Meta Platforms (META 8.00%) has, despite a few missteps, been a roaring success as a company over the years. It continues to be quite the juggernaut on the stock market, too. It might be hard to believe now, but the company's IPO price was set at $38 per share when it went public in 2012; it now trades for nearly $480.
Even across a 12-year stretch, that's quite the return. Yet there are more gains to be had in the proximate future, at least if we can believe one analyst's recent bullish take on the company.
15% upside potential, analyst believes
In mid-July, Bank of America (BAC 1.11%) Securities' Justin Post reiterated his buy recommendation on Meta stock. He also maintained his $550 per-share price target, implying 15% potential upside on the current level.
Post felt compelled to write a fresh note on the company because of some scuttlebutt about one of its business units, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) division Reality Labs. According to a recent report in tech industry tracker The Information, Meta aims to reduce its spending on Reality Labs' hardware products by roughly 20%.
Of this, the analyst wrote that given the "somewhat limited industry traction for VR devices (balanced by new optimism on AR glasses), Meta's unprecedented investment in a new consumer platform that is still very early, and a shifting company focus toward artificial intelligence (AI), these potential cost cuts seem very logical to us."
NASDAQ: META
Key Data Points
There's nothing like a flexible management team
While it's never encouraging to hear whispers of reduced spending on a hot product or service, I feel Post is right -- VR/AR is pretty lukewarm these days.
I think Meta management doesn't get enough credit for being as nimble and as adaptable as it's been over the years. It's admirable the company doesn't get stuck on any one technology. That goes double these days, as AI in particular can become quite the sticky offering for Meta's immense user base. This stock is absolutely a buy, in my view.
