Facebook-parent Meta soars as AI powers return to growth – WTVB

By Aditya Soni(Reuters) – Meta Platforms Inc’s shares rose 11% on Thursday after the Facebook owner dazzled Wall Street with an earnings report that showed progress towards the “year of efficiency” and a return to growth, thanks to AI-powered content recommendations.The company is set to add nearly $60 billion to its market valuation, if premarket gains hold. The rally also lifted other tech companies from Snap Inc and Pinterest Inc to Amazon.com Inc by as much as 3.3%.“If you want to be treated and valued like a growth stock, you need growth! And this is precisely what Meta delivered returning to growth… just as questions around a potential recession get louder,” Bernstein analyst Mark Shmulik said in a note.Shmulik was among the 27 analysts who raised their price targets on Meta, pushing the median view to $260, which represents an upside of nearly 25% to a stock that has already risen over 70% this year to lead gains among Big Tech companies.Meta beat expectations for first-quarter profit and revenue, which rose for the first time in nearly a year, the latest sign that American tech giants were digging themselves out of a slump that has sparked tens of thousands of
Read More