Meta Stock Charges To All-Time Highs After Breaking Above Recent Trading Range: Retail Sentiment Turns Bullish

Shares of social-media giant Meta Platforms, Inc. ($META) outperformed the broader market on Tuesday and broke out of a recent trading range to hit a record high.

The stock hit an all-time intraday high of $608.78, beating the previous record of $601.20 on Oct. 30, and is on track to close at a record as well. 

Chart Courtesy of TradingView

Meta has been one of the best-performing mega-cap tech stocks since the market rebounded in 2023. After slumping 64% in 2022, Meta’s stock returned stronger and ended 2023 with a substantial gains of nearly 200%. 

The reversal of fortunes came after a recovery in ad spending amid a slowdown in inflationary pressure as the U.S. Federal Reserve implemented aggressive rate hikes. The company also benefited from the cost cuts that resulted from massive job cuts and its increasing focus on artificial intelligence (AI)

Ad revenue accounted for roughly 96.5% of Meta’s total 2023 revenue.

Shares of Meta, which owns the flagship Facebook app, Instagram video-sharing service and messaging platform WhatsApp, continued their run in 2024 and have gained nearly 68% this year. 

After experiencing intermittent rallies and pullbacks for much of the year, Meta stock has been locked in a $547 to $600 trading range since Oct. 19. The real thrust came in late November when reports said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg dined with President-elect Donald Trump at the latter’s Mar-a-Lago residence. 

Optimism toward the stock increased further on Tuesday when Meta VP of Global Affairs, Sir Nick Clegg, said AI didn’t materialize significantly in the recent U.S. election. The company did its best to allow the voices of people to be heard while also ensuring safety, he said.

“It’s a debate no platform will ever get right 100% of the time, but the bottom line is we don’t want to get in the way of free discussion and legitimate debate,” he added.

Incidentally, Trump was banned from Facebook after the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. 

In a media briefing, Clegg reportedly said Zuckerberg was keen to play an active role in any administration's debates about maintaining U.S. technological leadership. 

META sentiment and message volume December 3, 2024, as of 2:18 pm ET | Source: Stocktwits

Sentiment toward Meta has improved among the retail crowd on Stocktwits. The sentiment meter showed a ‘bullish’ mood (73/100), an improvement from a ‘neutral’ disposition that prevailed a day ago. Message volume rose to ‘high.’

A poll by Stocktwits showed that nearly two-thirds of the respondents expect the Meta stock to hold above the $600 level this week.

At last check, Meta was trading up 2.61% to $608.32.

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