Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) stock floundered in August, but 2023’s second half still has plenty of trading days left.
Analysts are busy issuing their predictions about Meta Platforms, and they have high hopes for the company and the stock. If you’re not invested yet, that’s fine because it’s not too late to get on board.
Meta Platforms never stops developing its next-generation tech tools, including ones for artificial intelligence use cases. For instance, Meta Platforms recently launched Code Llama. This is a powerful AI model that can help programmers write computer code.
It seems like Meta Platforms is unstoppable – but as we’ll discuss in a moment, the company is experiencing growing pains with Threads.
Yet, generally speaking, this hasn’t dissuaded Wall Street’s experts from predicting that the Meta Platforms share price will move higher this year.
Experts Prepare for a Re-rating of META Stock
Believe it or not, out of 42 analysts, 40 of them published a “buy” rating and none of them have recently issued a “sell” rating on META stock. This is eye-opening, especially since Meta Platforms shares lost value in August.
Analysts have various reasons for feeling optimistic about Meta Platforms. Wedbush analyst Scott Devitt envisions Meta Platforms’ job cuts as creating a “clear path to continued margin expansion.”
Devitt observes “monetization improving in newer mediums including Reels ($10B+ run rate) and click-to -message ads ($10B+ run rate).”
Devitt set his price target for META stock at $350. Meanwhile, analysts with Bank of America published a $375 price target for Meta Platforms shares.
They evidently envision a resetting of Meta Platforms’ valuation. The Bank of America analysts stated, “We believe the stock could see renewed enthusiasm on 2024 upside potential once Street has greater certainty on 2024 spending targets.”
Give Threads Time to Find Its Footing
Threads, which is Meta Platforms’ answer to X (formerly Twitter), racked up 100 million users in only five days after its launch.
Yet, some commentators seem to be disappointed that Threads couldn’t maintain that level of growth.
Reportedly, the number of daily active users on Threads’ Android app surged to 49.3 million in July but then declined. However, Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has seen this movie before and it’s worried about an unhappy ending.
Threads will, Zuckerberg assured, “take time to stabilize, but once we nail that then we’ll focus on growing the community.”
“We’ve run this playbook many times (FB, IG, Stories, Reels, etc) and I’m confident Threads is on a good path too,” he said.
It’s also worth noting that Meta Platforms recently rolled out the web version of Threads. This should help the platform gain traction among advertisers, journalists, big brands and large corporate accounts.
Threads’ build-out won’t happen overnight. So, don’t be too hasty to assess the platform’s success or failure.
Prepare for META Stock to Reach $500 Eventually
META stock lost some value in August, but that’s not the end of the world. Remember, patience is the key to investing in Meta Platforms.
Even the most bullish experts on Wall Street don’t expect Threads to be a blockbuster success tomorrow or the next day. These things take time.
At the same time, Meta Platforms is relentlessly developing AI applications. The company continues to generate revenue from Meta Platforms’ suite of social media platforms.
Therefore, I concur with the analyst community’s generally optimistic predictions about Meta Platforms.
Previously, I forecasted that META stock would reach $500 in the long term. I still expect this to happen, and I feel that now is a great time to take a share position in Meta Platforms.
— David Moadel
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Source: Investor Place