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Social Networking Stocks Q4 Highlights: Meta (NASDAQ:FB)


Radek Strnad /
2022/03/24 7:55 am EDT

Earnings results often give us a good indication what direction the company will take in the months ahead. With Q4 now behind us, let’s have a look at Meta (NASDAQ:FB) and its peers.

Businesses must meet their customers where they are, which over the past decade has come to mean on social networks. In 2020, users spent over 2.5 hours a day on social networks, a figure that has increased every year since measurement began. As a result, businesses continue to shift their advertising and marketing dollars online.

The four social networking stocks we track reported a mixed Q4; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 2.71%, while on average next quarter revenue guidance was 2.29% under consensus. Tech stocks have been under pressure since the end of last year, but social networking stocks held their ground better than others, with the share price up 5.34% since earnings, on average.

Meta (NASDAQ:FB)

Famously founded by Mark Zuckerberg in his Harvard dorm, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: FB) operates a collection of the largest social networks in the world - Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, along with its metaverse focused Facebook Reality Labs.

Meta reported revenues of $33.6 billion, up 19.9% year on year, in line with analyst expectations. It was a weaker quarter for the company, with an underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter.

"We had a solid quarter as people turned to our products to stay connected and businesses continued to use our services to grow," said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO.

Meta Total Revenue

Meta delivered the slowest revenue growth of the whole group. The company reported 3.59 billion monthly active users, up 8.78% year on year. The stock is down 33.4% since the results and currently trades at $215.01.

Is now the time to buy Meta? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.

Best Q4: Snap (NYSE:SNAP)

Founded by Stanford University students Evan Spiegel, Reggie Brown, and Bobby Murphy, and originally called Picaboo, Snapchat (NYSE: SNAP) is an image centric social media network.

Snap reported revenues of $1.29 billion, up 42.4% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 8.05%. It was an impressive quarter for the company, with a very strong beat of analyst estimates and an exceptional revenue growth.

Snap Total Revenue

Snap scored the strongest analyst estimates beat and fastest revenue growth among its peers. The company reported 319 million daily active users, up 20.3% year on year. The stock is up 48.5% since the results and currently trades at $36.41.

Is now the time to buy Snap? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS)

Created with the idea of virtually replacing paper catalogues, Pinterest (NYSE: PINS) is an online image and social discovery platform.

Pinterest reported revenues of $846.6 million, up 19.9% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 2.34%. It was a weaker quarter for the company, with a declining number of users.

The company reported 431 million monthly active users, down 6.11% year on year. The stock is up 5.47% since the results and currently trades at $25.80.

Read our full analysis of Pinterest's results here.

Twitter (NYSE:TWTR)

Born out of a failed podcasting startup, Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) is the town square of the internet, one part social network, one part media distribution platform.

Twitter reported revenues of $1.57 billion, up 21.7% year on year, missing analyst expectations by 0.22%. It was a weaker quarter for the company, with an underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter and topline results in line with analyst estimates.

Twitter had the weakest performance against analyst estimates among the peers. The company reported 217 million daily active users, up 13% year on year. The stock is up 2.4% since the results and currently trades at $38.12.

Read our full, actionable report on Twitter here, it's free.

The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned