Wells Fargo Raises Meta Price Target to $1,000 on Muse AI Momentum

Wells Fargo on Tuesday raised its Meta Platforms (META) price target to $1,000 from $796, the highest among FactSet-tracked analysts, implying roughly 35% upside. Analyst Ken Gawrelski credited early momentum from Meta's Muse AI assistant for the more bullish outlook. Gawrelski warned investors to be cautious ahead of Meta's third-quarter earnings later this month, forecasting litigation costs and higher infrastructure spending tied to Muse will weigh on near-term profit. He expects $10 billion in legal charges this quarter from general platform litigation, cutting EPS to $3.72 from the $6.14 Wall Street consensus — which he called a likely "trough" for the cycle. He also removed 500 megawatts of planned data-center resale capacity from his 2027 estimates — about $5 billion in potential revenue — saying Muse's rapid growth requires Meta to retain that compute. Gawrelski projects 2027 operating expenses of $210 billion to $215 billion, above the $202 billion consensus, and capital expenditures of $250 billion, up sharply from Meta's estimated $130 billion to $145 billion for 2026. In his bull case, Meta could reach $1,211.