Should You Buy Meta (META) Stock After Muse's App Store Success?

Quick Summary

Table of Contents

Meta introduced Muse, an AI-powered personal assistant capable of handling shopping, travel arrangements, calendar management, and messaging
The app reached third place in the U.S. App Store within just two days of release
J.P. Morgan elevated META to Overweight status, increasing its price objective from $640 to $820
Evercore ISI maintained its Outperform stance with an $860 valuation
Oppenheimer remains cautious, pointing to subscription exhaustion and Meta’s data privacy concerns

Meta Platforms unveiled Muse, its consumer-focused AI assistant, this Tuesday, triggering a mixed response from financial analysts across Wall Street.

Shares of Meta climbed 0.2% to reach $654.82 on Thursday, following Wednesday’s impressive 6.6% surge. While the Muse debut is being viewed by some as a pivotal moment for the tech giant, expert opinions remain sharply divided regarding its actual revenue impact.

Meta Platforms, Inc., META

The Muse application handles online shopping tasks, travel planning, ticket purchases, appointment scheduling, calendar coordination, and email and message management. Within 48 hours of becoming available, the app secured the third position in the U.S. App Store rankings.

This impressive early momentum prompted J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth to elevate Meta from Neutral to Overweight, simultaneously boosting his price objective from $640 to $820. This revised target suggests approximately 25% growth potential from present trading levels.

In his assessment, Anmuth emphasized that Meta retains “meaningful upside potential,” referencing the company’s nascent deployment of advanced AI models and products extending beyond traditional advertising. He characterized these frontier models as being “at the core of Meta’s product and monetization pipeline over a multi-year period.”

He further observed that although immediate monetization isn’t Muse’s primary objective, Meta possesses future revenue opportunities through commission-based arrangements and subscription offerings.

Optimistic Analysts Highlight Platform Advantage

Evercore ISI maintained its bullish stance, confirming its Outperform rating alongside an $860 price objective. The firm estimates better than even odds that Meta will successfully deploy AI agents to both consumer and small business segments.

Evercore emphasized Meta’s massive 3.6 billion daily active user base and highlighted that approximately 15 million small businesses worldwide currently utilize Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The firm anticipates significant adoption and revenue generation developing over time.

KeyBanc maintained its Overweight position on Meta with a $780 target, emphasizing Muse’s emphasis on privacy and security features. Bernstein likewise confirmed an Outperform rating, observing that Meta is positioned to eclipse Google Search in advertising revenue during the current year.

Skeptics Voice Concerns

Oppenheimer’s Jason Helfstein expressed more reserved views. The firm maintained its Perform rating and concluded that Muse probably won’t represent a “game changer” for Meta.

“We remain skeptical of the financial benefits,” Helfstein stated.

His primary worry involves consumer subscription weariness. Given that Alphabet’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT already occupy market space, Helfstein questions whether sufficient users will commit to paying for another AI service over the long haul.

He additionally highlighted persistent trust challenges. American consumers continue harboring reservations about Meta regarding data privacy and credential sharing, and Helfstein observed that Muse demands complete password access to effectively facilitate e-commerce functions.

“New Siri via Gemini and next version of ChatGPT could support such activity,” he noted, indicating that competitive offerings continue evolving.

Meta currently maintains gross profit margins of 81.75%, accompanied by revenue expansion of 27.65%. Analyst price targets for the stock presently span from $580 to $1,000.

✨ Limited Time Offer