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Will Global User Growth Aid Meta Platfoms (FB) Q4 Earnings?

Meta Platforms’ FB flagship service, Facebook’s growing popularity in international markets, particularly Asia, is expected to have expanded its user base in fourth-quarter 2021. Meta is set to report fourth-quarter results on Feb 2.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Monthly Active Users (“MAU”) in Asia stands at 1.302 billion, indicating 8.6% growth from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

The consensus mark for MAU in Europe is pegged at 427 million, suggesting 1.9% growth from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

The consensus mark for Rest of World’s MAU is pegged at 967 million, indicating 5% growth from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

Meta Platforms, Inc. Revenue (TTM)

Meta Platforms, Inc. Revenue (TTM)
Meta Platforms, Inc. Revenue (TTM)

Meta Platforms, Inc. revenue-ttm | Meta Platforms, Inc. Quote

Further, strength in user base is expected to reflect on advertising revenue growth amid an improving ad-spending environment.

Click here to know how the company’s overall fourth-quarter performance is likely to be.

Instagram & E-commerce Initiatives to Aid Revenue Growth

Meta’s monthly active user base of more than 3.58 billion (including its Family of services — Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger) presents a large canvas for advertisers and makes the platform highly attractive.

Instagram’s growing popularity is noteworthy in this regard. During the to-be-reported quarter, Meta introduced Instagram Video, a combination of IGTV and feed videos.

Meta partnered with Ellen Degeneres to bring her hit mobile game, Heads Up!, to Messenger and Instagram through the company’s Augmented Reality video calling experience, Group Effects.

Meta introduced Group Effects, which is a new feature available on Instagram and Messenger video calls, during the to-be-reported quarter. The AR-supported feature helps in making user experiences more fun and exciting. Meta also introduced new tools and features to keep young people safer on Instagram.

The addition of new features is expected to make Instagram more competitive against the likes of Snap’s SNAP Snapchat.

Snap is a noteworthy competitor, given its rising popularity among Gen Z owing to the immersive experience offered by the platform. Snapchat reaches 75% of the 13-34 year-old population of the United States, making it a bigger platform than Meta’s Facebook and Instagram among this demography.

Facebook is expected to have benefited from its e-commerce endeavors in the to-be-reported quarter. Initiatives to build tools and functionalities for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are helping them provide e-commerce services to users.

Markedly, SMBs have become a revenue-generating source for the social media giant, driven by the coronavirus-induced shift in consumer demand for e-commerce services.

In November, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company announced new tools — Product Recommendations and Shops in Groups — to improve shopping experiencesfor its users. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Moreover, higher digital ad-spending is expected to have benefited Meta’s fourth-quarter 2021 results. According to an e-Marketer report, U.S. digital ad spending is estimated to be more than $200 billion in 2021. Meta, along with Google and Amazon AMZN, will make up 64% of this digital spending.

However, ad-targeting-related headwinds are expected to have hurt ad-revenue growth rate in the to-be-reported quarter. Changes made by Apple AAPL and Google in their mobile operating systems and browser platforms limited Facebook’s ability to track user-activity trend.

Facebook expects changes made by Apple in its iOS platform to limit its ability to track user-activity trend. Additionally, stiff competition from Snap and Amazon for ad-dollars has been a concern.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter advertising revenues is pegged at $32.59 billion, indicating 19.9% growth from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.


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