We recently published a list of Jim Cramer is Talking About These 10 Stocks Amid Global Selloff. Since Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) ranks 2nd on the list, it deserves a deeper look.

Jim Cramer in his latest program on CNBC talked about the brutal market selloff of Monday and said days like these could make you “cry yourself to sleep.” Cramer said that this “nasty” selloff was expected.

“It’s exactly what you’d expect at this point in the rate cycle, the point where the Fed is about to start cutting rates to bolster the economy. But the economy is going down,” Cramer said.

Cramer said that the Monday selloff was “vicious enough” to make any investor think why they should stay in the market, but that’s exactly “what you have to do.” He thinks the latest decline is a buying opportunity for long-term investors.

Jim Cramer said that the selloff started because money managers who were borrowing money from Japan to invest in US stocks were caught with their “pants down” when Japan increased interest rates. As a result, these funds were forced to sell their stocks. He thinks it’s not possible to call a bottom on this decline yet “until we know these sellers are done unwinding their trades.”

Cramer said that another key reason why investors were selling on Monday was the notion that the Fed is late on cutting rates. But Cramer said a 25 bps rate cut wouldn’t have mattered a lot and if Fed Chair Jerome Powell sees there is a need for an urgent rate cut, he’d do it.

“He’s got horse sense,” Cramer said.

Jim Cramer said there are no “safe havens” in tech and while he reiterated his bullish view on some notable tech stocks, he advised investors to be ready for “pain” in the near term if they want to invest in technology.

“If you can’t take the pain, then get the heck out of it.”

For this article we watched several latest programs of Jim Cramer and picked 10 important stocks he’s talking about. With each stock we have mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META)

Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 246

Jim Cramer in a latest program talked about strong second-quarter results from Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META). Cramer said Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) was able to make its targetted advertising better.

“Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) is spending a huge amount to have enough to have enough computing power and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he’ll spend maybe ten times of this after the next generation of its large language models more efficient than ever because the opportunity is so enormous.”

Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) crushed past analyst estimates for its latest quarterly results, giving signs that the huge AI spending it’s doing would bear more results in the future. After the results, Citi said it remains “incrementally positive” on Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) shares due to engagement and monetization gains, along with expanding margins. The firm raised its price target for META to $580 from $550.

JPMorgan said it sees AI benefiting Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) at three levels: core Family of Apps (FoA) improvements, new opportunities and experiences, and scaling the Metaverse. It also upped META price target to $610 from $480.

Morgan Stanley also liked how Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) is improving its recommendation systems and quality with AI.

The market has been reluctant about Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) massive spending on AI. What does Meta want to achieve with its AI spending? The company wants to use AI to improve engagement and language models like Llama 3 to improve user interactions, boost engagement, and better monetize its 3.2 billion daily active users.

But can Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) sustain this high spending? The company’s free cash flow margin is around 30%, and it’s well on track to report $50 billion in free cash flow this year. Based on this target the stock is trading at around 26 times this year’s free cash flow. Given the current trajectory continues Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) can post $58 billion in free cash flow by next year, which means the stock is trading at 21 times next year’s free cash flow. With a whopping $35 billion in net cash, a strong user base, and a key position in the consumer-facing side of the AI industry, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) could be a solid long-term investment.

Polen Focus Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:

“In the second quarter, the top relative contributors to the Portfolio’s performance were all names we do not hold: Home Depot, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), and AbbVie. Meta Platforms delivered robust results in the period, with revenue growth accelerating in the first quarter. However, revenue comparisons for Meta will become more difficult from here, and its guidance for 2Q revenue fell below market expectations. After the company’s “year of efficiency,” where it cut costs in its core business, management is now indicating another ramp-up in GenAI and metaverse spending, spurring concerns about future profit margins. Metaverse spending, by our calculations, is now over $20 billion per year with little to no expected return on the foreseeable horizon.”

Overall, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) ranks 2nd on Insider Monkey’s list titled Jim Cramer is Talking About These 10 Stocks Amid Global Selloff. While we acknowledge the potential of Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META), our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than META but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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