By Scott Kanowsky
Investing.com -- Analysts at Jefferies became the latest to raise their price target for Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) in the wake of the social media giant's second round of layoffs in less than six months in March.
Joining more than two dozen of their peers, the analysts lifted their price target for the stock to $250 a share from $225 on Wednesday. They argued that the staff reductions will help drive cost cuts, while recent share buybacks will help boost the Facebook owner's earnings per share.
The analysts also noted that a moderation in Meta's capital expenditures should lead to higher free cash flow conversion.
“The combo of [artificial intelligence] investments leading to higher engagement and easier [comparables] should drive accelerating rev[enue] growth in [the second half],” the Jefferies analysts said.
Shares in Meta were slightly lower in premarket U.S. trading on Wednesday.