Meta to report first quarter earnings as tariff, antitrust fears loom

Social media elephantine Meta (META) volition study its archetypal 4th results Wednesday arsenic Wall Street looks for clarity connected the interaction of President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs connected US businesses.

Meta’s study comes aft rival Google (GOOG, GOOGL) announced its ain net past week, beating connected some the apical and bottommost lines connected the spot of its advertisement sales.

During that company's capitalist call, Google CBO Philipp Schindler said it was excessively aboriginal to remark connected the imaginable economical interaction connected the existent quarter, but did notation that the Trump administration's changes to de minimis exemptions volition origin "a flimsy headwind to [Google's] ads concern successful 2025."

The de minimis exemption lets companies vessel items nether $800 to the US without having to wage a duty. That, Schindler explained, volition person a peculiar interaction connected Google's APAC-based retail customers.

For the quarter, Meta is expected to study net per stock (EPS) of $5.25 connected gross of $41.3 billion, according to Bloomberg statement estimates. The institution saw EPS of $4.71 connected gross of $36.4 cardinal successful Q1 2024.

Advertising gross is expected to apical retired astatine $40.5 billion, portion Meta's Reality Labs conception is acceptable to study an operating nonaccomplishment of $4.5 cardinal and gross of $496 million.

Meta's banal terms is down much than 5% since the commencement of the year.

“We property weakness to [Meta’s] greater vulnerability to advertizing (no unreality concern for [Meta]) and China-based advertisers (>10% vulnerability for [Meta]) who person reportedly pulled backmost connected advertisement spend,” Jefferies expert Brent Thill wrote successful an capitalist note.

In his ain note, BofA Securities expert Justin Post said helium expects to spot a humble bushed connected Q1 gross but believes the institution volition connection a much blimpish usher for the 2nd quarter.

Meta’s net travel arsenic the institution is battling the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) successful tribunal implicit claims the societal media institution holds an amerciable monopoly implicit the “personal societal networking.”

The FTC is looking to unit Meta to merchantability disconnected some Instagram and WhatsApp arsenic a remedy. The committee claims Meta primitively purchased the apps arsenic portion of a "buy-or-bury" run to combat disconnected imaginable competitors.

According to the Wall Street Journal, CEO Mark Zuckerberg offered to settee with the FTC for $450 million. The commission, however, asked for $30 billion. Zuckerberg yet raised his connection to $1 billion, but the FTC would lone spell arsenic debased arsenic $18 billion.

Zuckerberg has met with President Trump respective times implicit caller months arsenic helium seeks to make a person narration with the president. For instance, the CEO attended Trump's inauguration successful January, and Meta donated $1 cardinal to Trump’s inauguration fund.