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Needham Upgrades Meta Platforms (META) Stock to Hold

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is one of the Top 10 Stocks to Buy According to Lakehouse Capital. On July 3, Needham upgraded the company’s stock to “Hold” from “Underperform” with no price target, as reported by The Fly. The firm had maintained its cautious stance, highlighting strategic concerns and structural cost pressures. The channel checks have been driving the upside to the estimates, while the firm also highlighted Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s strong labor productivity metrics. Furthermore, it noted the company’s globally scaled, software-only model, benefiting from closed-loop attribution for advertisers.

Despite the upgrade, Needham warned that the company’s strategy diffusion wastes capital and adds risks. There are concerns related to the persistent margin and FCF pressures, with Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock-based compensation per full-time employee (SBC/FTE) being the highest among peers. The company’s headcount was 76,834 as of March 31, 2025, reflecting a rise of 11% YoY. For Q1 2025, the company stated that Ad impressions delivered throughout the Family of Apps rose 5% YoY, while average price per ad increased 10% YoY.

Macquarie Asset Management, an investment management company, released its Q1 2025 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:

“The largest individual detractors from performance relative to the benchmark were not owning Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), not owning Eli Lilly & Co., and our position in Electronic Arts Inc. Meta stock was slightly negative to end the quarter but relative to the benchmark and other communication services stock performed well. Having a zero weight relative to the large benchmark allocation hurt. We continue to follow this company closely and while we have become incrementally more constructive, we still have lingering concerns about the business model and worry the cyclical weakness in advertising spend could create further pressure.”

While we acknowledge the potential of META to grow, 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 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 13 Cheap AI Stocks to Buy According to Analysts and 11 Unstoppable Growth Stocks to Invest in 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.

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  • 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.

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