Meta Says Its Numbers Show that AI Spending Is Paying Off

Meta (META) plans to boost its spending on AI. That didn’t cool enthusiasm for the social media giant’s stock.   

Shares of the Facebook parent surged more than 4% to just over $572 Thursday after the social media giant a day earlier eported better-than-expected quarterly results and pointed to growth in advertising—which accounts for the bulk of Meta’s revenue—aided by its investments in AI. The reaction marks a departure from the same time last year, when shares had tumbled after Meta said it planned to spend more on AI, amid worries about whether the spending would be justified.

“AI has already made us better at targeting and finding the audiences that will be interested in their products than many businesses are themselves, and that keeps improving,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg told investors during Wednesday’s earnings call. 

People are spending more time on Meta’s apps as a result of improvements to its recommendation systems, Zuckerberg said, with users now spending 7% more time on Facebook. Instagram saw a 6% jump. Time on Threads—which launched in 2023—jumped 35% as users also grew.

Analysts—including those from Citi, JPMorgan, Wedbush, and Jefferies—raised their price targets for the stock Thursday, pointing to Meta’s engagement and targeting gains. Analysts from Bank of America bumped their target to $690 from $640, citing Meta’s “tangible business results” from AI. 

Morgan Stanley analysts, who raised their target to $650 from $615 said Meta’s “best in class and still improving ad product and relative [return on investment] are delivering results.”

“Even with our significant investments, we don’t need to succeed in all of these areas to have a good ROI,” Zuckerberg said during Wednesday call. “But if we do, then I think that we will be wildly happy with the investments that we are making.”