Guggenheim lifts Meta target as Muse usage builds

Investing.com -- Guggenheim raised its price target on Meta Platforms to $850 from $700 in a note to clients on Wednesday, pointing to higher 2027 estimates and early traction for the company’s Muse AI agent.

Analyst Michael Morris told investors that Muse’s usage trajectory and engagement depth are “the primary swing factor for sentiment heading into the 3Q call.”

Muse reached 1.3 million daily active users through five weeks, up from 0.3 million in its first week, according to Apptopia.

Even so, that represents less than 0.05% of Meta’s 3.6 billion daily users, and Morris expects management to prioritize scaling usage over near-term monetization.

Over time, he believes Muse will make money mainly through businesses paying to reach consumers via their agents, consistent with Meta’s core advertising model, rather than through consumer spending. He pointed to the Shopify and PayPal checkout integrations as early evidence.

Morris called Muse Wonder, launched Oct. 12, an important catalyst if it strengthens the agentic product. He said “a frontier model race without a link to agentic leadership is a competitive cost center rather than a growth investment,” and will be listening for management to draw that connection.

“The prevailing concern is that a rival leapfrogs Muse or Wonder and locks Meta into a perpetual over-investment cycle, though in our view Meta's track record (WhatsApp globally, Reels vs. TikTok) and the feedback loop from free distribution to 3.6bn users position the company as the most likely scaled leader,” the analyst added,

Guggenheim raised its 2027 capital expenditure forecast to $225 billion from $203 billion. It forecasts third-quarter core advertising growth of 25% and includes a $10 billion legal charge tied to the August child-safety settlement.

Original Article

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