Meta’s AI Ambitions Keep Expanding. Is META Stock Keeping Up?

3 weeks ago 10

Vandita Jadeja

Mon, July 20, 2026 astatine 10:30 AM CDT 4 min read

Quick Read

META rates a BUY astatine $893 with 38% upside aft shares dropped 8% contempt Q1 EPS crushing statement by 57%.
Alphabet guides $175-185B successful 2026 capex versus Meta's $145B, portion Pinterest's 631 cardinal MAUs item Meta's ascendant standard advantage.
Reality Labs bled $4 cardinal successful Q1 operating losses, yet adjacent the carnivore lawsuit projects META reaching $765, which would correspond an 18% gain.
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Meta has go the poster kid for the hyperscaler AI spending race. 2026 has been a tug of warfare betwixt blockbuster net and rising anxiousness astir capex translation into shareholder returns. Our proprietary exemplary sees worldly upside from here.

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Our 24/7 Wall St. terms people for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) is $892.70 implicit the adjacent 12 months, implying 38.19% upside from $646.01. The proposal is simply a bargain with precocious assurance (90%).

24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary

Why META Has Traded Sideways Despite a Blowout Quarter

Meta is down 1.96% twelvemonth to day and 7.6% implicit the past year, sitting 4% beneath its 52-week precocious of $793.65.

Q1 2026 delivered gross of $56.31 cardinal increasing 33.08% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth and EPS of $10.44 beating statement by 56.79%, the 5th consecutive beat. Yet shares fell 8.55% arsenic investors digested a raised full-year capex scope of $125 to $145 billion.

A Benzinga study flagged a imaginable $10 cardinal AI woody with Anthropic, and JPMorgan described Meta's assertive Model API pricing arsenic "the archetypal important measurement toward monetizing its important AI investments beyond advertising."

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The Case for $1,015 and Higher

Bulls reason advertizing funds AI expansion. Q1 advertisement impressions roseate 19% YoY and terms per advertisement roseate 12%, with Family of Apps regular progressive radical astatine 3.56 billion. Zuckerberg framed the strategy plainly: "Our biggest milestone truthful acold this twelvemonth has been the merchandise of our Muse household of models."

UBS carries a Buy with a $766 target, and expert sum skews 57 Buy ratings versus 6 Holds and zero Sells. Our bull lawsuit pegs META astatine $1,015.75, a 57.23% return.

What Could Go Wrong

The carnivore lawsuit centers connected capex instrumentality connected investment. FY25 capex deed $72.22 cardinal and 2026 guidance stretches to $145 billion. Reality Labs continues to bleed with a $4.03 cardinal Q1 operating loss. Regulatory overhang includes 2026 youth-related trials that could nutrient worldly judgments.

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