Big Tech’s earnings season is about to begin in earnest, with Metaplatform set to release its final quarter of 2025 results on Wednesday.
Meta stock has been extremely volatile over the past year, and while it continues to perform well, it has lagged some of its Magnificent Seven peers. The stock is up about 1% since the beginning of the year and 7% in the past 12 months.
The social media giant told investors it would increase capital spending in 2025 and touted its ambitious AI plans. Investors ultimately second-guessed Meta and other tech giants’ plans to keep increasing capital spending. Meta fell after its third-quarter report, in part because the company announced plans to invest more in AI infrastructure going forward.
Meta recently announced that it would significantly scale back spending on Metaverse, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg touted as the company’s future just a few years ago.
Wall Street expects Facebook’s parent company to report revenue of $58.4 billion and earnings per share of $8.19.
Here’s what analysts are paying attention to:
bank of america
BofA analysts expect Meta to beat expectations slightly, but remain focused on the company’s expense outlook for next year. The bank has a price target of $810 and a “buy” rating on the stock, suggesting 21% upside potential.
“Concerns about spending in 2026 have been growing for the past five months, and we think spending growth in 2026 of around 30% could be positive, but anything above 35% could be negative,” analyst Justin Post said.
He added that his team expects Meta’s capital spending to be between $109 billion and $114 billion annually, likely higher than the Wall Street consensus of $110 billion.
deutsche bank
German analysts rate Meta stock a Buy and maintain a bullish price target of $880, an increase of 31% from current levels. However, as analyst Benjamin Black points out, concerns remain about this year’s expenses heading into the fourth-quarter earnings release.
That said, his team predicts Meta’s revenue will be $59 billion, slightly more than Wall Street expected.
“In our view, Meta is well-positioned, especially over the long term, to double down on the AI investment cycle,” Black said.
goldman sachs
Like their peers, Goldman analysts remain focused on Meta’s capital spending plans, which they believe will continue to drive growth in 2026 and beyond. The bank recently raised its spending forecast for the company, noting it was already ahead of analyst expectations and putting upward pressure on consensus capital spending forecasts.
“During the next earnings release, we expect investors to focus on updates on the Meta Superintelligence Lab’s work, the timing of its underlying modeling work, and its strategy for AI-centered consumer and enterprise utilities,” Goldman analysts said.
Rothschild Company Red Barn
Rothschild has set a price target of $900 for Meta stock, which is one of the highest on Wall Street. That target would represent a 34% increase from Tuesday’s level. Analyst James Caldwell sees Meta as one of the companies in the tech industry’s best position to take advantage of the growing demand for AI.
“Recent focus on Meta has been on how the company will guide operating expenses and capital expenditures in FY26,” he said. “The fear is that this is ‘Zuckerberg Unleashed’ and that the company’s CEO is truly back in ‘founder mode’, pursuing his AI dream at all financial sacrifices.”
The analyst added that this prompted Rothschild to increase its full-year capital spending forecast for Meta to $117.1 billion.
TD Cowen
TD Cowen is bullish on Meta ahead of Wednesday’s earnings report, predicting generative AI tools will continue to support growth in the advertising business.
Analyst John Blackedge said he believes the growth in advertising will lead to more expensive capital spending.
“Key to the Q4 2025 print edition will be Management’s 26-year capex and operating cost guide,” he said. “We now expect 2026 capital expenditures to be $125 billion, up 76% year over year and 14% above consensus, and operating expenses in 2026 to be $156.1 billion, up 32.9% year over year and 7% above consensus.”
