META Stock On Track To Extend Gains After Hitting 1-Month High, But Wall Street Divided On When Muse AI Agent Will Be A 'Game Changer'

• Oppenheimer reiterated its ‘Perform’ rating and said it doesn't see "Muse Agent as a game changer." 
• It cited concerns around consumer demand and monetization.
• JPMorgan took a more bullish stance, upgrading Meta to ‘Overweight’ and raising its price target to $820 from $640.

Meta Platforms (META) shares gained in early morning trade on Thursday, on track to extend their gains after hitting an over one-month high in the previous session following the launch of its Muse AI agent. However, not everyone on Wall Street is convinced that the frontier model is a “game changer.”

In a note to investors cited by TheFly, Oppenheimer said that while investors cheered the release of "Muse from Meta," the company's task AI agent for consumers, the firm remains skeptical of the financial benefits. It said it doesn't see "Muse Agent as a game changer" and reiterated a ‘Perform’ rating on Meta shares.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth upgraded Meta Platforms to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ and bumped up the price target to $820, up from $640. The shares offer "meaningful upside potential" as Meta is in the early stages of releasing frontier models and AI-driven products beyond advertising, notably Muse AI agent and Meta Model API access. 

META stock edged 0.5% higher in pre-market trade, with tech trending lower in the broader market. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the Mark Zuckerberg-led enterprise fell to ‘bearish’ from ‘neutral’ territory over the past day even as chatter rose to ‘high’ from ‘normal’ levels.

3 Reasons Why Oppenheimer Isn’t Convinced

Oppenheimer identified three key challenges. It questioned whether enough consumers will be willing to pay for the service, whether potential customers are already paying for competing AI products such as Google’s Gemini or OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and whether consumers will trust Meta with their passwords.

Oppenheimer also said that Muse could have limited usefulness for e-commerce and other online services without consumers sharing passwords or granting the agent broader access to their accounts. That could make it harder for Meta to compete with products such as the new Siri, which uses Gemini, and future versions of ChatGPT that could support similar tasks.

JPMorgan Sees More AI Upside For Meta

JPMorgan pointed to Muse and Meta’s Model API access as two areas that could broaden the company’s AI opportunity. The firm said frontier models are becoming central to Meta’s product and monetization pipeline, as well as its longer-term path toward superintelligence.

JPMorgan also expects Watermelon to create additional opportunities across consumer products, business intelligence and advertising. The firm cited Meta’s expanding AI monetization efforts as a key reason for the upgrade.

How Is Retail Feeling About ‘Muse By Meta’?

Retail investors on Stocktwits appeared divided on Muse. One trader described the product as an interesting goal and productivity assistant but questioned whether it would gain widespread adoption.

Another investor took a broader view of Meta’s AI strategy, stating that the company’s opportunity extends beyond individual AI models. The trader pointed to Meta’s free cash flow, computing capacity and massive distribution network as advantages that could help the company scale AI products quickly.

The debate comes as Meta continues to expand its AI ambitions. The company is also reportedly losing its prominent Meta AI researcher Andrew Tulloch.

META stock has gained around 1% so far this year, and lost over 13% in the last 12 months. 

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