Benzinga - by Surbhi Jain, .
Billionaire hedge fund manager and owner of the Carolina Panthers of the NFL, David Tepper, has been bullish on Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) stock since March 2016.
Meta stock is up about 232% since March 2016 and analysts continue to be bullish on the stock.
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Appaloosa Management first invested in Meta stock in the first-quarter of 2016. The stock traded at a price of around $110 back then. Meta stock is currently trading at around $365. That’s more than 3X your investment.
The chart above depicts the stock's trajectory from the first quarter of 2016 to now. Hence, if you invested $1,000 into the stock right about the time Tepper became bullish on it, your investment would have grown to about $3,320 today. That's a whopping 232% return. In annualized terms, that's a 20% CAGR.
In September 2023, Tepper doubled down on his Meta stock investment, increasing its total portfolio weight to just over 8%. Tepper’s doubling down on his Meta investment could be a result of the AI push that the stock has enjoyed through 2023:
- Mark Zuckerberg Wants You To Have Your Own Jarvis: AI Is Coming To Instagram, Messenger, And WhatsApp
- Meta Platforms Enhances AI Offerings Amidst Regulatory Scrutiny
- Not To Be Left Behind, Meta Launches New AI Image Generator To Take On OpenAI And Microsoft
Over the past year, the stock is up 172%. Having gained so much so fast, investors wonder whether there's any upside left. Despite having a high valuation, META is well-positioned due to its AI advantage and best-in-class profitability.
Per consensus estimates, META remains a Buy for growth-oriented investors, with its FWD valuations only normalized, thanks to the promising return of advertising spend, optimized operations, and profitable growth trend.
Analysts who recently reviewed the company have raised their price target on Meta stock.
- Mizuho analyst James Lee on Jan. 11 maintained Buy while raising price target from $400 to $470.
- BMO Capital’s Brian Pitz initiated coverage on Jan. 9 with a price target of $397.
- Wedbush analyst Scott Devitt maintains Outperform with a price target of $420.
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