Meta Platforms Shares Down; Long-term Opportunity?

Meta Platforms, Inc. (FB) never seems to be short of negative headlines. With numerous congressional hearings, reports by whistleblowers, and now fears of declining user growth, FB’s stock has had its fair share of impacts. However, the most recent investor concerns and subsequent sell-off in share price can be seen as a buying opportunity, at least according to Ivan Feinseth of Tigress Financial Partners.  

The top-rated financial analyst conceded that in FB’s recent earnings report, a deceleration in user base translated to the same trend for its revenues. Despite this, he anticipates the technology company’s investments in the metaverse to ramp in the long-run; indeed, some of those investments have already begun to show strong performance.  

Feinseth rated the stock a Buy, and assigned a price target of $466. This bullish target represents a possible 12-month upside of 100.86%.  

Despite fears of users moving to competitor platforms, the analyst was enthused to write that several of FB’s initiatives, such as Reels, commerce, and AR, are expected to continue generating ad revenue. It became clear through FB’s recent earnings report that quarterly revenues had remained robust.  

Beyond its core business, Meta Platforms has heavily invested in an artificial intelligence supercomputer in order to remain relevant in the metaverse. The Research SuperCluster is anticipated to “train AI models in natural language processing and computer vision,” and to become the centerpiece of Meta’s digital platform.  

Moreover, Feinseth is confident that FB’s metaverse-related innovations will create “a place where users potentially live, work and play inside the Meta digital world platform, further driving interaction, communication, and the growing concept of social commerce.”  

Complementing these developments has been the high demand for the Oculus VR headset, as well as strong downloads of its dedicated app. This shows material consumer interest in the metaverse, as a healthy indicator for the company’s top priority business.  

On TipRanks, FB has an analyst rating consensus of Moderate Buy, based on 32 Buy, 11 Hold, and one Sell ratings. The average Meta Platforms price target is $332.14, suggesting a potential 12-month upside of 43.16%. FB closed trading Wednesday at a price of $232 per share.  

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