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Key Takeaways

• Meta is expected to release its first-quarter results after the bell on Wednesday.

• Analysts are bullish on the tech giant, with revenue and profit expected to rise more than 10% year-over-year.

• Ongoing legal and regulatory concerns could negatively impact Meta's business.

Meta Platforms (META) is set to report first-quarter results after markets close on Wednesday, and analysts have remained bullish on the Facebook parent amid tariff uncertainty and legal disputes.

Of the 27 analysts covering the stock tracked by Visible Alpha, 25 call Meta a "buy," while just two have a "hold" rating. The stock has an average price target near $695, a roughly 27% premium to Friday's closing level of about $547.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is expected to report earnings per shareof $5.24 on revenue of $41.35 billion, which would represent 11% and 13% growth, respectively, from a year ago.

Morgan Stanley analysts wrote recently that Meta could be hurt by a tariff-fueled pullback in advertising from Chinese companies, but said the firm should be better positioned to withstand that than Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google or Amazon (AMZN).

Regulatory, Legal Concerns Dominate Recent Headlines

Legal and regulatory disputes have nagged Meta, with the European Union this week fining the tech giant 200 million euros ($227.5 million) for violating its Digital Markets Act. Meta said it plans to appeal the fine.

Also this month, Meta's antitrust trial began. The Federal Trade Commission is looking to make the company sell or spin off Instagram or WhatsApp, and the agency has said that Meta engaged in an "illegal buy-or-bury scheme to maintain its dominance" by acquiring the "innovative competitors."

Meta shares are down about 7% in 2025, having lost a quarter of their value since hitting an all-time high of more than $740 in February amid historic market turmoil that has hit the Magnificent Seven companies hard.

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