Wall Street analysts remain optimistic Meta platforms (Nasdaq: dead) stock Although the social media giant will see ups and downs in 2026.
So far this year, META stock is down more than 6%. Shares closed the last session at $610, up about 0.5% on the day.
Despite the weakness, Meta remains supported by strong fundamentals, with analysts betting that the company is aggressive artificial intelligence (Amnesty International) Investments It will pay off in the long run.
Notably, Meta shares fell after the company released its first-quarter 2026 results on April 29. The company reported revenues of $56.31 billion, up 33% year over year, while earnings per share were $10.44.
The number of daily active users across its suite of apps reached 3.56 billion. However, the stock fell after Meta raised its full-year capital spending guidance to between $125 billion and $145 billion to accelerate AI infrastructure expansion.
Despite the decline, analysts largely saw the decline as a buying opportunity. Meta’s advertising business, which generates nearly all of its revenue, continues to benefit from AI-driven improvements in ad targeting, creative generation, and campaign performance, helping to boost ad impressions and pricing.
Looking ahead, Meta is on track for Q2 2026 revenue of between $58 billion and $61 billion. While significant spending on AI infrastructure is expected to put pressure on margins and free cash flow in the near term, the successful monetization of Llama’s models and Meta AI features could support growth in the long term.
Key risks include higher capital expenditures, regulatory scrutiny on antitrust, privacy and content moderation issues, as well as intense competition in artificial intelligence and social media.
Regarding the outlook for META shares, analysts at… TipRanks They gave the stock a “Strong Buy” consensus rating. The average 12-month price target is $817.71, suggesting a potential upside of 33.99%. The highest forecast is $1,015, while the lowest forecast is $622.25.
The forecast is based on the assessments of 38 Wall Street analysts over the past three months. Among them, I rated 31 Meta stocks as a “Buy,” seven recommended a “Hold,” and none carried a “Sell” rating.
Wells Fargo analyst Ken Jawrelski lowered his price target for Meta slightly to $765 from $770 while maintaining an “overweight” rating, signaling continued confidence in the company’s AI strategy. Meta remains well positioned to benefit from growth, the analyst said Investor Optimism about companies making significant investments in AI, even though they do not sell cloud services directly. Jawrelski also pointed to an acceleration in AI infrastructure spending.
On the other hand, Mizuho cut its price target for Meta to US$835 from US$850 while maintaining an “outperform” rating, saying the company still has strong long-term potential despite recent stock weakness. The company expects the upcoming AI product launches to provide greater clarity on Meta’s big language model strategy and monetization plans, especially as the company focuses on consumer-facing AI tools while competitors target enterprise customers. Mizuho was encouraged by the rise in Meta AI usage following the launch of Muse Spark, but said the company must show more visible product progress, stronger adoption, or tighter control over spending and capital expenditures before its second-quarter earnings report.
