Wall Street loves Facebook and raises price targets after earnings -- research wrap

Key Points

Wall Street analysts reiterated their bullish ratings on Facebook after the company reported earnings Wednesday.
Nearly 90 percent of firms have buy or overweight ratings on the company, according to FactSet.

Analysts reiterated their optimism over Facebook 's future after the social network reported first-quarter results, even as the shares opened down 1 percent Thursday in response to the earnings. Nearly 90 percent of Wall Street analysts have buy or overweight ratings on Facebook, according to FactSet. The company is one of the market's best-performing names as its shares have rallied more than 30 percent this year through Wednesday versus the S & P 500's 7 percent return. Below is a summary of what Wall Street firms are now telling clients to do with the stock. Goldman Sachs Goldman analyst Heather Bellini reaffirmed her buy rating on Facebook and raised her price target for the shares to $180 from $162, representing 19 percent upside from Wednesday's close. "FB continues to be well positioned in one of the best secular markets. … While ad load on Facebook is one of the core drivers of ad revenue growth, we believe there is still room for ad load expansion on Instagram. Also, we see new opportunities to expand ad engagement on Instagram and Facebook stories." Jefferies Jefferies analyst Brian Fitzgerald reiterated his buy rating on Facebook and raised his price target to $192 from $175, representing 26.5 percent upside from Wednesday's close. "FB posted another huge revenue and EPS beat as fears over rising expenses did not materialize. There are now 5 million advertisers serving ads into FB's massive base of over 1.9B users; an unrivaled network connecting every advertiser and consumer on the planet." Oppenheimer Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein reiterated his outperform rating on Facebook and raised his price target to $170 from $155, representing 12 percent upside from Wednesday's close. "From our perspective, the good keeps on getting better … Instagram [is] growing rapidly, Stories already has 200M DAUs [daily active users]. Material greenfield opportunities to pursue: open camera platform, Messenger eCommerce integration and virtual reality, to name a few." Cowen Cowen analyst John Blackledge reaffirmed his outperform rating on Facebook and raised his price target to $170 from $156, representing 12 percent upside from Wednesday's close. "FB reported better than expected 1Q results. … Key metrics strong across the board, as user growth and ad demand remain strong, leading to outperformance in several geo's. Video product ramp continues." Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak reiterated his overweight rating on Facebook and raised his price target on the shares to $175 from $165, representing 15 percent upside from Wednesday's close. "We see upward revisions ahead and believe FB is still being materially undervalued on earnings and cash flow … as the 41st cheapest P/FCF to growth adjusted name in the S & P 500." — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this story.

Founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg.

Getty Images

Analysts reiterated their optimism over Facebook's future after the social network reported first-quarter results, even as the shares opened down 1 percent Thursday in response to the earnings.

Nearly 90 percent of Wall Street analysts have buy or overweight ratings on Facebook, according to FactSet.

The company is one of the market's best-performing names as its shares have rallied more than 30 percent this year through Wednesday versus the S&P 500's 7 percent return.

Below is a summary of what Wall Street firms are now telling clients to do with the stock.