
Bank of America reiterated a Buy rating on Meta Platforms following the launch of Muse, the company’s consumer AI assistant introduced in early September. The product, which can browse websites, manage email, and complete multi-step tasks with minimal user direction, represents a significant step beyond traditional chatbots toward practical digital agent functionality. The bank set a price target of $810 per share, suggesting potential upside from its reference point.
Muse achieved notable early adoption metrics, accumulating 2.5 million cumulative U.S. downloads by Sept. 19 and reaching approximately 557,000 daily active users. Its iOS download performance of 1.43 million through day 12 exceeded ChatGPT’s 1.37 million during a comparable period. Bank of America cited the product’s ability to execute multi-step tasks like email management, travel booking, and transaction completion as key differentiators from conventional chatbots. Meta’s distribution network of 3.6 billion daily users across its platforms represents a considerable advantage for promoting the agent.
The launch has generated momentum for Meta stock, which rose 36% over the preceding month, substantially outpacing broader market gains of 1.2%. However, the bank cautioned that Meta stock had lost its earlier valuation discount, trading near 21 times estimated 2027 earnings compared to approximately 16 times several months prior. The $810 target applies a 24-times multiple to estimated 2027 earnings, only slightly above S&P 500 average multiples.
Significant questions remain regarding the optimal use of Meta’s computing capacity and the product’s long-term viability. Meta expects 2026 capital expenditures of $130 billion to $145 billion, creating substantial opportunity costs for every computing unit deployed. Bank of America does not anticipate subscriptions, advertising, or commerce commissions becoming materially significant before 2028. Additionally, practical barriers have already emerged, with Amazon blocking the agent from shopping on its platform, potentially limiting commerce functionality that is central to the investment case.
For the bull thesis to validate at current valuations, Muse must convert early downloads into sustained engagement and meaningful revenue through subscriptions, commerce activity, or advertising gains. Investors were advised to monitor retention rates, paid subscription conversion, task-processing costs, and third-party platform access restrictions.
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