Meta Analysts Highlight AI, VR Advances, See Growth Pushing It Toward Apple-Like Valuation – Benzinga

Multiple analysts re-rated Meta Platforms Inc META after the company kicked off its annual developer conference Meta Connect with announcements including Meta’s $299.99 Quest VR headset, Meta AI updates, Meta’s Ray-Ban Smart Glasses updates, and Meta’s new Orion glasses.

• JMP Securities analyst Andrew Boone maintained Meta Platforms with a Market Outperform rating and raised the price target from $550 to $635.
• Wedbush analyst Scott Devitt maintained Meta Platforms with an Outperform rating and a $600 price target.
• Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein reiterated an Outperform rating on Meta Platforms and set a price target of $615.
• Guggenheim analyst Michael Morris maintained a Buy on Meta Platforms rating with a price target of $600.
• Stifel analyst Mark Kelley reiterated a Buy on Meta Platforms with a price target of $590.
• Rosenblatt analyst Barton Crockett maintained a Buy on Meta Platforms with a price target of $811.

Also Read: Meta’s AI Breakthroughs Dominate Connect Event As Analyst Highlights Affordable Mixed-Reality Push

JMP Securities: The re-rating reflects Boone’s increased confidence in Meta’s hardware and XR product roadmap. Following Meta Connect, where the company showcased a prototype of its holographic, AI-enabled Orion glasses, the analyst noted Meta is at the forefront of a new computing platform. He flagged Meta’s progress in developing AR hardware over the last five years. Boone highlighted the possibility of Orion representing the next primary consumer computing platform.

Financially, he noted that computing systems have proven very valuable for Microsoft Corp MSFT (desktop) and Apple Inc AAPL (mobile). CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently said that Meta’s platform could be twice as profitable if the company owned the underlying infrastructure.

The analyst noted Meta’s Llama models have the opportunity to take a share of search queries as usage ramps. Over time, Meta has been well positioned to monetize search, given its relationships with 200 million+ SMBs and 12 million+ active advertisers, while likely also incorporating this information into its existing ad products.

With Meta’s Quest 3S priced at $299 and below the slightly more feature-rich Quest 3 at $499, Meta continues to drive down hardware costs, which Boone expects to result in greater consumer adoption. Boone projects third-quarter revenue of $39.69 billion and EPS of $4.76.

Wedbush: Devitt noted Meta is making encouraging progress along its AI product roadmap, with Meta AI on track to become the most used AI assistant globally by the end of this year. The analyst said Reality Labs investments are becoming more synergistic with the core business as AI becomes a central component of existing and upcoming hardware products.

Oppenheimer: In the short term, Helfstein noted that the event was less impactful than last year, which focused on integrating AI into the core business and improving advertisers’ ROI. The analyst said that this year, Zuckerberg spent more time discussing the company’s work with Ray-Ban & fully holographic glasses demo.

Guggenheim: AR Insider data indicates that total Quest unit sales across the Quest 3, Quest 2, and Quest Pro are up 13.5% through the second quarter, with 64% of sales attributable to the Quest 3, Morris noted. Given resilient consumer demand for the Quest 3 at a premium price point, the analyst expects the $299 Quest 3S to drive incremental sales as a more economical entry point into the Meta VR/AR ecosystem. He added that contributions from Meta’s smart eyewear also continue to grow on the heels of a new long-term agreement with Ray-Ban maker Essilor Luxottica. Morris noted Meta as a leader in AR/VR wearable devices with solid momentum heading into the holiday season.

Stifel: Overall, Kelley noted the Llama announcements and Meta AI demos as highly encouraging and evidence that Meta is well positioned in that race. The analyst also noted that the Orion prototype demos are likely illustrative of the company’s broader Metaverse vision over the longer term, which might indicate that Reality Labs investments may taper off over the medium term as use cases begin to crystallize.

Rosenblatt: Meta’s Connect 2024 showcased how the company, driven by a willingness to invest more heavily than any competitor in VR/AR and the Metaverse, along with its strategic price-to-performance decisions, is uniquely delivering products that are leading in consumer adoption, according to Crockett. The analyst said the event highlighted how Meta continues advancing its AI capabilities.

The analyst noted that the advancement of its AI capabilities is currently more critical. It is part of a positive inflection in Meta’s core advertising business that is still not fully captured in the shares, even after an over 60% rise year-to-date and 90% in the last 12 months. Crockett noted Meta could trade in a year at an Apple-like P/E of 30 times forward EPS. Crockett projects third-quarter revenue of $40.86 billion and EPS of $5.75.

KeyBanc:  Meta’s latest Connect conference focused on the progress Meta has made in AI and mixed reality devices and was largely in line with Patterson’s expectations. The analyst remains encouraged by progress with the Meta AI assistant and Llama models.

While Quest and Glass (Ray-Ban, Orion) are still in the early innings, he noted Meta’s AI capabilities and efforts to work more with developers could help the company differentiate from competitors over time.

Price Action: META stock is down 0.51% at $565.44 at last check Thursday.

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