Why Market is Wrong About Meta Platforms (META)

Cathie Wood’s 11 Biggest AI and Data Center Stock Picks. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) ranks #9 (see Cathie Wood’s 5 Biggest AI and Data Center Stock Picks).

Mark Zuckerberg is showing no signs of slowing down AI spending, even when Meta reacts negatively to CapEX hikes, because he can see the long-term returns.

Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is using AI to boost ad revenue through smarter targeting, automation, and creative generation tools. Meta’s AI-powered ad tools are already being used by around 8 million advertisers, up from 4 million previously, showing how quickly adoption is scaling.

Beyond ads, Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is pursuing a full-stack AI strategy. Its custom Training and Inference Accelerator (MTIA) chips cut reliance on expensive Nvidia GPUs. Earlier MTIA chips operated at roughly 25W, compared to about 250–500W for Nvidia A100s and around 350W for H100s. The newer MTIA generations are likely to handle recommendation systems and generative AI workloads. This could unify AI training, inference, and advertising workloads under its own hardware stack.

Zuckerberg is cutting costs to put everything into AI with layoffs and an efficiency push.

Polen Focus Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:

“In addition, we also re-initiated a position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), a name we previously owned in 2022. While we remain mindful of elevated data center capex and the uncertainty around its ultimate return without a comparable cloud business, we are encouraged by Meta’s strong execution in monetizing AI across its platforms. Advertising revenues are ....” (Click Here to Read the Letter in Detail)

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While we acknowledge the potential of META as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

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