Key Takeaways
- Shares of Reddit have plunged 36% during 2026, putting significant pressure on Thursday’s Q1 earnings release.
- Wall Street consensus projects Q1 revenue of $608 million with adjusted earnings per share of $0.57.
- Ad revenue is anticipated to surge 58% compared to the prior year, reaching $567 million.
- Growth in daily active users is projected to decelerate to 16% versus 30.7% in the year-ago quarter.
- Analyst consensus price target stands at $223.34, representing significant upside from the current trading level near $148.40.
Reddit prepares to unveil its quarterly results Thursday afternoon amid a challenging year for the stock. Shares have tumbled 36% during 2026, though the social platform still trades approximately 326% higher than its March 2024 IPO price of $34.
The earnings announcement is scheduled for after market close Thursday. Consensus estimates from FactSet call for adjusted earnings of $0.57 per share alongside revenue of $608 million.
The social discussion platform exceeded projections in its previous quarterly report, delivering revenue of $725.6 million — representing 69.7% year-over-year expansion — combined with EBITDA results that topped forecasts. Those strong results have elevated expectations going into Q1.
For the current quarter, Wall Street anticipates revenue expansion of approximately 55% compared to last year. This represents a modest decline from the 61.5% revenue growth Reddit achieved in the first quarter of last year.
Daily active user metrics are drawing particular scrutiny. Reddit disclosed 52.5 million DAUs in its most recent quarter, marking 9.4% year-over-year growth. Analysts are modeling 16% global DAU growth for Q1 — a notable deceleration from the 30.7% expansion recorded in the comparable period twelve months earlier.
This slowdown has raised concerns among some market participants, especially as artificial intelligence-powered platforms including ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and similar tools provide alternative methods for users to access information without navigating to the platform.
Advertising Performance Under the Spotlight
The advertising segment presents a brighter outlook. Projections call for Q1 advertising revenue of $567 million, representing a 58% increase from last year’s corresponding quarter.
Jefferies analyst John Colantuoni, who maintains a Buy rating with a $250 target price on RDDT, indicated in mid-April that discussions with advertisers revealed “resilient digital budgets” and “particularly strong trends” specific to Reddit’s platform.
The company is also marketing itself as a platform offering something artificial intelligence cannot easily duplicate — authentic human perspectives and conversations. This represents the optimistic investment thesis.
D.A. Davidson analyst Wyatt Swanson articulated this viewpoint on April 21, stating that Reddit “remains incredibly under-monetized relative to peers” and has established itself as a “human-first social platform.” He carries a Buy rating with a $200 price objective.
Industry Comparison Provides Context
Examining other consumer internet companies that have already published results offers useful perspective. Booking delivered 16.2% revenue growth in Q1, matching expectations. Coursera reported 9.1% growth and saw shares decline 11.6% following its announcement.
Reddit has historically outperformed Wall Street projections, and analysts have maintained relatively stable estimates over the past 30 days — indicating they’re not anticipating major deviations from consensus.
During the past month, consumer internet sector stocks have advanced an average of 16.2%. Reddit has climbed 19.5% during that timeframe, suggesting investors have begun incorporating positive expectations ahead of the results.
The consensus analyst price target of $223.34 indicates approximately 50% potential upside from the current trading price around $148.40.
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