Meta Stock Rises as Wells Fargo Raises Price Target to $796

A higher Wells Fargo price target is adding to optimism ahead of Meta Connect, as Muse leads Apple's U.S. free-app chart.

Meta stock was up about 11.8% to $744.57 Monday afternoon, well ahead of the roughly 2.5% gain in the Nasdaq 100 tracking fund QQQ. The rally appears to reflect growing confidence in Meta's AI products ahead of this week's Connect event, with a fresh Wells Fargo price target increase adding to the enthusiasm.

Wells Fargo raised its Meta target to $796 from $640, maintaining its Overweight rating. The note, reported before the market opened, pointed to recent product momentum and early traction for Muse, Meta's personal AI agent.

Muse ranked No. 1 among free iPhone apps in the United States, ahead of ChatGPT, when Apple's U.S. free app chart was checked Monday. That provides evidence of consumer interest behind the analyst's assessment, although the ranking reveals little about how many people will keep using it.

Why Muse is getting investors' attention

Meta introduced Muse on September 8 as an agent that can carry out tasks such as organizing email, booking travel and completing forms. People can interact with it through its own app or WhatsApp. Meta says most usage is free, with subscription plans available for heavier use.

People are more likely to pay for a service that reliably saves them time each week. If Muse becomes part of a regular routine, it could give Meta a recurring revenue stream beyond advertising. Its availability through WhatsApp also lets Meta introduce the service inside an app people already use.

Meta is pursuing subscriptions across its existing apps, too. On September 15, it announced Meta One, which bundles premium features and additional AI usage. The company reported 15 million subscriptions and trials across its rollout. Because that figure includes trials, the size of its paying subscriber base remains unclear.

Muse also needs access to the services where users want tasks completed. Business Insider reported Monday that Amazon had blocked Muse from its marketplace, citing violations of its conditions of use. Restrictions like that can reduce an agent's usefulness even when the underlying AI is capable of doing the work.

Meta's spending raises the stakes

Meta's advertising business provides the cash to help fund that expansion. In its July earnings release, Mark Zuckerberg said, “AI is accelerating our core business today.” The company's second-quarter figures show strong advertising growth alongside a much larger capital bill:

Capital spending absorbed almost all the cash generated by operations during the quarter. Meta also put its full-year capital expenditure outlook at $130 billion to $145 billion in that release. Those figures predate today's rally, but they explain why evidence of a successful AI product can change how investors view the spending.

Infrastructure can support products for years, so one quarter's free cash flow cannot establish the eventual return. But serving an AI agent also has ongoing costs. As Muse completes more tasks, Meta has to supply the computing resources to run them, including work performed for users who never subscribe.

What Meta needs to show at Connect

Meta Connect takes place September 23–24, giving the company an opportunity to explain how its recent launches are progressing.

The most useful update would show whether people return to Muse after trying it and whether some become paying customers. Regular use would provide a better basis for estimating subscription demand, especially if Meta explains which tasks people find valuable enough to pay for.

That would give investors something more concrete to put into an earnings forecast. Until then, the case for higher future profits depends on assumptions about customer habits and service costs that an App Store ranking cannot resolve.