Meta Platforms Stock Trending as Analysts Stay Bullish

Meta Platforms (META) stock has delivered a modest 5.86% gain over the past twelve months, even as it slipped 2.82% in the last week and edged down 0.86% over the past month. Despite this recent softness, Wall Street’s analysts remain firmly optimistic: the 12‑month average price target stands at $824.90 versus a last close of $641.97, and the overall analyst consensus is a StrongBuy, implying meaningful upside over the coming year for investors willing to look beyond short‑term volatility.

One of the most closely watched voices on the name, Justin Post of Bank of America, reiterated his Buy rating on Meta on January 12, 2026, setting a price objective of $810.00. That target points to a substantial potential gain from current levels. Post ranks 54th out of 11,984 analysts tracked, with a notable 68.65% success rate and an average return of 25.00% per rating, metrics that give extra weight to his bullish stance on the stock and help explain why sentiment around Meta remains so positive on Wall Street.

Post’s latest note focuses on a theme that is becoming central to the Meta story: securing affordable, reliable power for its fast‑growing artificial intelligence infrastructure. Meta has announced long‑term partnerships with three nuclear energy companies—Vistra, TerraPower, and Oklo—designed to support up to 6.6 gigawatts of energy capacity by 2035. Post argues that power availability is now a key constraint for data‑center expansion across the industry, and that locking in long‑term energy capacity and pricing should help Meta sustain AI capacity growth over the next decade without major near‑term shocks to operating expenses.

The details of these deals underline how strategically Meta is thinking about its energy needs. With TerraPower, the company will help fund two new Natrium nuclear units that could generate up to 690 megawatts of firm power as early as 2032, with rights to energy from up to six more units totaling 2.1 gigawatts by 2035. The Oklo partnership targets a new nuclear campus in Pike County, Ohio, expected online by 2030 and potentially adding up to 1.2 gigawatts of baseload power into the PJM market to support Meta’s regional operations. Meanwhile, Meta’s agreement with Vistra will provide financial support to maintain and extend the life of existing nuclear plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania, feeding power into grids that back Meta’s facilities, including its Prometheus supercluster in Ohio.

Looking ahead, investors will be watching Meta’s 2026 expense guidance and its planned launch of a new large language model in the first half of the year. Post notes that fourth‑quarter ad trends have been constructive and that year‑over‑year comparisons for first‑quarter revenue look favorable, but he does not expect any pullback in AI‑related spending. Instead, he anticipates 2026 total expenses will grow at a significantly faster rate than in 2025—potentially 30–45% year over year, above current Street expectations—as Meta continues to invest heavily in AI capacity and power. For now, the strong analyst consensus, led by top‑ranked voices like Post, suggests that the market still views these investments as laying the groundwork for long‑term value creation rather than a drag on the story. Never miss a stock rating. Find all the latest ratings on TipRanks’ Top Wall Street Analysts page.