How a Llama and YOUR Dangerous Addiction Will Print $32 Billion for Meta in 2025

Mark Zuckerberg seems to be living his best life these days. Whether it’s donning gold chains at UFC events or quietly offloading $2 billion in Meta stock, you’d think everyone would see this as a midlife crisis. But no… investors and analysts alike are shrugging off his questionable side hustles. In fact, Truist Securities just hiked Meta’s price target to a $700, naming the tech giant one of their top picks for 2025. For a company already up 78% this year, you’d think the hype train might slow down. But it’s full steam ahead.

Youssef Squali, Truist’s lead analyst, didn’t stutter in his note to clients. He called Meta the “social king that keeps reinventing itself.” And with over 3 billion daily active users, it’s not hard to see why. Meta’s Family of Apps (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger) are growing in both user engagement and ad revenue, thanks to souped-up personalization and AI-driven recommendation models. Squali even went as far as to predict Meta’s ad revenue growth will outpace the broader industry in 2025, clocking in at 15% compared to the industry’s 13.5%. That’s right, even as the digital ad market cools off, Zuck’s empire is sprinting past the competition like it’s training for a title fight.

Instagram, which started as a simple photo-sharing app, is now Meta’s favorite child. By 2025, it’s projected to rake in $32 billion in U.S. ad revenue… nearly half of Meta’s total advertising sales in the country. And it’s no surprise, given that users spend two-thirds of their Instagram time watching videos (we are all guilty). Reels, Meta’s answer to TikTok, already accounts for 50% of the app’s usage time. It’s no wonder Squali is bullish about the platform’s monetization potential. He even highlighted Instagram’s Reels and Threads as key players in keeping Meta ahead of rivals like TikTok.

Of course, Meta isn’t just coasting on its existing strengths. The company is doubling down on artificial intelligence, with plans to ramp up AI-driven ad capabilities and roll out new versions of its Llama AI product (Because nothing says “serious business” like naming your AI after a farm animal). According to Truist, these efforts are already improving ad conversion rates and pricing, giving marketers better bang for their buck. But there’s a catch: all this AI investment isn’t cheap. Meta’s capital expenditures are expected to grow over 45% this year and another 25% in 2025. That could put some pressure on free cash flow, especially if economic conditions take a turn for the worse.

And for all the Facebook critics out there, no, it’s not just a playground for boomers sharing conspiracy theories and casserole recipes. Instagram is carrying Meta to the top, powered by a younger generation addicted to curated feeds and algorithm-approved content. (Yes, that’s us. We’re the problem.)

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Stock.News has positions in Meta.