We recently published a list of 10 Best Stocks to Buy for High Returns in 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) stands against other best stocks to buy for high returns in 2025.
Market Outlook 2025
On December 17, 2024, J.P. Morgan released its market outlook 2025. The report expects the global economy to continue growing at a robust rate, however a sharp slowdown in China is expected. Regarding the equity market, the firm anticipates depressing trends across stocks, sectors, and themes. Analysts at the firm estimate the S&P 500 to be around 6,500 in 2025 with earnings per share of $270. The head of Global Market Research, Hussain Malik noted that the policies of the United States regarding trade, immigration, and regulatory policy will play a critical role in defining the year’s outcome for the country and globally.
The report further elaborated on its anticipation of a depressed stock market by highlighting de-coupling central bank policies, uneven progress in disinflation, and ongoing technological innovation. Moreover, increased geopolitical tensions are also likely to add unusual complexity to the global stock market. Despite all this, the firm has bright expectations for the United States. It believes that the country will remain a key driver of growth due to factors such as an expanding business cycle, a robust labor market, increased capital spending related to AI, and active capital markets. On the other hand, Europe is expected to grapple with structural challenges, while emerging markets may face headwinds from persistent high interest rates, a strong US dollar, and trade policy issues.
Lakos-Bujas, head of Global Markets Strategy at J.P. Morgan warned that a key risk to their base case involves disinflation stalling or reversing, which could prompt the Federal Reserve to consider interest rate hikes later in 2025 or early 2026. Such developments would necessitate a reassessment of their market outlook.
Our Methodology
To curate the list of the 10 best stocks to buy for high returns in 2025, we used Insider Monkey’s third-quarter hedge funds database. We checked the 25 most widely held stocks by hedge funds for 10-year growth rates from Seeking Alpha and ranked these stocks in ascending order of the number of hedge funds.
Why do we care about what hedge funds do? 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).
A team of developers working in unison to create the company’s messaging application.
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
10-Year Revenue Growth: 30.15%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 235
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is a global technology company that develops social media platforms and virtual reality technologies. The company has also launched its AI chatbot which users can access while using Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
On January 23, Bank of America maintained its Buy rating on the stock and raised its price target to $710 from its previous target of $660. The firm remains confident in management’s cost discipline and its potential in AI capabilities. According to a recent report by The New York Times, CEO, Mark Zuckerburg has plans to increase spending on AI. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) plans to invest around $60 to $65 billion in artificial intelligence in 2025. This is a huge difference from the $40 billion the company has spent in 2024. Management also plans to launch its own GPUs by the end of the year. It is one of the best stocks to buy for high returns in 2025.
Hardman Johnston Global Equity stated the following regarding Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“During the quarter, we initiated one new position in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) and had no liquidations. Management at Meta has effectively addressed concerns about investment efficiency by shifting resources from Reality Labs towards broader AI initiatives with a clearer path to profitability. We believe management has successfully articulated the benefits of this strategy, highlighting how AI is driving user engagement and advertiser productivity. This, in turn, fuels continued revenue momentum and increases the likelihood of positive earnings surprises in the future. Additionally, the parent company of the social media platform, Facebook, has recently taken positive steps to enhance safety, which suggests to us a shift towards a more proactive and responsive approach to addressing important potential challenges and concerns. Weak oversight over data privacy protection was a key reason why we sold the position in the portfolio back in 2021. Removing this governance overhang allows us to feel comfortable to enter back into the stock at a time when we believe it is poised for strong earnings growth going forward.”
Overall, META ranks 2nd on our list of best stocks to buy for high returns in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of META to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. 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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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.