Meta Platforms price target lowered to $500 from $520 at Guggenheim

Guggenheim lowered the firm’s price target on Meta Platforms to $500 from $520 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. Positive core trends were led by continued usage growth, revenue and pricing acceleration, and “solid” 20% impression growth, but “the incremental storylines from the stock represent challenges to the bull case” as CEO Mark Zuckerberg prepares investors for another investment cycle into AI in pursuit of a position as the world’s leading AI service in terms of quality and usage, the analyst tells investors. Also, while core Family of Apps-driven advertising trends remain strong, the CFO cautioned that revenue growth rates moving forward will be lapping periods of increasingly strong demand, added the analyst, lowered the firm’s target to reflect longer-dated return and greater risk associated with a higher-investment period of “unknown length and with un-proven returns.”