Meta Platforms, Inc., commonly referred to as Meta and formerly known as Facebook, Inc., is a technology conglomerate based in the United States. It's known primarily for its social media products, including its namesake Facebook, as well as Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus. The company has been a significant player in the tech industry, especially in the realm of social media and virtual reality. As a publicly-traded company, Meta's stock is a topic of interest for investors, analysts, and industry observers. The performance of Meta's stock can be influenced by various factors including the company's earnings reports, changes in technology trends, regulatory issues, and general market conditions. Meta has been pushing the concept of the "metaverse," which refers to a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space, including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the Internet. When discussing Meta's stock, it's important to consider not just the current financial performance but also the company's strategic direction, potential growth areas, and challenges it might be facing. This includes how well it is adapting to changing social media landscapes, its plans for monetizing new technologies like the metaverse, and how it is dealing with various regulatory and societal pressures. Over the last 1 year, Meta's price has tripled, showing massive growth in the US stock market. In this article, we'll explore Meta stock price prediction and its future market performance with in-depth technical analysis to guide investors with a profitable investment plan. Meta Platforms, Inc., previously known as Facebook, Inc., and originally TheFacebook, Inc., is a major American technology conglomerate headquartered in Menlo Park, California. It owns and operates well-known platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp, among other products and services. Meta is recognized as one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Alphabet (Google's parent company), Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft. Beyond its main social media platforms, Meta has expanded its portfolio by acquiring Oculus (now part of Reality Labs), Mapillary, and CTRL-Labs, and has invested in Jio Platforms with a 9.99% stake. While the company has ventured into non-VR hardware, including the now-discontinued Meta Portal smart displays and the ongoing Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses in partnership with Luxottica, its primary revenue source remains advertising. In 2022, advertising accounted for 97.5% of Meta's revenue. The shift from Facebook, Inc., to Meta Platforms, Inc., on October 28, 2021, signified the company's strategic pivot to focus on developing the metaverse. Meta defines the metaverse as an integrated environment connecting all of its products and services. Facebook filed its initial public offering (IPO) on January 1, 2012, aiming to raise $5 billion and reporting 845 million active users and 2.7 billion daily interactions. Mark Zuckerberg retained a 22% ownership and 57% of voting shares. The IPO, valuing the company at $104 billion, was the largest for a new public company. Due to high demand, Facebook increased share offerings by 25%. The IPO raised $16 billion, making it the third-largest in U.S. history. Trading on Nasdaq faced initial problems, and underwriters had to support the share price, which barely stayed above the IPO price. Investigations ensued over possible information mishandling by banks, leading to several lawsuits. In 2014, Zuckerberg announced a shift in company motto, emphasizing stable infrastructure. Facebook launched Lasso, a short-video app, in 2018 but shut it down in 2020. The company also explored virtual reality with Oculus and launched a cryptocurrency project, Libra, later renamed Diem, which was eventually discontinued. The COVID-19 pandemic saw increased online service usage, leading to Facebook's growth. In 2021, amidst controversies, Facebook rebranded to Meta, focusing on building the metaverse. Zuckerberg's Chan Zuckerberg Initiative had previously trademarked "Meta" for related services. Post-rebranding, Meta faced profit declines and laid off 11,000 employees in 2022, admitting overinvestment mistakes. In 2023, the company focused more on AI and launched Threads, a Twitter competitor. Meta also made its AI model, Llama 2, commercially available and withdrew news content from Canadian platforms due to regulatory requirements. Meta has made several key acquisitions. It bought Instagram for about $1 billion in April 2012, acquired Onavo in October 2013, and purchased WhatsApp for $19 billion in February 2014. Later in 2014, it acquired Oculus VR for $2.3 billion, releasing a VR headset in 2016. After rebranding to Meta Platforms Inc in late 2022, Oculus became Meta Quest. Meta also bought Beat Games in late 2019. In May 2020, Meta acquired Giphy for $400 million, planning to integrate it with Instagram. However, the UK's CMA challenged this, leading to Meta being fined $70 million and eventually selling Giphy to Shutterstock for $53 million in May 2023. In November 2020, Meta announced plans to buy Kustomer, a customer-service platform and chatbot company, for over $1 billion, finalizing the deal in February 2022. In September 2022, Meta also acquired Lofelt, a haptic technology startup based in Berlin. Meta has faced numerous lawsuits. In March 2020, Australia's OAIC sued it for privacy breaches in the Cambridge Analytica case, with potential fines of $1.7 million per violation. In December 2020, the U.S. FTC and 46 states filed an antitrust lawsuit over Meta's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. In December 2021, Russia fined Meta $27 million for not removing banned content. In May 2022, a lawsuit in Kenya accused Meta of poor working conditions for Facebook post moderators. In June 2022, eight U.S. lawsuits claimed that excessive use of Facebook and Instagram led to mental health issues among users. That month, Meta also settled a lawsuit with the U.S. DOJ for enabling housing discrimination through targeted ads, resulting in a $115,054 penalty. In January 2023, Meta was fined €390 million for violating the EU's General Data Protection Regulation. In May 2023, the European Data Protection Board imposed a record €1.2 billion fine on Meta for transferring EU users' data to U.S. servers in breach of privacy laws. Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook) went public in May 2012. The IPO was one of the biggest in technology and Internet history, with a peak market capitalization of over $104 billion. Meta stock price started trading on NASDAQ in 2012 at a price of $38. After the IPO, the stock price experienced some fluctuations but generally showed an upward trend in the following years, reflecting the company's growing user base and revenue. Meta's stock has seen significant periods of growth, particularly as the company expanded its advertising business, developed new features, and acquired other platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp. Without any significant downtrend, Meta's price touched $210 in 2018's July. However, it then faced a selloff as it dropped toward $130 by 2018's end. In the next two years, the stock price recovered and touched $230 but faced another decline due to Covid pandemic, resulting in the price declining to $150. However, as the impact was minor on social platforms, Meta price recovered quickly from these lows and touched a high of $380 in 2021. Meta Platforms experienced a downward trend beginning in September 2021, a shift attributed to the declining pandemic boost as widespread vaccinations became more prevalent. This downtrend intensified in November and reached a climax in February 2022. Contributing factors included management's cautious statements regarding future growth prospects and the reported marginal decrease in Facebook's daily active users (DAU) for Q4 2021. This marked a rare slowdown for the company, leading to a sharp drop in shares by over 26%. In a significant move, May 2022 saw Meta Platforms change its stock ticker from 'FB' to 'META', a change that symbolized its rebranding from Facebook to Meta, a name that better reflects its broadened focus beyond social media. The company faced further challenges with its second-quarter financial results, reporting a decrease in revenue to $452 million from the previous quarter's $695 million. This decline was due to persistently weak demand in the advertising sector. Despite growing sales in its virtual reality hardware and software, the company's VR division reported substantial losses of $2.8 billion in the same quarter. However, since November 2022, Meta stock price went on an uptrend and it held its momentum above $330 in 2023. Recently, the Meta share price experienced an intense bullish trend, which has triggered buyers near the immediate resistance levels. The price has been on a steady upward trajectory over the last few months. After breaking above the $233-mark, Meta stock price sparked an intense buying momentum and surged heavily. Though the market was previously heavily influenced by rising inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic, Meta showed no bearish sign, as seen on the daily price chart, and maintained its price momentum within a bullish region. However, the price has been facing minor selling pressure recently and it failed to make a bullish reversal due to low buying demand. A thorough technical analysis of Meta share price reveals mixed indicators, which may soon send the price either to new lows or highs. According to TradingView, the Meta price is currently trading at $333, reflecting a decrease of 0.47% in the last 24 hours. Our technical evaluation of Meta stock price indicates that the current bullish momentum may soon intensify as bulls are attempting to push the trend from the current buying region; however, bears are trying to prevent the price from surging above the resistance level of $345. Examining the daily price chart, Meta stock price has found support near the $275 level, from which the price recorded minor gains and held momentum above 23.6% Fib channel. As Meta's price continues to trade above the EMA20, bulls are gaining confidence to open further long positions and send the stock price to test its resistance line. The Balance of Power (BoP) indicator is currently trading in a negative region zone at 0.11 as sellers are increasing their domination on the price chart. To thoroughly analyze the price of Meta, it is crucial to take a look at the RSI-14 indicator. The RSI indicator recently experienced a decline as Meta's price failed to hold buyers' demand near $338. The trend line is currently hovering below the overbought region as it trades at level 56, hinting that bulls are struggling to hold momentum. It is anticipated that Meta price will soon attempt to break above its 23.6% Fibonacci level to achieve its short-term bullish goals of around $350. If bears fail to plunge below the current 0.038 Fibonacci region, an upward trend might be on the horizon. As the SMA-14 continues its upward swing by trading at 57, it trades slightly above the RSI line, potentially holding promises about the stock's upward movement on the price chart. If Meta price makes a bullish reversal above $357, it can pave the way to resistance at $386. A breakout above will drive the share price toward the upper limit of the Bollinger band at $400. Conversely, if Meta price fails to hold above the immediate support level of $314, a sudden collapse may occur, resulting in further price declines and causing the Meta price to trade near the Bollinger Band's lower limit of $273. If the price fails to continue a trade above, it may trigger a more significant bearish downtrend to $225. In 2023, Meta's stock price is expected to show a steady performance, with an average value of approximately $300. The minimum price for the year is projected to be around $274, while the maximum value might reach up to $350. This prediction is grounded in Meta's ongoing initiatives in social media innovation, augmented reality, and virtual reality developments. As we move into 2024, the stock price of Meta is forecasted to see a positive trend, averaging at about $350. The potential low for this year is estimated to be in the vicinity of $322, and the maximum price could escalate to around $402. This uptrend can be attributed to Meta's increasing market presence and advancements in digital advertising technologies. Heading into 2025, Meta's share price is predicted to continue its upward trajectory, with an average price hovering around $400. The minimum price is expected to be approximately $370, and the maximum price might scale up to $454. This forecast considers Meta's strategic investments in AI and machine learning, potentially boosting its market position. For the year 2026, the projection for Meta's stock price indicates an average of around $456. The stock is likely to have a minimum value of about $418 and could reach a maximum of $506. This prediction takes into account Meta's expanding global footprint and its efforts in enhancing user engagement. In 2027, Meta's share price is anticipated to maintain its growth, averaging at approximately $508. The stock's minimum and maximum values are projected to be around $482 and $558, respectively. These estimates reflect Meta's potential advancements in immersive technologies and its robust revenue streams. Moving into 2028, the forecast for Meta's stock price suggests an average of about $560. The stock is expected to have a minimum value of around $514 and could peak at $610. This projection considers Meta's leadership in the tech industry and its innovative product offerings. For 2029, Meta's stock price is predicted to continue its upward trend, with an average estimated at $600. The stock's minimum and maximum values might be approximately $562 and $662, respectively. This outlook is based on Meta's strategic acquisitions and its stronghold in the digital advertising space. Entering 2030, the stock price of Meta is projected to average around $664. The minimum and maximum stock values for the year are estimated to be in the range of $638 and $714, respectively. According to CNN, 52 analysts have provided 12-month price forecasts for Meta Platforms Inc. The median target among these forecasts is 382.00, with the highest estimate reaching 477.00 and the lowest at 175.00. This median target suggests a potential increase of +14.63% from the most recent price of 333.26 for Meta Platforms Inc. Coincodex's current forecast for META stock predicts a decrease of -1.00%, setting the price at $329.85 per share by December 20, 2023. Technical indicators point to a Bullish sentiment, and the Fear & Greed Index is at 39, indicating Fear. META stock has seen 50% green days (15 out of 30) with a 2.51% price volatility in the past month. According to Coincodex, it is not an opportune time to purchase META stock as it is trading 1.01% above their forecast. Reflecting on the average annual growth of Meta stock over the past decade, Coincodex anticipates the stock to open next year at around $412.12. Considering Meta's current market growth and its financial reports, it is a good stock to buy right now. During the three months ending in September, Meta's revenue of $34.1 billion resulted in an operating income of $13.7 billion and a net income of $11.6 billion. This represents a 23% increase in sales and a significant reduction in costs and expenses by 7%, leading to a 143% surge in operating income and a 164% jump in net income compared to the same period last year. Earnings per share increased from $1.64 to $4.39. A key factor in this growth was the increase in sales to Chinese companies recovering from economic challenges. Additionally, Meta reduced its spending while boosting ad sales, particularly to markets outside China. As a result, an investment of around $330 can turn profitable in the long run. The company is set to increase its capital expenditures to $30-$35 billion in 2024, a rise from this year's estimated $27-$29 billion. Overall, Meta expects to spend about $94-$99 billion next year on all expenses, which is a significant amount. This time, the spending approach is expected to be more strategic compared to last year's. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is likely aiming to avoid the negative feedback and challenges associated with heavy spending that doesn't correlate with immediate revenue or profit increases. Currently, the market may not fully appreciate this strategy, but this perspective is likely to change soon. With the company's shares down 13% from their October peak following the recent earnings report, there's potential for a rebound as investors start to recognize Meta's strong performance.