BUZZ-Street View: Meta's growth trends in place amid high spending concerns

Meta Platforms META.O beat Wall Street expectations for fourth-quarter revenue on Wednesday but predicted sales in the current first quarter may not meet forecasts, sending mixed signals about how its bets on pricey artificial intelligence-powered tools are paying off

META shares up 2.6% at $694.2 in premarket trading

AI INVESTMENTS STARTING TO PAY OFF

J.P.Morgan ("overweight," PT: $725) says Meta's heavy expenses to be partially offset by its revenue growth in 2025

Wedbush ("outperform," PT: $770) says Meta's AI-investments are justified given the potential for growth across its Family of Apps and Reality Labs (RL)

Baird ("outperform," PT: $750) sees Meta AI and RL along with improving core performance setting the stage for favorable growth trends continuing into 2026 and beyond

Jefferies ("buy," PT: $810) expects long-term payback from cos, increased capex investments but flags near-term pressure on EPS and FCF estimates

Morningstar (fair value: $770) expects Meta's generative AI tools to materially drive down ad creation costs and boost advertisers' return on ad spending