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Meta is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings after the market close Wednesday.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Meta Platforms
stock gained a new bull Tuesday, with New Street Research upgrading shares of the Facebook parent.
Analyst Dan Salmon lifted his rating on shares of Meta (ticker: META) to Buy from Neutral and increased his price target on the stock to $350 from $285. Salmon wrote that the rating boost was primarily driven by optimism regarding the steps Meta has taken in artificial intelligence.
Shares of Meta had gained 1.4% to $295.60. Coming into Tuesday, the stock has soared 142% this year. The company reports earnings on Wednesday after the market close.
Meta introduced the availability of Llama 2, in partnership with
Microsoft
(MSFT), on July 18. Llama 2 is an open-source large language model that gives developers the ability to build generative AI tools.
“After reviewing details of the Llama 2 release and particularly the broad-based
support for META’s open approach, we believe the initiative will help META expand the use of its large language model considerably,” Salmon said in a research note Tuesday.
Salmon also said he believes generative AI capabilities can create long-term monetization opportunities for Meta through the Metaverse, Messenger, and WhatsApp.
Write to Angela Palumbo at [email protected]
Source: https://www.barrons.com/articles/meta-platforms-stock-price-upgrade-earnings-ac5187d7?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo