Meta Platforms (META) stock jumped 11% on Monday, closing at $741.25. Wells Fargo raised its price target to $796 from $640.
Analyst Ken Gawrelski cited early demand for Muse, Meta’s new AI agent. He said it gives Meta a credible AI story ahead of Wednesday’s Connect conference.
Muse Turns Heads on the App Charts
Meta launched Muse on Sept. 8. The AI agent completes tasks such as filling out forms, booking appointments, and sending emails, rather than only answering questions. It runs on Muse Spark, the model family Meta built for agentic work.
Muse briefly topped Apple’s US App Store chart for free apps. Rankings varied by tracker. Some trackers placed it fourth or fifth overall, with a stronger number two ranking in the Productivity category.
The analytics firm Sensor Tower estimated US iOS downloads. They climbed from the tens of thousands at launch to the hundreds of thousands within two weeks. Meta has not confirmed those figures itself.
That marks a shift after a stretch of AI model delays and heavy infrastructure spending. Those concerns once had Wall Street rotating out of Meta stock and into rivals.
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg brought in former Scale AI chief executive Alexandr Wang to rebuild the company’s AI lab, a move analysts now tie to Muse’s launch.
Appetite for Frontier AI Outweighs Safety Worries
The rally lands as debate continues over AI development. Critics ask whether the hype outpaces the real risk. Zuckerberg has pushed back on AI doomsday warnings, arguing competitive pressure among labs already keeps development in check.
He has also framed Meta’s ambitions in broader terms. He says superintelligence should reach everyone, not stay locked inside a handful of labs.
Monday’s move suggests those safety debates have done little to cool demand for shares tied to frontier AI progress . The S&P 500 closed up 1.49% at 7,764. The Nasdaq Composite gained 2.26% to 27,122, though Meta’s surge outpaced both. Alphabet (GOOGL) added 1.55% to $354.97, and Snap (SNAP) rose 3.07% to $5.70.
Meta heads into Wednesday’s Connect conference facing one key question. Can Muse’s early buzz turn into real usage numbers, not just app store rankings? That answer could confirm whether the AI turnaround finally pays off.
