Meta Platforms (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg has sold over $733 million worth of company shares in the first quarter of 2025. Now, through a prearranged 10b5-1 trading plan established in February 2025, Zuckerberg has filed to sell $166 million more in META stock.

Prearranged trading plans are designed to avoid insider trading concerns by scheduling sales in advance.  It is a common and legal practice among executives looking to diversify holdings or fund philanthropic efforts.

Meta stock has almost tripled in the last five years and continues to grow steadily. However, as past returns don’t matter much to current investors, let’s see if the tech stock is a good buy at current prices. 

Should You Own Meta Stock Right Now?

In Q1 2025, Meta Platforms reported revenue of $42.3 billion, an increase of 16% year-over-year. Moreover, its operating income stood at $17.6 billion, indicating a healthy margin of 41%. The social media company’s ecosystem continues to expand, with 3.4 billion people using at least one Meta app daily.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined a comprehensive AI strategy and highlighted five key investment areas for Meta. Notably, Meta is seeing remarkable traction with its advertising technology, where AI now helps businesses target audiences and generate creative options. These initiatives have improved conversion rates by 5% through new recommendation models. Meta also reported that 30% more advertisers are using these AI tools than in the previous quarter.

Meta's recommendation systems have boosted engagement across its platforms, with time spent increasing 7% on Facebook, 6% on Instagram, and 35% on Threads, which now boasts 350 million monthly active users. The company is investing heavily in business messaging, leveraging its vast user base across WhatsApp (3 billion monthly users), Messenger (over 1 billion), and Instagram's messaging service to build the next pillar of its business model.

Meta AI has quickly gained traction, with nearly 1 billion monthly active users across Meta’s apps. It recently launched a standalone Meta AI app focusing on personalization, voice conversations, and entertainment. 

Another opportunity area is AI devices, particularly smart glasses, which Meta views as the ideal form factor for both AI and metaverse experiences. Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses have tripled in sales over the past year.

To support AI initiatives, Meta is accelerating its infrastructure investments. Its capital expenditure forecast for 2025 is now between $64 billion to $72 billion, up from its previous guidance of $60 billion to $65 billion. This reflects additional data center investments and rising hardware costs amid global trade tensions.

Despite these investments, Meta remains financially disciplined. It lowered its full-year expense guidance slightly to $113 billion to $118 billion while maintaining a healthy 52% operating margin in its Family of Apps segment. 

With strong engagement trends and continued advancement in AI capabilities, Meta appears well-positioned to navigate macroeconomic uncertainty while executing its long-term vision.

Is META Stock Undervalued?

Analysts expect Meta to increase adjusted earnings per share from $23.86 in 2024 to $41.38 in 2029. The tech stock trades at a forward price-earnings multiple of 23.7x, higher than its five-year average of 22.7x. If META stock is priced at 20x forward earnings, it will trade around $828 per share in early 2029, indicating upside potential of 40% from current levels. 

Out of the 53 analysts covering META stock, 45 recommend “Strong Buy,” two recommend “Moderate Buy,” four recommend “Hold,” and two recommend “Strong Sell.” The average target price for META stock is $690, 15% higher than the current trading price.