Susquehanna Lowers Meta Price Target to $650

Susquehanna analyst Shyam Patil lowered the price target on Meta Platforms Inc.

(NASDAQ: META) to $650 (from $900) while maintaining a Positive rating.

“Our thoughts. META posted slightly better top-line trends for 2Q and the 3Q guide, though opex and capex are moving higher.

We continue to like META’s opportunities and positioning and believe the AI investments will pay off over time. 2Q top-line ok, though legal and severance costs impact bottom line.

2Q revenue of $60.8b was 2% above our estimate and 1% above consensus, growing 27% y/y on an ex-FX basis, decelerating two points on an ex-FX basis from 1Q.

Advertising revenue grew 26% y/y ex-FX, 2% above our estimate and 1% above consensus.

Management attributed the outperformance to healthy impression growth across all regions, largely due to growing engagement and ad load optimizations.

Average ad pricing increased 12% y/y, with growth stable from 1Q, and average revenue per person grew 24% y/y in 2Q compared to 27% y/y in 1Q.

GAAP EBIT came in 9% below our estimate and 12% below consensus, and GAAP EPS came in 11% below our estimate and 14% below consensus.

Management attributed the profitability underperformance to $2.4b in charges related to legal proceedings and $1.2b in severance costs associated with the May 2026 headcount reduction, which impacted ~8,000 employees.

Excluding the impact from legal and severance-related costs, EBIT would have grown 9% y/y, coming in 9% above our estimate and 5% above consensus, and EPS would have come in 6% above our estimate and 2% above consensus.”

This research note is reproduced verbatim from the issuing firm. Price Target never edits, paraphrases or alters analysts’ words — we only republish them in one place.