Facebook Company Stock Price (Nasdaq: FB) Could See 18% Upside

Facebook company stock price just got another bullish signal Thursday with an upped one-year target from analysts.

Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) shares have been on a tear over the last several months, and analysts expect more upside. Then Thursday, Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) analyst Mark May provided an updated call on FB stock. May told CNBC he is raising his 12-month price target on Facebook to $97 from $91. That’s an attractive 18% upside from where FB is presently changing hands.

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The hike came after May analyzed data from the F8 Facebook Developer Conference, held May 25-26 in San Francisco. May cited significant revenue growth in video advertising for the bullish outlook. He also mentioned the potential from e-commerce, as well as FB’s newly launched payments feature that gives users a convenient and safe way to send and receive money between friends.

Additionally, May referred to advancements in FB’s photo-sharing app Instagram and its messaging portal WhatsApp. May says Instagram and WhatsApp are both on their way to become billion dollar businesses, with Instagram ready to log over $1 billion or more in ad revenue as early as next year.

Instagram is already more active than Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR), in May’s view. Still, May says he doesn’t view Instagram and Facebook at war. In his opinion, there’s room for both of them in the space. And both are likely to emerge as winners.

Citi’s strong stance on Facebook mimics that of JMP Securities.

On March 23, JMP boosted its FB price target to $97 from $94. The brokerage also reiterated its “Outperform” rating and lifted its 2015 revenue target to $16.9 billion. JMP said Facebook is well positioned to take a greater share of the overall advertising market.

Citigroup and JMP have some good company in their favorable view of Facebook...

Of the 52 analysts that cover the stock, 40 rate FB “Buy.” Five maintain an “Overweight.” Six have a “Hold.” Just one rates FB a “Sell,” according to data from the Wall Street Journal.

The median 12-month price target is $92, with a high target of $107.

Facebook is scheduled to report Q1 2015 results on Wednesday, April 22, after the close. Expectations are for earnings per share (EPS) of $0.40. That would be a sizable increase from EPS of $0.34 earned in the same period a year ago.

Facebook shares hit an all-time high of $86.07 late last month. Shares are fallen back a bit, along with the overall market. Yet at a recent $82, FB shares are up 5% year to date, besting returns from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq. The three benchmarks are down 0.44%, up 0.33%, and up 3.2%, respectively.

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