Why Meta Platforms Stock Jumped Today
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) stock climbed in Monday's trading and closed out the daily session up 2.8%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) and the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) gained 0.9% and 1.5%, respectively.
Stocks broadly moved higher today following a Wall Street Journal report suggesting that military strikes between Israel and Iran could de-escalate in the near future. In addition to the broader market trend, Meta Platforms' share price also got a boost from an announcement about its WhatsApp platform and positive coverage from analysts.
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Oppenheimer weighs in with bullish coverage on Meta stock
Before the market opened this morning, Oppenheimer published a new note on Meta Platforms. The investment firm maintained an outperform rating on the stock and increased its one-year price target from $665 per share to $775 per share. As of today's market close, the new price target still implied additional upside of roughly 10%. Oppenheimer's analysts cited improvements in the digital-advertising market as a key factor behind its price-target increase.
Meta announces ads on WhatsApp
Meta announced today that it is rolling out channel subscriptions and in-platform advertisements on its WhatsApp messaging platform. Promoted channels and advertisements will now be featured in the WhatsApp Updates tab. While some users may not be thrilled with the changes, the move should help Meta monetize the large and highly engaged user base on its WhatsApp platform.
In addition to integrating ads into the service, Meta has been experimenting with WhatsApp as a platform that can host artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot services for customer service applications. WhatsApp reportedly now has more than 3 billion active users a month, and there's a good chance that Meta will continue exploring ways to generate more revenue from the platform.
Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.