revisions arrive alongside regulatory scrutiny, leaving investors to balance bullish revenue and margin indicators against expense guidance and legal uncertainty as Meta prepares to report results.