Latest news with #RonaldJosey
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta (META) Remains Top Pick Ahead of Q2 Earnings, Says Citi
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) ranks among the . Citi analyst Ronald Josey reiterated Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)'s 'Top-Pick' status ahead of the company's second-quarter earnings on July 15, maintaining the Buy rating and $803 price target. Although it is still up 340 basis points year-over-year, Citi's tracking data indicates that Instagram Sponsored Reels ad load decreased 100 basis points from quarter-to-quarter to 24.9% in Q2 2025. This was the first quarterly dip since the firm began tracking this metric in June 2022. According to Citi, the reason for this quarterly drop in ad load is due to Meta's more recent AI advertising capabilities producing more relevant, customized ads with higher conversion rates. With a growing online advertising landscape as a contributing element, the firm believes Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is 'well-positioned to deliver better than expected results' in its upcoming earnings release. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is a renowned technology company known primarily for its flagship platforms Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, as well as its revolutionary advances in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). While we acknowledge the potential of META as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. Read More: and Disclosure: None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Mint
12-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Google Search is under attack. Why ChatGPT won't overthrow it yet.
While ChatGPT's meteoric rise in popularity has positioned it to rival to traditional search engines, analysts say the chatbot hasn't knocked Google out of the top spot just yet. Citi Research analysts led by Ronald Josey reiterated a Buy rating and $203 target price on shares of Alphabet, Google's parent, on Friday. The stock was down slightly at $177.18 in morning trading. Citi polled 2,400 Google Search users in the U.S. and found that the search engine 'remains core to most users' Internet usage." The same conclusion held true across all age groups, Citi said. Still, the bank cited a rise in 'alternative search experiences" among young users, naming ChatGPT and Meta Platforms' Facebook and Instagram as examples. ChatGPT has become the 'go-to" destination for younger users, with Google usage rising with age, Citi said. While 85% of respondents selected Google as their 'core search engine," with 72% saying Google was their first site to search online, differences emerged among age groups. Among users aged 41 to 55, 88% of respondents named Google as their core search engine, but that number dipped to 83% for respondents aged 14 to 24. With that being said, the use of AI agents appears to be 'more research-driven than commercial," as opposed to Google Search, where shopping was ranked as the top use case among respondents, Citi said. And the bank believes there's more to love about Google's growth story, as responses indicated that the use of other features such as Shopping and Travel continued to accelerate. Overall, the results suggest that Google Search is standing its ground for now, which is good news for Alphabet. Revenue attributed to Google Search and other services accounted for more than half of the total in the latest quarter. Google is set to report second-quarter results on July 23. Based on Citi's preliminary analysis, 'we believe the broader online advertising environment, including search and YouTube, is healthy," the analysts wrote. Other firms have sounded the alarm about AI and its effects on Google Search. However, Citi believes the search engine's advertising market improved throughout the quarter. Earnings will put that theory to the test.
Business Insider
14-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Citi Sticks to Its Buy Rating for Meta Platforms (META)
In a report released today, Ronald Josey from Citi reiterated a Buy rating on Meta Platforms (META – Research Report), with a price target of $690.00. The company's shares opened today at $687.95. Confident Investing Starts Here: Easily unpack a company's performance with TipRanks' new KPI Data for smart investment decisions Receive undervalued, market resilient stocks right to your inbox with TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter According to TipRanks, Josey is a top 100 analyst with an average return of 25.5% and a 62.53% success rate. Josey covers the Communication Services sector, focusing on stocks such as Alphabet Class A, Meta Platforms, and Pinterest. The word on The Street in general, suggests a Strong Buy analyst consensus rating for Meta Platforms with a $699.81 average price target, which is a 1.72% upside from current levels. In a report released on June 11, Bank of America Securities also reiterated a Buy rating on the stock with a $765.00 price target. META market cap is currently $1745.2B and has a P/E ratio of 27.08. Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 297 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is positive on the stock. This means that over the past quarter there has been an increase of insiders buying their shares of META in relation to earlier this year. Last month, Andrew Bosworth, the CTO of META bought 10,199.00 shares for a total of $6,566,932.12.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Alphabet (GOOGL) Stock Is Up Today
Shares of online advertising giant Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) jumped 2.7% in the afternoon session after the major indices rebounded (Nasdaq +2.0%, S&P 500 +2.0%) as President Trump postponed the planned 50% tariff on European Union imports, shifting the start date to July 9, 2025. Companies with substantial business ties to Europe likely had some relief as the delay reduced near-term cost pressures and preserved cross-border demand. After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $172.69, up 2.5% from previous close. Is now the time to buy Alphabet? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. Alphabet's shares are extremely volatile and have had 39 moves greater than 2.5% over the last year. In that context, today's move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business. The previous big move we wrote about was 6 days ago when the stock gained 5.2% after the company rolled out new AI tools at its annual I/O show, which was well received by Wall Street as it laid out a detailed plan to maintain its dominance in the web search market. The announcement also appeared well-timed, given recent concerns some internet users were leaning more on LLMs like ChatGPT as their default search product. What really stood out during the show was "AI Mode," which is like a chat bot baked into Google's search engine. This feature makes it faster for users to access Google's AI search feature, and was rolled out immediately to US users. But it wasn't just about search. Google also threw out a bunch of shiny new AI toys. These include Google Beam (a new video chat platform built from the ground up with AI). Then there's a collaboration with Warby Parker to launch AI-powered smart glasses running on Google's Android XR. And for content creators, they teased Veo 3, their next-gen AI video generator. In terms of monetization, Google announced a new 'AI Ultra' subscription plan that could fetch up to $249.99 per month, which shows it is heavily invested in enterprises and high-end users who tend to have staying power and could make the products catch on faster. Citi analyst Ronald Josey with a Buy rating and $200 price target summed up the Street's sentiment, adding "With AI Mode going live in the U.S., the Gemini App reaching 400M MAUs [monthly active users] (vs. ~350M in March), and AI Overviews delivering query growth, we believe GOOGL's product cadence and user adoption of newer tools is ramping which should provide some stability for Search growth." Overall, the announcements indicate Alphabet is not just keeping up in the AI race but is better positioned in the fast-evolving market. Alphabet is down 8.8% since the beginning of the year, and at $172.69 per share, it is trading 16.3% below its 52-week high of $206.38 from February 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Alphabet's shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $2,432. Today's young investors likely haven't read the timeless lessons in Gorilla Game: Picking Winners In High Technology because it was written more than 20 years ago when Microsoft and Apple were first establishing their supremacy. But if we apply the same principles, then enterprise software stocks leveraging their own generative AI capabilities may well be the Gorillas of the future. So, in that spirit, we are excited to present our Special Free Report on a profitable, fast-growing enterprise software stock that is already riding the automation wave and looking to catch the generative AI next. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Citi Cuts Peloton (PTON) Price Target, Reiterates Neutral Rating
On May 27, Citi analyst Ronald Josey cut Peloton Interactive, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:PTON) price target to $8.50 from $10 and maintained a Neutral rating on the stock. The adjustment comes on the exercise equipment company delivering mixed third-quarter fiscal 2025 results. While sales fell 13.1% year-over-year to $624 million, they beat analysts' estimates of $621.5 million. The company posted adjusted earnings of $89.4 million, better than the expected $80.37 million. A woman reading and analyzing stock market data. Photo by Artem Podrez on Pexels Josey's Neutral stance also comes on Peloton lifting its revenue guidance for the year to $2.46 billion. The new revenue guidance reflects the expectation of favorable subscription revenue driven by higher paid connected fitness subscription management. It also expects EBITDA of $340 million, below analyst estimates of $345 million, as the free cash flow margin is expected to improve to 15.2% from 1.2% last year. Citi also remains optimistic about Peloton's prospects on churn rates declining by 0.2% to 1.2%. The improvement comes from customers reacting positively to new product offerings such as Strength modalities. In addition, the company is benefiting from the new CEO's strategic objective, which focuses on accelerating growth and cutting costs. Peloton remains focused on acquiring new members cost-effectively, as depicted by advertising and marketing spending decreasing 46% year-over-year in fiscal Q3. The company expects Ending Paid Connected Fitness Subscriptions to range between 2.77 and 2.79 million in FY25, reflecting a ten thousand increase at the midpoint. Peloton Interactive, Inc. provides Members with world-class equipment, ground-breaking software, expert human instruction, and the world's most supportive fitness community. It offers connected fitness products, including Peloton Bike, Peloton Bike+, Peloton Tread, Peloton Tread+, Peloton Guide, and Peloton Row names through e-commerce and inside sales, retail showrooms. While we acknowledge the potential of Peloton Interactive, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTON) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than PTON and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: and . Disclosure: None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
