Meta Platforms (META) Stock: Should You Buy After Muse AI Launch Tops App Store Charts?

Key Takeaways

• Meta unveiled Muse, an AI-powered personal assistant capable of handling shopping, travel bookings, calendar management, and messaging
• Within 48 hours of launch, Muse secured the third position on the U.S. App Store rankings
• JPMorgan elevated META to Overweight status, increasing its price target from $640 to $820
• Evercore ISI maintained its Outperform rating with an $860 price objective
• Oppenheimer expressed doubts, pointing to subscription exhaustion among consumers and Meta’s data privacy concerns

Meta Platforms introduced Muse, its consumer-focused AI assistant, on Tuesday, triggering a spectrum of opinions across the financial community.

Shares of Meta edged up 0.2% to $654.82 on Thursday, following a substantial 6.6% surge the previous session. While Muse’s debut is viewed by some as a pivotal moment for the social media giant, market analysts remain split on its actual revenue impact.

Meta Platforms, Inc., META

The new AI agent handles online shopping, travel planning, ticket purchases, appointment scheduling, calendar coordination, and email and message composition. Within just 48 hours of its release, Muse ascended to third place on the U.S. App Store rankings.

This rapid adoption prompted J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth to elevate Meta to Overweight from Neutral, while simultaneously boosting his price target from $640 to $820. The revised target suggests approximately 25% appreciation potential from present trading levels.

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

While acknowledging that immediate monetization isn’t Muse’s primary objective, Anmuth identified future revenue opportunities through commission-based structures and subscription offerings.

Optimistic Analysts Highlight Distribution Advantages

Evercore ISI maintained its bullish stance, reaffirming its Outperform rating alongside an $860 price target. The firm estimates a greater than 50% probability that Meta will successfully deploy AI agents to both consumer and small business segments.

Evercore emphasized Meta’s massive scale of 3.6 billion daily active users and highlighted that approximately 15 million small businesses worldwide currently leverage Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The firm anticipates significant adoption and revenue generation over the coming years.

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

Skeptics Question Commercial Viability

Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein adopted a more cautious perspective. The firm maintained its Perform rating, asserting that Muse is unlikely to represent a “game changer” for Meta’s business.

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

His primary concern revolves around subscription fatigue among consumers. With Alphabet’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT already established in the marketplace, Helfstein questions whether sufficient users will commit to paying for another AI service over the long term.

He also raised concerns about persistent trust challenges. American consumers continue to harbor reservations about Meta regarding data privacy and credential sharing, and Helfstein noted that Muse requires complete password access to deliver e-commerce functionality.

“New Siri via Gemini and next version of ChatGPT could support such activity,” he observed, indicating that competitive alternatives are advancing rapidly.

Meta currently reports gross profit margins of 81.75%, coupled with revenue growth of 27.65%. Analyst price targets for the stock currently span from $580 to $1,000 across Wall Street coverage.