Meta Soars 5% as JPMorgan Picks It Over Alphabet for Its Analyst Focus List David Hanson Mon, November 9, 2026 at 10:56 AM EST 3 min read META +5.16% AMZN +3.51% GOOG +1.88% Explore stocks on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
Meta jumped 5% today after JPMorgan swapped it in for Alphabet on its Analyst Focus List, with a $940 price target.
JPMorgan's case is Meta's AI-driven ad growth, which added roughly twice Google Search's new dollars last quarter.
Amazon is the list's other pick, and JPMorgan says Alphabet's AI search may take time to pay.
The $940 target works at Meta's usual multiple if 2028 earnings arrive, though free cash flow turned negative last quarter.
Meta Platforms (META:NASDAQ) is up 5% today after JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth added it to the firm's Analyst Focus List, keeping his Overweight rating and $940 price target.
Meta replaced Alphabet (GOOG), which JPMorgan still rates Overweight, and joins Amazon (AMZN:NASDAQ), up 4% today, on the list.
"Coming out of 3Q earnings, Meta's relative advertising strength is more evident than ever," Anmuth wrote.
Meta's third-quarter ad revenue rose 26% to $63.1 billion. That's an extra $13 billion, which JPMorgan estimates is roughly twice what Google Search added. Alphabet's Search & other brought in $63.4 billion, and JPMorgan expects Meta to pass it this quarter. The bank credits AI-driven ad targeting, and price per ad rose 14%.
Alphabet's Search & other revenue grew 12% in the third quarter, down from 19% in the first. JPMorgan also flagged Alphabet's second straight quarter of negative free cash flow.
Amazon, the list's other pick, gets there through the cloud. AWS revenue grew 39% to $46.0 billion last quarter, and CEO Andy Jassy pointed to "projected revenue growth rates of over 40% both in 2027 and in 2028." But Amazon's free cash flow was a $42.4 billion outflow over the twelve months to Sept. 30, so it needs that growth to turn back into cash.
TIKR tracks 61 analysts on Meta Platforms. How many say "Buy"?
See the full breakdown of Buy, Hold, and Sell ratings on Meta Platforms, along with Wall Street's revenue and earnings estimates, all in one place. More than 500,000 investors use TIKR to research stocks like this one. See Meta Platforms' Analyst Ratings
Analysts expect Meta's normalized EPS to hold flat this year, then climb to $42.30 by 2028:
Even after today's jump, Meta trades at about 20x forward earnings, below its five-year average of 21x:
$940 is about 22x those 2028 estimates, close to that average, so Meta can get there if the earnings show up. The risk is the cash: third-quarter capex of $34.9 billion was more than Meta's $32.8 billion of operating cash flow.
Still, I think JPMorgan picked the right horse. Ads growing this fast can pay for a lot of spending, and at 20x, the stock isn't priced for much of a payoff. The next test comes in late January, when Meta sets out its 2027 capex plan.
TIKR lets you forecast the future price of any stock in less than a minute. Just enter a few assumptions into TIKR's valuation model and see what Meta could be worth. Start from Wall Street consensus estimates, or adjust the inputs to reflect your own view of the business. It's free to use.
