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By midday, most sectors of the economy are trading in the green, with the glaring exception of technology, which is down 1.1% as a sector. Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPE) stock is down over 3% as its merger plans come crashing down. The U.S. government is suing to block HP’s blockbuster acquisition of rival Juniper Networks for its impact on the competitive landscape. On another note, the spot gold price clinched a new all-time high of $2,789 per ounce, surpassing its previous record set last year.
Tesla has found its way decidedly higher on the heels of its earnings report. Tesla’s energy storage division is growing by leaps and bounds and is now a $10 billion-plus annual business. The EV maker is close to launching unsupervised driving in 2025, though it will take longer for the software to be released to the public. Elon Musk had this to say: “When people look back on 2025 and the launch of Unsupervised FSD, they may regard it as the biggest year in Tesla’s history; It will be regarded as the most important year in Tesla’s history.” Roth Capital’s Craig Irwin seemingly agrees, raising TSLA price target to $450 from $380 with a “buy” rating attached.
IBM (NYSE: IBM) is bucking the broader tech downward trend, soaring over 12% in what is shaping up to be its best trading day in over two decades. Investors can chalk it up to AI, which is powering IBM’s software business and giving it a rosy outlook for the future.
All eyes are now on Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), which will report its Q1 earnings report after the bell. China worries surrounding AI have sent a gray cloud, sending the stock lower on the day. All eyes will be on AI, China, and iPhone sales.
A number of great nuggets from Meta’s earnings call last night:
Meta is making an aggressive AI push, aiming to dominate both consumer and enterprise AI. With AI assistants scaling to 1 billion users, Llama 4 leading in open-source AI, and AI-driven ads already generating billions, the company is betting that AI will redefine computing, business automation, and social media. While direct AI monetization is still in its early stages, the groundwork is being laid for a massive transformation.
Live coverage has ended. The full story is below.
The broad market is less volatile today, but the big news continue to be tech stocks releasing quarterly earnings.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: Up 0.35%
Nasdaq: Up 0.04%
S&P 500: Up 0.26%
In what has started as a volatile day on Wall Street, shares of Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: META | META Price Prediction) are trading decidedly higher in early morning trading, rising over 4% to a fresh all-time high. While shares of Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) were rising in early morning trading, they have since been meandering between positive and negative territory. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) has been tumbling all morning, most recently sinking 6% to the bottom of the heap. Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) shares fell another 3.5% on DeepSeek fears, extending the high-flying stock’s weekly loss.
What is behind tech’s mixed picture? Big Tech earnings have sent the Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average higher but have managed to weigh on the Magnificent 7 stocks. Meta had a massive quarter in which it surpassed consensus estimates on pretty much everything – sales, earnings, cash flow, etc. Tesla left investors wanting a bit more clarity, while Microsoft is getting punished for a revenue outlook that fell short.
Big Tech earnings results have not silenced the topic du jour – China startup DeepSeek’s looming threat to the U.S. leadership position in AI chatbots while corporate America continues to pour massive amounts of capital into the industry. Microsoft and Meta’s AI spending surpassed a combined $37.4 billion in Q4.
Barclays, Benchmark, Bernstein, BofA, among other banks all issued bullish notes on Meta following its strong Q4 earnings. Barclays raised its price target to $705, citing accelerating ad revenue growth despite infrastructure spending weighing on earnings. Benchmark upgraded Meta to Buy with an $820 price target, citing a strong 2025 outlook and AI automation advancements. Bernstein increased its target to $800, emphasizing Meta’s pricing power and its Advantage+ ad product’s $20B run rate.
BofA lifted its target to $765, noting solid AI-driven revenue growth, while Cantor Fitzgerald boosted its target to $790, pointing to engagement and monetization gains. Citi highlighted Meta’s “product super-cycle” with a $780 target. JPMorgan, with a $725 target, sees 2025 as a defining year but expects near-term digestion due to high expenses.
Mizuho, Oppenheimer, and Piper Sandler raised their targets to $750, $800, and $775, respectively, emphasizing AI innovations, ad pricing power, and core platform improvements. Pivotal Research issued the highest target at $875, calling Meta the biggest winner among internet giants due to its AI strategy. Wedbush, Stifel, and Cantor echoed similar bullish sentiment, maintaining strong ratings and raising their targets, while noting that FX headwinds slightly dampened Q1 guidance.
The consensus Wall Street price target for Meta is $748, which is 10% higher than the stock is trading today.
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Gerelyn Terzo is the author of dividend investing handbook "Dividend Investing Strategies: How to Have Your Cake & Eat It Too." A veteran financial journalist, she covers agri-finance for outlets like Global AgInvesting and the broader stock market and personal finance for 24/7 Wall Street. She began at CNBC and later helped launch Fox Business in New York. Gerelyn currently resides in Woodland Park, Colorado and dabbles in nature photography as a hobby.
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