Analysts and investors will be watching Meta Platforms' (META) advertising revenue growth and seeking updates about the impact of 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:artificial intelligence (AI) technology when it reports earnings for the first quarter of 2024 on Wednesday after the closing bell.

Analysts project Meta's revenue to be $36.27 billion for the first quarter of 2024, down from the previous quarter but up fr꧙om $28.65 billion in the same period in 2023, according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.

Net income is expected to be $11.35 billion, a decline from the fourth quarter but an increase from $5.71 billion in Q1 2023. Diluted 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:earnings per share (EPS) are projected at $4.34, compared with $2.20 in the same period a year earlier.

Key Metric: Ad Revenue Growth

Analysts are watching for strong growth in Meta's 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:advertising revenue.

CFRA analysts project that Meta's first-quarter earnings report could show advertising revenue will grow 26%, which "likely mark[s] a peak growth rate." The analysts said that healthy digital ad spend, AI integration, and strength from Chinese advertisers could be drivers for ad growth, but noted that they "partly attribute the strong growth rate to lapping a low bar a year ago."

Wedbush Securities analysts increased the company's price target to $570 from $520, citing the pace of anticipated growth compared with competitors, improvements in 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:monetization, changes in demand from advertisers in China, impacts of AI initiatives, and expected 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:operating margin expansion in 2024. The analysts wrote that they "see a strengthening digital advertising environment heading into 1Q results," highlighting Meta and Alphabet (GOOGL) as major benefactors.

Jefferies research analysts said that Meta "could capture 50% of incremental industry ad dollars in 2024, which would be its highest ever and well above its 33% in 2023" as "scaling Gen AI ad tools supplement Meta's already best-in-class Advantage+ [advertising] product suite." Meta's ad business in 2024 could also outgrow Amazon's (AMZN) for the first time since 2015," they said.

Business Spotlight: Updates on AI Initiatives

Meta could offer updates with its first-quarter earnings about how it has integrated AI into to its ranking and recommendation engines. The company recently unveiled its latest custom AI chip, the Next Gen Meta Training and🅷 Inference Accelerator (MTIA).

The company also could give investors updates about its continuing AI initiatives and how they are affecting Meta's bottom line.

Meta shares were down 0.9% at $491.54 Wed𒅌nesday as of 2 p.m. ET and have gained about 39% so far thi💯s year.

UPDATE—April 24, 2024: This article has been updated to reflect more recent unadjusted analyst estimates and share price information.

Correction—April 24, 2024: This article has been updated to reflect unadjusted analyst estimates for past figures.