Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) earnings, along with Microsoft (MSFT) are a weight on the tech sector today. The social media empire reported adjusted third-quarter earnings of $7.25 per share on $51.24 billion in revenue, both of which topped estimates, but investors are instead harping on AI capital expenditures getting upwardly revised.
Meta stock is down 12.4% to trade at $659.21, and earlier traded as low as $650.17. This is poised to be the stock's worst single-session decline since October 2022, a drawdown aided by 15 price-target cuts, the worst coming from Barclays to $770 from $810. The shares have breached their 200-day moving average for the first time since early May, but support could be in place at their +12% year-to-date level.
The analyst adjustments may have been overdue, considering 51 of 57 brokerages maintain "buy" or better ratings, and the consensus 12-month price target of $843.60 is a 28% premium to its current perch.
Options traders have call skewed. Over the past two weeks, according to the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the equity boasts a 10-day call/put volume ratio of nearly 2.00.
Today is more of the same, despite the bear gap. At last check, over 742,000 META calls have changed hands, volume that's seven times the average intraday amount and more than double the number of puts exchanged. The weekly 10/31 700-strike call leads the way, with new positions opening.
