Meta Platforms (FB) Stock News and Forecast: Facebook owner inches higher after breaking below $200

Meta Platforms (FB), the owner of Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram, rose 1.5% to $190.29 on Tuesday. FB stock managed to keep its head above water despite market weakness attributed to spiking oil prices that are a byproduct of sanctions and the US banning Russian oil imports. Shares closed down 6.3% on Monday to $187.47, breaking the psychologically important $200 level that the stock had mostly been respecting since the Q4 earnings call in early February when the stock dropped 26% in one session. The social media giant is down 43% this year and 50% since its all-time high of $384.33 in August 2021. FB shares are up 2.3% in Friday's premarket to $194.59.

Meta Platforms Stock News: Lawsuit related to Apple privacy change arrives

On Tuesday in San Francisco federal court, the Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 60 Pension Trust filed a class-action lawsuit against Meta, saying that it had failed to warn shareholders about the threat from Apple's privacy changes on the new iOS. These changes have hurt Facebook's advertising model, which relies on user data and may cost the social media leader to miss out on as much as $10 billion in advertising this year.

“Instead of being transparent with investors, defendants painted a false and misleading picture of the mitigation efforts Meta put in place to counteract the changes in iOS and rebuild Meta’s advertising business model,” the lawsuit reads.

More drama continues between Meta and Russia as Instagram has begun attaching warning labels to Russian state media posts on its platform. This is sure to raise the hackles of Russia a week after it cut off access to Facebook on March 4. Roskomnadzor, the Russian media regulator, said that Facebook failed to respond to its messages after Mark Zuckerberg's company restricted the accounts of the Zvezda TV channel, RIA Novosti, and internet sites Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru. 

On Tuesday, Piper Sandler cut its price target on Meta Platforms stock to $240 from $301 but kept its "outperform" rating on the shares. The firm said the poor performance may continue until August. Analysts have been negative in the short term on FB since the Q4 earnings call one month ago. Wedbush's Dan Ives said that getting back to a growth path would be difficult. Mark Mahaney of Evercore ISI said in early February, "Shares are probably dead money at this level of growth for at least the next three months."

FB key statistics

Market Cap	$544 billion
Price/Earnings	14
Price/Sales	4
Price/Book	4
Enterprise Value	$511 billion
Operating Margin	40%
Profit Margin	33%
52-week high	$384.33
52-week low	$187.28
Short Interest	1%
Average Wall Street Rating and Price Target	Buy, $331.09

Meta Platforms Forecast: FB stock back to $200, or $173 it is

FB stock already broke through the $200 psychological level on February 24, the day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This price drop was discounted, however, because Meta stock rebounded in the same session to rise back above $200. Other sessions saw closes near $198 in the past two weeks, but Monday's drop to $187 was the moment of truth. It now seems that the stock has not found a bottom but remains in search of some type of support.

Three possible levels of support show up on the weekly chart. These are $173, $160, and $137. The $173 mark gains adherents from acting as occasional support in June 2019 and August 2018. Before that, it was resistance in the summer of 2017. $160 acted as support in January through March of 2019 and then again in June of that year. $137 was the range low at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meta Platforms stock first needs to regain the $200 level to be seen as neutral. It will only gain bullish momentum when it rebreaks above $245.

FB 1-week chart