Wall Street is rethinking Meta (META) stock’s potential after its launch of its personal AI agent.
Earlier this month, the social media giant rolled out Muse AI assistant and described it as a “widely available personal AI agent” that can help users shop, organize trips, write emails, and manage daily tasks.
“It can handle tasks, like sending an email or booking travel, and it can take on big audacious goals. Once a person shares a goal with Muse, it helps them develop a personalized plan and coordinate their time and resources, then advances the work on its own,” Meta said in a statement.
Shares of Meta are up about 2% year to date, underperforming the S&P 500 index. The company reported disappointing second-quarter earnings in July, with earnings missing expectations and revenue guidance weaker than expected.
Meta reported Q2 earnings of $6.18 per share, missing the $7.22 expected, while revenue of $60.80 billion topped the $60.17 billion estimate, CNBC reported. The company also forecast current-quarter revenue of $61 billion to $64 billion, below the midpoint of analysts’ $63.15 billion estimate.
Goldman Sachs sees upside for Meta’s AI push
Goldman Sachs analysts said Meta’s newly launched Muse AI agent could mark an important step in that transition, giving the company a way to use its massive social-media distribution to compete in the emerging market for consumer AI agents.
The firm reiterated its Buy rating and $725 price target on Meta stock, according to a research note shared with TheStreet.
“We view the launch of Muse as a critical strategic implication for the industry,” the analysts wrote. “Competition within consumer AI is increasingly becoming a matter of platform/ecosystem integrations, distribution and capabilities rather than purely on model quality alone.”
Goldman described the change as a “fundamental paradigm shift” from passive chatbots toward autonomous agents capable of completing real-world tasks.
That shift could give Meta a chance to show investors what they are getting for the billions of dollars the company has poured into AI infrastructure.
Muse could open new AI revenue stream for Meta
Muse represents Meta’s first major move into paid consumer AI subscriptions.
Muse currently has a free tier alongside a $20-per-month Power plan and a $100-per-month Maximum plan. Goldman sees other potential revenue opportunities developing over time, particularly through advertising and commerce, it said in the note.
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“Agentic commerce, travel, financial services, and customer service represent massive new monetization opportunities for companies successful at the platform layer,” Goldman analysts said.
Goldman said Meta has a key advantage over AI startups because it does not need to build a consumer network from scratch. Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp already give the company access to billions of users, while its existing payments, advertising and communications infrastructure could make it easier to turn an AI assistant into a broader consumer platform.
Goldman does not expect Meta to push monetization too aggressively at first. The analysts expect the company to focus on getting people to use Muse and building scale before trying to maximize revenue.
Meta says Muse data is encrypted and excluded from its advertising systems. The company has also built a separate permission system for sensitive actions such as network access and account connections.
But getting consumers comfortable with an AI agent handling their personal data, purchases and other tasks could still be a challenge.
“We see any questions or hesitancy from consumers around data privacy and security as likely the biggest potential headwind,” Goldman said.
Goldman added that “consistency of performance,” or lack of errors in sourcing products and transaction completion, will be the biggest factor that must be executed consistently to retain users.
Meta’s heavy AI spending might get justified
The Muse launch could also change the conversation around Meta’s enormous AI investments.
Investors have spent much of the past several years debating whether the company’s spending on chips, data centers, and other AI infrastructure would generate enough returns.
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In July, Meta narrowed its capex guidance for the year to between $130 billion and $145 billion from a prior range of $125 billion to $145 billion, keeping the top end of the range.
The company’s free cash flow fell to just $784 million in the second quarter from $8.55 billion a year earlier, as it poured more money into AI infrastructure.
Goldman previously described Meta as a “wall of worry” stock because the company was rapidly scaling its computing capacity, while the financial payoff was less visible than at some other U.S. technology giants. The firm now believes that the story is pivoting.
Meta increasingly “stood positioned to both productize and/or monetize that compute in a manner that could increase investor confidence,” Goldman analysts said in the note.
The next potential catalyst is coming. Meta is scheduled to hold its Connect event on Sept. 23, where Goldman sees the possibility of additional AI announcements.
Meta stock closed at $673.31 on Sept. 16.
