We recently published a list of Top 10 Stocks on Analysts’ Radar These Days. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) stands against other top stocks on analysts’ radar these days.

Fundstrat’s Tom Lee said in a recent program on CNBC that he is still optimistic about the stock market despite recent selloffs. Here is how he explained some of the reasons behind his rationale:

“I can understand why investors are sitting on their hands. I mean, they don’t really know how severe these tariffs are going to be or how long they’ll last. But now we’re seeing a big price correction and a decline in sentiment. Then something like today happens—we get a bad ADP jobs report, and the market is actually up. So we’re rising on bad news, which is a good sign that a lot of bad news is already priced in.”

Lee believes the market’s near-term bottom is close as he talked about the importance of staying invested during the “best days.”

“In my mind, we put out a piece yesterday just talking about the 10 best days that happen every year. Last year, for instance, the 10 best days added up to 21 percentage points of the S&P. Without those 10 days, the market was only up 4%. So, you know, you don’t get 20% years because it’s good throughout the year—it’s just the 10 best days. I think the setup for a 10 best day is near because if the economy’s near stall speed, I think people realize the Trump put does come back because otherwise it has to unwind all this austerity. And if the job market’s soft, the Fed put comes back into play because the Fed doesn’t want to deal with stall speed.I think that’s what’s going to be the positive catalyst in the next couple of weeks. On top of that, we already know stocks will bottom before bad news peaks. So if we’re seeing the market not fade on bad news, it means we’ve already priced in a lot of things that would normally scare us.”

READ ALSO: 7 Best Stocks to Buy For Long-Term and 8 Cheap Jim Cramer Stocks to Invest In

For this article, we picked 10 stocks currently trending on the latest news. With each stock we have mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 235

Charles Schwab’s Jeff Pierce in a latest program on Schwab Network discussed reports saying Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is planning to launch a standalone AI app. He believes the company is trying to compete directly with ChatGPT.

“They’re certainly wanting to compete with ChatGPT, one of the most downloaded AI applications out there. But, of course, you’ve got Google with their Gemini, you’ve got Bing, you’ve got Microsoft Copilot, all of those, you know, in that competitive space for this AI investment. Now, we know on the investment side of it, Meta has decided to spend about 60 to 65 billion in capex this year to support these AI efforts, as well as the rest of their business. That’s a huge increase from last year—about 39 billion was spent last year. Investors have shown some concern over that spending in AI across many of these names. However, it does seem to be paying off. We saw Meta had about a 14% rise in their average price per ad in Q4, compared to just a 2% rise in Q4 of 2023. So, we’re seeing some pickup that seems to be related to these AI pushes out of the company.”

Rowan Street Capital stated the following regarding Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

“Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META): Investment Initiated: April 2018: Internal Rate of Return (IRR*): 22% *IRR represents the annualized rate of return on an investment, accounting for the timing and magnitude of cash flows over the holding period.

For META, our 22% IRR aligns closely with the company’s compounded growth in earnings per share (EPS) and free cash flow per share during the 6 years holding period.

Looking ahead, Meta is expected to grow its revenues, earnings, and free cash flow per share at mid-teens rates over the next two years. There’s a good possibility that it could exceed these estimates, considering the breadth of growth initiatives currently in place, such as advancements in Al, monetization of Reels, expansion into business messaging, and the ongoing development of the metaverse…” (Click here to read the full text)

Overall, META ranks 2nd on our list of top stocks on analysts’ radar these days. While we acknowledge the potential of META as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that under the radar AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than META but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.