Metastock (META) traded to a new all-time intraday high on Thursday, following a developer event that highlighted its artificial intelligence ambitions. Shares rose as high as $577 after the market opened before falling 0.7%, or about $564, by mid-morning.
On Wednesday at Meta Connect 2024, CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed Meta’s latest AI model, Llama 3.2. The tech giant also unveiled its new “Orion” augmented reality glassesas well as his last Ray Ban smart glasses And Quest mixed reality headset.
Meta has been racing to catch up with its competitors in the AI space – other big tech companies like Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG, GOOGLE) as well as the startup and AI leader OpenAI. And while it’s not as popular as ChatGPT, Meta claimed in April that its AI had the equivalent of 185 million weekly active usersjust behind ChatGPT’s 200 million.
Meta released an AI model, Llama 3.1, this summer that it says could outperform OpenAI’s models in several areas. Llama 3.2 is another step forward for Meta as it looks to take on OpenAI and other AI players. It’s Meta’s first open source model capable of processing images, tables, graphs and textand this will allow developers using Llama 3.2 to create more complex applications.
The company said Llama 3.2 is competitive with OpenAI’s GPT4o-mini and outperforms Google’s AI model, Gemma, by some metrics. And its AI assistant available on Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Facebook can now speak with the voices of celebrities such as Awkwafina, Dame Judi Dench, John Cena, Keegan-Michael Key and Kristen Bell.
Zuckerberg said Meta had “reached an inflection point in the industry” in which its AI model, Llama, “is starting to become sort of an industry standard.”
Analysts say Meta is well positioned among its competitors. “We believe Meta Connect reflects Meta’s ambitions to be a leading AI company and shape the industry,” JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth wrote in a note to investors Thursday morning.
“Mark Zuckerberg outlined Meta’s AI future at Meta Connect, leaving us more optimistic about Meta’s consumer and enterprise AI opportunities,” Jefferies analysts wrote. “On a business level, Llama is becoming a serious competitor and we are seeing momentum building with its new multimodal capabilities. »
Bank of America analysts raised their price target for the stock to $630 on Thursday. JPMorgan expects Meta shares to rise even higher, to $640, while Jefferies reiterated its $600 price target. Wall Street’s average forecast for Meta’s stock price over the next 12 months is a little lower at $583, according to Bloomberg consensus estimates. Some 88% of Wall Street analysts covering the stock recommend buying it.
But it may take some time for Meta to reap the full benefits of its AI innovations. Jefferies analysts noted a “potential multi-year lag between investments and revenues” but said they were “confident in Meta’s proven ability to successfully scale and monetize new products.”
In the meantime, Meta’s expensive Reality Labs divisionwho works on its metaverse products, continues to lose billions of dollars at the company. The team’s extensive spending has cost the company $50 billion so far, and JPMorgan analysts predict Reality Labs will lose Meta another $23 billion in 2025.
Meta may not yet have fully monetized its AI advancements, but its developments in the AI space have certainly boosted its stock. Meta is one of the Big Tech “Magnificent Seven,” which has reached unprecedented price levels over the past year. Meta stock is up nearly 91% over the past year, including more than 60% in 2024.
Laura Bratton is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.
Click here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance