Facebook Rises as Deutsche Bank Says iOS Change Less Concerning

Facebook  (FB) - Get Report shares were higher analysts at Deutsche Bank reiterated a buy rating and raised their price target on the social-media giant. 

The investment firm now has a $385 price target on Facebook, up from $355, as it sees advertising trends improving and investor concern about a coming change to Apple's  (AAPL) - Get Report iOS privacy policy abating. 

"[Investor] focus is starting to shift away from fears around iOS changes towards a continued ad recovery and benefits from more e-commerce activity shifting into Facebook's platform," analyst Lloyd Walmsley said.

Deutsche Bank data checks show that advertisers have continued to spend on the platform in first-quarter 2021.

The firm notes that Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg indicated in a recent chat on the Clubhouse app that Apple's new privacy policy could encourage more businesses to establish an e-commerce presence within Facebook platforms. 

Zuckerberg noted that the Menlo Park, Calif., social-media provider now has 1 million active shops with 250 million users interacting with them on a monthly basis. For reference, Shopify  (SHOP) - Get Report had more than 1.7 million global merchants at the end of 2020. 

"We increase our first-quarter 2021 [excluding foreign exchange] ad-revenue growth to 31% (from 28.5% previously)," Walmsley said.  

This outlook reflects "positive industry data, positive ad checks, the delay of iOS changes and recent optimism from Zuckerberg." 

Facebook shares at last check were 2.6% higher at $290.28. 

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