Meta stock META surged 9% on Monday after Wells Fargo raised its price target on Meta Platforms ahead of the company’s annual Meta Connect event, citing recent model launches and early traction for its Muse personal AI assistant.
Wells Fargo maintained an Overweight rating on Meta and raised its price target to $796 from $640.
The new target implies roughly 19% upside from Meta’s previous close.
Meta Connect is scheduled for September 23-24 and will take place virtually and at Meta’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California.
The annual event focuses on the company’s developments in artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, and smart glasses.
Muse puts Meta’s AI strategy in focus
Wells Fargo expects attention at Meta Connect to centre on usage metrics for Muse and Meta’s latest AI models.
Meta launched Muse on September 8 as a personal AI agent designed to perform tasks rather than simply respond to questions.
The company says Muse can send emails, book travel, fill out forms, and continue working after a user closes the application.
The service is powered by Muse Spark, which Meta describes as its most capable model for agentic work.
Muse is being rolled out in the US through iOS, Android, muse.ai and WhatsApp, with support for AI glasses planned.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg described Muse in an X post as a personal agent that understands users’ goals and works continuously to complete tasks on their behalf.
Most of the service’s functionality will remain free, while subscription plans will provide higher usage limits, according to Meta.
Meta has also continued developing its underlying models. Muse Spark 1.3, released earlier this month, includes improved performance across long-running agentic and coding tasks.
Analysts assess Muse’s revenue potential
The early traction for Muse has also raised questions about the potential financial contribution of consumer AI agents.
Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein estimated that Meta would need around 115 million paying Muse subscribers at $20 per month to generate approximately $27.5 billion to $28 billion in annual AI-agent revenue.
Helfstein was skeptical that Muse would reach that scale, citing challenges around paid conversion, competition and consumer trust.
The contrasting views highlight the focus on usage and monetisation as Meta prepares to showcase Muse at Connect.
Wells Fargo’s higher price target comes as investors await further evidence of how the company’s latest AI products could expand engagement and potentially create new revenue opportunities.
Meta expands AI and connectivity infrastructure
Meta also announced Petal on Monday, describing it as the first subsea cable with petabit capacity to be deployed across an ocean.
The cable will connect the United States and France.
The infrastructure project adds to Meta’s broader investment in connectivity and AI infrastructure ahead of Meta Connect.
The company’s latest announcements come two days before the September 23 event, where Muse is expected to receive significant attention.
Investors will be watching product usage and the development of Meta’s latest AI models as the company expands its consumer AI offering.
Meta also reached its dividend ex-date on Monday, with a $0.525 per-share cash dividend scheduled to be paid on September 28 to shareholders of record as of the close on September 21.
The post Meta stock jumps 9% today: here's why appeared first on Invezz