|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
New: Instantly spot drawdowns, dips, insider moves, and breakout themes across Maps and Screener.
Meta Platforms has over 3.5 billion daily active users across its social media platforms, which power its successful advertising business.
The company's AI infrastructure spending worried Wall Street, but it still posted healthy 40% operating margins in its most recent earnings report.
It's currently the cheapest Magnificent Seven stock by forward P/E ratio.
With so many companies using artificial intelligence (AI), there's no shortage of AI stocks available to investors.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) is an AI company that I've been loading up on, and I plan to hold it forever. Here's why.
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now, when you join Stock Advisor. See the stocks »
Image source: Getty Images.
Meta has a massive user base, with an average of 3.54 billion family daily active people (DAP) as of September 2025. DAP is Meta's metric that tracks the number of unique people who use at least one of its platforms, which includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.
That user base drives the social media company's wildly profitable ads business. Meta reported $51.2 billion in revenue in Q3 2025, with 98% coming from ads. Because Meta generates so much cash flow, it can afford to invest heavily in AI infrastructure. Even with its capital expenditures, its operating margins are still fairly high at 40%.
Meta's stock dropped significantly after its third-quarter earnings report, when it announced capital expenditures would be notably larger in 2026, and has been up and down since then. The current share price, to me, is a good opportunity to buy the dip on a strong business.
Meta is trading at 20 times forward earnings as of Jan. 21, which is well below the rest of the Magnificent Seven. For comparison, the second-cheapest club member by that metric, Microsoft, trades at 27 times forward earnings. Given how many AI stocks carry expensive valuations nowadays, Meta looks like a bargain.
Before you buy stock in Meta Platforms, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Meta Platforms wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $450,525!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,133,107!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 937% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 195% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
*Stock Advisor returns as of January 23, 2026.
Lyle Daly has positions in Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Meta Platforms and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
| 1 hour | |
| 2 hours | |
| 3 hours | |
| 3 hours | |
| 4 hours |
Meta, EssilorLuxottica Hit With Lawsuit Alleging Patent Infringement on Smartglasses
META
The Wall Street Journal
|
| 4 hours | |
| 6 hours | |
| 6 hours | |
| 7 hours | |
| 7 hours | |
| 7 hours | |
| 7 hours | |
| 8 hours | |
| 8 hours | |
| 9 hours |
Join thousands of traders who make more informed decisions with our premium features. Real-time quotes, advanced visualizations, backtesting, and much more.
Learn more about FINVIZ*Elite