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As you might know, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) just kicked off its latest first-quarter results with some very strong numbers. The company beat forecasts, with revenue of US$42b, some 2.3% above estimates, and statutory earnings per share (EPS) coming in at US$6.43, 23% ahead of expectations. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. We thought readers would find it interesting to see the analysts latest (statutory) post-earnings forecasts for next year.

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Taking into account the latest results, the current consensus from Meta Platforms' 64 analysts is for revenues of US$187.0b in 2025. This would reflect a notable 9.7% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are expected to reduce 3.4% to US$25.60 in the same period. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$186.0b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$24.63 in 2025. The analysts seems to have become more bullish on the business, judging by their new earnings per share estimates.

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The consensus price target was unchanged at US$706, implying that the improved earnings outlook is not expected to have a long term impact on value creation for shareholders. It could also be instructive to look at the range of analyst estimates, to evaluate how different the outlier opinions are from the mean. There are some variant perceptions on Meta Platforms, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$935 and the most bearish at US$466 per share. This is a fairly broad spread of estimates, suggesting that analysts are forecasting a wide range of possible outcomes for the business.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. The period to the end of 2025 brings more of the same, according to the analysts, with revenue forecast to display 13% growth on an annualised basis. That is in line with its 15% annual growth over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to see their revenues grow 10% per year. So although Meta Platforms is expected to maintain its revenue growth rate, it's definitely expected to grow faster than the wider industry.