Activist investor Dan Loeb’s Third Point LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 47% in the third quarter of 2025.
Details:
According to recent 13F filings, reflecting his holdings as of Sept. 30, Third Point raised its stake to 220,000 shares from 150,000 in the second quarter of 2025.
Notably, in the first quarter of 2025, Third Point fully divested its holdings in Meta, having held 665,000 shares at the close of the fourth quarter of 2024.
Recent Earnings Release
In October, Meta reported third-quarter diluted earnings per share of $1.05, which includes a one-time, non-cash income tax charge of $15.93 billion and may not compare to estimates of $6.68.
Quarterly revenue of $51.24 billion, which beat the Street estimate of $49.38 billion and was a 26.25% increase year over year.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Meta’s investment in smart glasses and augmented reality devices could eventually turn into “an extremely profitable business.”
Meta sees fourth-quarter revenue in a range of $56 billion to $59 billion, versus the $57.21 billion analyst estimate.
Other Key Events
Last month, the Facebook and Instagram parent stated that it plans to invest more than $600 billion in the U.S. by 2028 to expand AI technology, data centers, and workforce capabilities — a move it says will help advance its vision of “personal superintelligence” for everyone.
Also, Meta revealed plans to invest more than $1 billion in the construction of a data center in Wisconsin that will support artificial intelligence work.
Moreover, the company is testing a new generative-AI briefing on Facebook as part of its urgent push to challenge ChatGPT.
The company is also reportedly preparing to evaluate employees based on their ability to drive results using artificial intelligence.
Apart from this, a federal judge has handed a major legal triumph to Meta, officially rejecting government accusations that the tech giant maintains an illegal monopoly on personal social networking.
Analyst View
Following Meta's earnings announcement, several analysts adjusted their price forecasts. B of A Securities' Justin Post maintained a Buy rating but lowered the price target from $900 to $810.
Higher CapEx and one-time charges that led to missed earnings per share were negatives from the earnings report, Post said in an investor note. The analyst said the AI opportunity is worth the wait and could lead to higher revenue.
Meanwhile, Rosenblatt's Barton Crockett also kept a Buy rating and raised the price forecast from $1,086 to $1,117.
The analyst said AI is helping the company put more relevant content in front of its users, helping improve engagement times and potential monetization.
Stock Comparison
Year-to-date, Meta rose 9.65%, underperforming the Shares Global Comm Services ETF (NYSE:IXP), which gained about 28.36%.
Also, the company has been underperforming compared to Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU), which rose approximately 66.25% and 40.16%, respectively, so far this year.
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