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Special Report Meta Platforms Posted Its Fastest Growth Guide in Years—Now What?Authored by Leo Miller. Publication Date: 2/3/2026. 
Key Takeaways - Meta's latest earnings report swayed many investors, as shares rose by a double-digit percentage the next day.
- The company's Q1 2026 guidance implies growth that the company has not seen in years, especially when adjusting for pandemic-driven abnormalities.
- Updated price targets imply +20% upside ahead, with one particularly bullish forecast projecting +50% gains.
Overall, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) reported a very strong Q4 2025 earnings report. It comfortably beat estimates for sales and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) in its Jan. 28 release, and the results showed meaningful underlying improvements across the business. The Magnificent Seven company's guidance was particularly notable. Despite forecasting rapid spending growth in 2026, Meta projected that sales would rise about 30% in Q1 2026 — its fastest growth rate since Q3 2021. Wall Street has taken notice, with many analysts raising their price targets in response. Growth at Scale: Putting Meta's 30% Guidance in Context There are 90 paper gold claims for every real ounce in COMEX vaults. Ninety promises, one ounce of metal. It's like musical chairs with 90 players and one chair. COMEX gold inventory dropped 25 percent last year alone as gold flows East to Shanghai, Mumbai, and Moscow. On March 31st, contract holders can demand delivery. When similar situations arose in the past, markets closed and rules changed. Paper holders got crushed while mining stock holders made fortunes. One stock sits at the center of this crisis. Get the full story on this opportunity now. As noted, Meta has not delivered 30% growth since Q3 2021 — more than four years ago — which helps explain why next quarter's guidance stands out. A closer look, however, makes the outlook even more impressive. Many companies' results in 2021 were affected by a variable outside their control: the COVID-19 pandemic. When the pandemic began, 2020 was an unusual year for businesses worldwide. Meta's sales rose nearly 22% that year, which at the time was its slowest growth rate since at least 2015. As pent-up demand was released in 2021, comparisons to the suppressed 2020 base produced unusually high growth rates. Given that anomaly, it's useful to compare Meta's guidance with periods that precede the pandemic. Excluding 2020 and 2021, Meta has not achieved a 30% growth rate since Q4 2018 — roughly seven years ago. That is notable because as a company's revenue base grows, maintaining very high percentage growth becomes more difficult: each additional dollar contributes less to the larger total. If Meta achieves roughly 30% growth next quarter, it would put quarterly sales near $55 billion. When the company hit 30% growth in Q4 2018, revenue was about $16.9 billion. That gap underscores how much larger Meta's revenue base is today, and how significant it would be to sustain similar growth at scale. Meta Price Targets Rise, Most Bullish Forecast Pushed Higher Currently, the MarketBeat consensus price target on Meta shares sits near $849, implying roughly 20% upside. Looking at targets updated after Jan. 28 improves the picture: MarketBeat tracked more than 25 analysts who revised their Meta price targets after the earnings release, and all but one raised their target. Among those updates, the average target is $870, implying about 23% upside. Although not a dramatic change, it's notable that analysts have generally remained bullish on Meta while many investors pulled back. The average of the price targets updated one week after the company's Q3 2025 earnings was $857, despite the stock falling more than 10% during that period. The lowest post-Jan. 28 target in MarketBeat's tracking comes from Scotiabank at $700, implying about 1% downside versus the stock's Feb. 2 close near $706. The most bullish updated target comes from Rosenblatt Securities. After previously setting a $1,117 target following Q3, Rosenblatt has raised its forecast to $1,144, which implies roughly 62% upside from current levels. Historically Conservative Forecasts Provide Potential for Upward Revisions Meta's Q4 report helped reassure many investors: shares rose 10.4% the next day. Most Wall Street analysts also remain constructive on the stock. Notably, the company has beaten sales estimates in each of its last 14 earnings reports. This track record supports confidence that Meta can meet elevated expectations and potentially reach higher price targets. That said, markets will continue to watch the company's spending closely and will expect Meta to deliver on its ambitious growth projections.
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