Meta Platforms Stock Forecast: Snap earnings weigh heavily on META

Meta Platforms (META) stock is off 5.3% in early trading on Friday after competitor Snap (SNAP) served up Q2 earnings that disastrously missed the mark on Thursday night. Snap stock slid 32% in the premarket a day after announcing post-session results that missed on both GAAP earnings and revenue and were bad enough that management chose not to offer guidance for the third quarter.

The market is now wondering if Snap's troubles with social media advertising will also gravitate to the biggest player in the space – Meta Platforms. The owner of Facebook and Instagram reports earnings on July 27, and it appears that the market will head into earnings with lower expectations from the social media giant.

This is all too bad since Thursday was the day when Facebook announced a new user interface that critics think will be more attractive to younger users. The new feed design will be more like TikTok in that it will more easily show users popular content from users they do not already follow. The previous earnings call this spring had Facebook losing active users for the first time ever. 

Facebook stock forecast

Afterhours on Thursday META stock already fell briefly through the $172.40 level that acted as resistance in early July. The 100-unit moving average on the 4-hour chart at $166 is a much better bet for support. Longer-term support sits at $158, which worked back during the March 2020 covid sell-off. Either way, expect this stock to feature strong volatility going into earnings on July 27.

META 4-hour chart