Meta inventory is up 17 days in a row! Time to purchase this record-setter?

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) inventory has simply set a few information. Yesterday (11 February), it rose for the seventeenth straight buying and selling day, the longest profitable streak for a Nasdaq 100 share since 1990. That’s additionally a file for any ‘Magnificent Seven’ inventory!

Ought to I purchase shares of the Fb and Instagram proprietor for my Stocks and Shares ISA? Let’s have a look.

What’s happening?

Firstly, why has the inventory been marching greater? So far as I can inform, there are three principal causes right here.

Primary, the social media big reported an extremely robust fourth quarter on the finish of January. Income jumped 21% 12 months on 12 months to $48.4bn, whereas earnings per share ($8.02) surged 50%. These figures demolished Wall Road projections for $46.9bn and $6.75, respectively. 

CEO Mark Zuckerberg, mentioned: “We proceed to make good progress on AI, glasses, and the way forward for social media. I’m excited to see these efforts scale additional in 2025.”

Subsequent, the corporate plans to speculate as much as $65bn on synthetic intelligence (AI) infrastructure this 12 months. Nevertheless, not like many different firms, Meta is already benefiting from AI in a tangible method, utilizing it to enhance focused promoting and increase advert efficiency.

Promoting makes up practically 98% of income, so it could seem that the know-how is strengthening its core enterprise. With a staggering 3.35bn every day customers, the corporate’s platforms stay an advertiser’s dream.

Lastly, TikTok would possibly nonetheless get banned within the US, which might instantly profit Meta as much more eyeballs and promoting {dollars} would shift over to Fb and Instagram. Even when TikTok is purchased by a US firm, it could possible lose its aggressive edge, as proprietor ByteDance is fiercely protecting of the highly effective suggestion algorithm that preserve customers so engaged. It received’t simply hand it over to a competitor.

Valuation and dangers

Regardless of the inventory rising 235% in 5 years, it nonetheless appears to be like fairly valued to me. It’s at the moment buying and selling at 25 instances subsequent 12 months’s forecast earnings. In keeping with this metric, Meta is cheaper than every other Magnificent Seven inventory besides Alphabet (18).

Wanting forward, analysts count on each income and earnings to develop 11%-16% in each 2026 and 2027. So regardless of its already large scale, Meta is forecast to develop income to $239bn by 2027 (up from $135bn in 2023).

When it comes to dangers, I’d say a sudden slowdown in international advert spend is a giant one. We noticed this in 2022 when hovering rates of interest and financial uncertainty led firms to slash advertising budgets and lower prices.

Additionally, the corporate has and is making large investments in digital actuality and AI. If these don’t produce the returns that administration thinks they are going to, then traders might flip bearish on the inventory in some unspecified time in the future.

Will I purchase the inventory?

The corporate’s market cap is now just below $2trn, making Meta the sixth-largest firm on the planet. Whereas that doesn’t imply it received’t grow to be extra useful in future (I believe it’s going to), I query whether or not it will probably ship the type of excessive returns I sometimes search in a development inventory.

In different phrases, I desire to spend money on US shares with smaller market caps (lower than $50bn, normally). For traders curious about Meta inventory although, I’d say it’s value a glance, even after rising a lot.