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Citi Keeps Buy Rating on META, Sees Strong Growth Despite Ad Load Drop

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is one of the 12 Most Owned Stocks by Hedge Funds So Far in 2025. On July 15, Citi maintained its “Buy” rating on Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) with a price target of $803. The firm believes that the company has “multiple growth catalysts ahead.”

Analyst Ronald Josey called Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) a “Top-Pick.” Citi’s tracking data shows that the Instagram Sponsored Reels ad load dropped by 100 basis points from Q1 2025 to 24.9% in Q2 2025. This is the first time the ad load declined since Citi started tracking this metric in June 2022. Despite this decline, it is still up 340 basis points compared to Q2 2024.

Photo by austin-distel on Unsplash

Citi believes this quarterly decline in ad load can be attributed to Meta Platforms, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:META) new AI advertising tools that deliver more relevant and personalized ads. These AI tools, including Andromeda, GEM, Lattice, and Sequence Learning, can improve ad conversion rates. This makes the ads more effective.

Citi noted that Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is “well positioned to deliver better than expected results.” The firm also mentioned a growing online advertising market as a factor supporting the company’s growth.

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is an American multinational technology company that owns and operates social media platforms and communication services, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Messenger, and WhatsApp.

While we acknowledge the potential of META as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than META and that has a 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 10 Best American Semiconductor Stocks to Buy Now and 11 Best Fintech Stocks to Buy Right Now.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.

The $250 Trillion AI Hype is Real. A few years from now, you’ll probably wish you’d bought this stock.

When Jeff Bezos said that one breakthrough technology would shape Amazon’s destiny, even Wall Street’s biggest analysts were caught off guard.

Fast forward a year and Amazon’s new CEO Andy Jassy described generative AI as a “once-in-a-lifetime” technology that is already being used across Amazon to reinvent customer experiences.

At the 8th Future Investment Initiative conference, Elon Musk predicted that by 2040 there would be at least 10 billion humanoid robots, with each priced between $20,000 and $25,000.

Do the math. According to Musk, this technology could be worth $250 trillion by 2040.

Put another way, that’s roughly equal to:

  • 175 Teslas
  • 107 Amazons
  • 140 Metas
  • 84 Googles
  • 65 Microsofts
  • And 55 Nvidias

And here’s the wild part — this $250 trillion wave isn’t tied to one company, but to an entire ecosystem of AI innovators set to reshape the global economy.

It’s a leap so massive, it could reshape how businesses, governments, and consumers operate worldwide.

Even if that $250 trillion figure sounds ambitious, major firms like PwC and McKinsey still see AI unlocking multi-trillion-dollar potential.

How could anything be worth that much?

The answer lies in a breakthrough so powerful it’s redefining how humanity works, learns, and creates.

And this breakthrough has already set off a frenzy among hedge funds and Wall Street’s top investors.

What most investors don’t realize is that one under-owned company holds the key to this $250 trillion revolution.

In fact, Verge argues this company’s supercheap AI technology should concern rivals.

Before I reveal the details, let’s talk about how some of the richest people on the planet are positioning themselves.

  • Bill Gates sees artificial intelligence as the “biggest technological advance in my lifetime,” more transformative than the internet or personal computer, capable of improving healthcare, education, and addressing climate change.
  • Larry Ellison — through Oracle, is spending billions on Nvidia chips and partnering with Cohere to embed generative AI across Oracle’s cloud and apps.
  • Warren Buffett — not known for tech hype — says this breakthrough could have a ‘hugely beneficial social impact.

When billionaires from Silicon Valley to Wall Street line up behind the same idea — you know it’s worth paying attention to.

Even as we admire what Tesla, Nvidia, Alphabet, and Microsoft have built, we believe an even greater opportunity lies elsewhere…

But the real story isn’t Nvidia — it’s a much smaller company quietly improving the critical technology that makes this entire revolution possible.

And judging by what I’m hearing from both Silicon Valley insiders and Wall Street veterans…

This prediction might not be bold at all:

A few years from now, you’ll wish you’d owned this stock.

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