We recently published a list of Analysts Are Talking About These 10 AI Stocks. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) stands against other stocks that analysts are talking about.
Gene Munster from Deepwater Asset Management said in a latest program on CNBC that the AI hardware trade is still intact and the analyst believes DeepSeek is a net positive for the industry.
“The consensus DeepSeek has been a positive for AI. I think when it comes to the cost of AI inference, it’s going to go through the floor. Sam Altman said after DeepSeek that they expect the cost of tokens to go down 10 to 12x per year for their second-tier model. I mean, that’s basically through the floor. And I think the third piece to this, if those two happen, we get this hardware build-out, we the cost of compute or the cost of inference declining. I think you’re going to see some just profound impacts. And so I’m still bullish on this market. I think that what we’re seeing right now is a funk, and I think that we still got two great years left of this AI trade.”
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For this article, we picked 10 AI stocks currently making moves on the back of the latest news. With each stock, we have mentioned its hedge fund sentiment. 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).
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Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 262
Tim Seymour of Seymour Asset Management said in a latest program on CNBC that Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is not a cheap stock anymore following the latest bull run.
“The monetization dynamics here around robots are less clear than the monetization around the core business, which had 21% fourth-quarter revenue growth FX-neutral. The question for investors really has to be the age-old—this is no longer, with Google, the cheap of the mega-cap seven or eight. This is actually 30 times trailing, it’s about 26 times if you think they’re going to do 28 bucks a share in ’25. This isn’t a cheap stock anymore, and this is a stock that I think at this point, after this run, is the beneficiary of relative performance versus its peers.”
Meta crushed expectations with the latest quarterly results but yet again pointed to higher expenses in the future. In 2025, it sees total operating expenses in a range of $114-$119 billion, with 19-25% y/y growth. Capex is expected to rise 61-74% y/y to $60-$65 billion, compared to just $37.3 billion in FY24. Advertising rose strongly but analysts believe it should be seen in the context of higher political ad spend and holiday quarter perspective. In 2025, the company might not be able to keep reporting double-digit growth in ad pricing amid weaker consumer spending and a cautious macroeconomic backdrop.
In the long term, Meta shares are expected to grow because of AI. How?
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) is driving usage and ads revenue by improving its algorithms and user experience thanks to AI. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)’s advancements in Reels and WhatsApp are helping manage CapEx growth as the company strives to stay competitive in AI. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)’s substantial user base of 3.3 billion provides a data and distribution edge that could capture a significant share of the GenAI market.
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 stocks that analysts are talking about. 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.
