Billionaire Bill Ackman runs Pershing Square Capital Management, and investors love to follow his trades. Many billionaire investors keep a low profile and don't give out too much detail about their investments, but Ackman uses social media, and his company often provides detailed analysis about its trading activity.
Pershing Square generally holds a small number of stocks, so it's easy to track what's happening. The fund exited its longtime position in Chipotle Mexican Grill last year, which was its top holding for a long time, as well as some newer positions, and it initiated a position in Amazon. It also just revealed that it has taken a position in Meta Platforms (META 2.52%), which now accounts for 10% of its capital.
Here's why Pershing is excited about Meta's future.
Image source: Getty Images.
The future is Meta's
Ackman gave a number of reasons for buying Meta stock. It's a leader in digital advertising with an incredible user base of more than 3.5 billion people, or nearly half the people on the planet. That number continues to rise, with daily active users up 7% year over year in fourth-quarter 2025.
Digging deeper, Ackman sees robust opportunities in monetizing the user base with artificial intelligence (AI). Since Meta's product is social media, it has rich insight into user preferences and behavior, which it leverages into precise, relevant ad campaigns. AI also facilitates a self-service model with easy, automated ad generation. The company said that Meta is an "essential platform for businesses seeking to maximize their return on ad spend."
It noted Meta's rapid growth, with revenue up 22% in 2025. It has a founder-led management team that, at this point, has a wealth of experience, and it has several revenue streams, including two main segments: its social media group and its Reality Labs.
NASDAQ: META
Key Data Points
The price is right on Meta stock
There are some signs that Ackman is setting himself up to be the "next Warren Buffett." He's planning to build Howard Hughes Holdings into a diversified holding company, and Pershing Square recently acquired insurance company Vantage Group.
Like Buffett and many successful investors, Ackman sees opportunity in undervalued stocks. Management noted that Meta stock is trading at a discount to its five- and 10-year averages on a forward, 1-year price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio basis. At the time of the writing, that was 21.2, and today, it's 18.2. Pershing Square bought Meta stock at the end of November.
Management said that the market's disappointment in Meta's planned 2026 capital expenditure, which is expected to be around $165 billion, doesn't take into account the future opportunity. In light of the low price and robust opportunities, it thinks Meta stock is "deeply discounted."
Although it doesn't make sense to mindlessly follow billionaire hedge fund managers into their positions, Meta stock has a lot to offer to any long-term, growth-centered portfolio.
