Since its initial public offering in May 2012, Meta Platforms (META +0.41%), formerly called Facebook, has seen its share price rise 1,640% (as of Dec. 19). That means that had you invested $58,000 in the business at the time it hit the public markets, you'd have $1 million today. That's a great gain in less than 14 years.
These days, the investment community isn't doubting how wonderful a company this is. Meta is one of the most dominant technology enterprises in the world, with impressive growth and profitability. And it continues to operate at a high level.
If you've been watching the "Magnificent Seven" stock from the sidelines, you're probably wondering what the future will bring. Could Meta Platforms help you become a millionaire?
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Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg views AI as a big opportunity
We are in the middle of what could shape up to be one of the major technological shifts in history. Companies are scrambling to basically go all-in on artificial intelligence (AI). Like other tech giants, Meta is not hesitating to spend on its AI efforts. The business is projecting $70 billion to $72 billion of capital expenditures in 2025, which "will be notably larger in 2026," according to CFO Susan Li. The money will go toward technical infrastructure.
Meta also spent heavily to assemble an AI all-star team earlier this year to help create Meta Superintelligence Labs, bringing on top scientists and researchers. Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's objective is to achieve personal superintelligence, essentially being a tool for people to achieve and do more.
The strategic rationale makes sense. Meta must spend copious amounts of capital or it will risk falling behind in the AI race. At the end of the day, what matters most for this business is how AI will drive more users and engagement on its apps, as well as higher ad spend from ad customers.
When it comes to digital advertising, Meta is performing extremely well. Ad revenue increased 26% year over year during the third quarter. Zuckerberg believes AI will expand the total addressable market for digital ads.
"I think that the increased productivity from AI will make advertising a meaningfully larger share of global GDP than it is today," he said on the Q1 2025 earnings call. That's if Meta can continue to make progress on improving ad capabilities for its customers. Investors will surely want to see a positive long-term impact on earnings and free cash flow from this huge AI focus.
NASDAQ: META
Key Data Points
Meta Platforms shares are worth owning
If you say that Meta is one of the best businesses on Earth, you wouldn't find many people who disagree with you. The company's defining attribute is the presence of unbelievably powerful network effects. During the third quarter, its family of apps counted an astonishing 3.54 billion daily active users. People want to use these platforms because everyone they know is using them. And with more users, the platforms improve over time.
Meta's unrivaled reach, as exemplified by its immense user base, might be enough of a reason for investors to consider owning shares. When a network effect has become this robust, it's incredibly difficult (maybe even impossible) to disrupt.
To be fair, though, this doesn't mean rival social media platforms can't enter the mix. Think about Snap or TikTok. This shows that competition for attention is fierce. However, Meta can observe certain features and tactics that are working well for its peers and immediately integrate those into its own apps, with broad adoption occurring instantly. This helps it maintain such a dominant position.
The business should be on every investor's watch list. The stock could do well over the next five or 10 years, thanks to a compelling valuation and strong earnings growth. But Meta isn't some small, early-stage company whose stock is going to skyrocket, so unless you have a six-figure sum to invest today, this isn't a millionaire-maker opportunity.
