Social media firm Meta Platforms (META) announced that it plans to invest $600 billion in U.S. infrastructure and jobs over the next three years, according to Reuters (TRI). The massive investment will focus heavily on building new data centers to support the company’s AI projects. It’s no secret that Meta has made AI a top priority, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg setting a long-term goal of achieving “superintelligence,” a point at which machines could outperform humans intellectually.
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It’s worth noting that Zuckerberg also told President Donald Trump at a White House dinner in September that Meta will invest “at least $600 billion” in the U.S. over the coming years. Separately, on a recent earnings call, he explained that Meta is intentionally “front-loading capacity,” which means that the company is spending heavily now to make sure it’s ready for AI progress in the future. He said that this approach is necessary in order to stay ahead of the competition, even though it significantly raises short-term spending.
In fact, Meta expects its capital expenses to increase “notably” next year due to AI-related investments. However, Meta has also been getting creative with its financing. Last month, the company finalized a financing deal with Blue Owl Capital (OWL) to fund a massive data center in Louisiana. As part of the deal, Meta placed the project into a separate legal entity called a special purpose vehicle, which will keep the $27.3 billion in debt off its balance sheet while giving Blue Owl Capital an 80% stake in the project.
Is Meta a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on META stock based on 40 Buys, six Holds, and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average META price target of $843.56 per share implies 37.9% upside potential.
