Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) intends to phase out its authorized sales partner (ASP) program by July. The technology company is transitioning to a model where advertisers will work directly with the company. ASPs act as extensions of Meta’s sales teams, maintaining a local presence. The company’s latest move took a toll on Entravision (NYSE:EVC) stock, which dropped over 57% in Tuesday’s after-hours trading.
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Entravision acts as META’s ASP. Further, the Meta ASP program represented $586.4 million of Entravision’s total consolidated revenue of $1.11 billion in 2023. Thus, the end of the program will significantly hurt the revenues of this penny stock (learn more about penny stocks here).
In other news, Meta’s spokesperson, Andy Stone, announced the restoration of services on its social media apps following an outage that affected thousands of users worldwide. Notably, users experienced outages across Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and Threads. Stone confirmed on X that the company promptly addressed the issue for all affected users.
Is Meta Stock a Buy or Sell?
The rally in the shares of the technology and social media giant Meta Platforms has sustained in 2024. Meta stock has gained about 38.6% year-to-date and is up over 165% in one year. It sports a market cap of over $1 trillion. Despite the notable year-to-date rally, Wall Street maintains an optimistic outlook on META stock due to the improving user engagement on the company’s platforms, investments in artificial intelligence (AI), and recovery in ad revenues.
Meta stock has 40 Buys, two Holds, and one Sell recommendation for a Strong Buy consensus rating. However, due to the significant increase in its value, analysts’ average price target of $528.80 implies a limited upside potential of 7.87% from current levels.
