Why Meta Platforms Stands Out as One of the Best Stocks to Buy in 2026

Following Meta’s impressive Q4 earnings announcement, the company has emerged as a compelling investment opportunity in the artificial intelligence space. Beyond being a digital advertising powerhouse, Meta is positioning itself as one of the best stocks to buy for investors seeking exposure to transformative AI trends. Here are the key reasons why Meta deserves serious consideration in your 2026 investment strategy.

AI-Driven Revenue Acceleration in Core Advertising

Meta’s advertising business demonstrates the tangible impact of artificial intelligence on financial performance. The company’s ad revenue surged 24% year over year in Q4, reaching $58.1 billion—a testament to AI’s transformative effect on its core operation.

The mechanics behind this growth reveal impressive technical progress. Meta redesigned its GEM model, the algorithm that ranks advertisements, and doubled the GPU capacity dedicated to training this AI system. The results speak for themselves: Facebook saw a 3.5% increase in ad clicks, while Instagram experienced a 1%+ uptick in ad conversions. These metrics showcase how algorithmic improvements directly translate to shareholder value. Management expects these gains to accelerate further, suggesting that AI-powered advertising optimization represents a sustainable competitive advantage.

This revenue trajectory is particularly significant for investors evaluating the best stocks to buy, as it demonstrates AI’s immediate, measurable contribution to profitability rather than remaining a theoretical future benefit.

Software Development Reimagined Through Agentic AI

Beyond advertising, Meta’s internal operations are experiencing revolutionary productivity improvements through agentic AI technologies. The company has deployed AI agents capable of writing, testing, and debugging software with minimal human oversight—a shift that’s dramatically accelerating development cycles.

The numbers are striking: output per engineer has jumped 30% since early 2025. Among power users leveraging AI coding tools, the productivity surge reaches an astonishing 80% year over year. CFO Susan Li reinforced management’s bullish outlook during the Q4 earnings call, stating the company expects this acceleration to continue strengthening throughout 2026.

For investors assessing candidates for portfolio inclusion, this productivity multiplier is crucial. It suggests Meta can achieve greater capabilities and faster innovation without proportional increases in headcount, directly benefiting operating margins and profitability.

The Smart Glasses Opportunity: A Device Category Reshaping Hardware

Meta’s AI-powered smart glasses business exploded in 2025, with sales more than tripling year over year. CEO Mark Zuckerberg drew an instructive historical parallel during the recent earnings update, noting that the smart glasses opportunity mirrors the smartphone revolution.

Zuckerberg’s observations carry weight: billions of people worldwide currently wear corrective or fashion glasses daily. He emphasized that within several years, most glasses people wear will likely incorporate AI functionality. This isn’t hyperbole—it reflects the natural progression of wearable technology convergence with artificial intelligence.

For investors considering the best stocks to buy in the AI era, Meta’s early-mover advantage in smart glasses represents a multi-billion dollar opportunity. Unlike hypothetical moonshot ventures, this product already demonstrates real-world traction with explosive growth momentum.

Personal Superintelligence: Meta’s Long-Term Vision

Meta’s commitment to developing personal superintelligence generated skepticism when first announced, yet the company’s strategic vision appears increasingly grounded in achievable milestones. Rather than pursuing artificial general intelligence in abstract terms, Meta is building AI systems tailored to individual users.

The personal superintelligence approach focuses on AI that comprehensively understands each user’s history, interests, content consumption, and relationships. Zuckerberg promised that 2026 will be a significant year for delivering these capabilities. This personalization-focused strategy differs markedly from competitors pursuing broader AI applications, and represents Meta’s differentiated positioning in the superintelligence narrative.

For investors, this signals Meta’s intention to deepen user engagement and unlock new monetization pathways through AI services that become increasingly indispensable to daily life.

Meta Compute: Controlling the Infrastructure Stack

AI infrastructure represents a critical constraint for companies developing advanced AI systems. Recognizing this bottleneck, Meta established Meta Compute as a dedicated division focused on custom silicon design and energy infrastructure development.

This strategic move addresses a fundamental challenge: dependence on third-party chipmakers for computational resources. Meta’s Andromeda ad retrieval system now supports execution across Nvidia GPUs, AMD processors, and Meta’s proprietary MTIA accelerators. This multi-chip architecture flexibility protects Meta from supply chain vulnerabilities while reducing long-term computational costs.

Over time, Meta Compute investments should yield substantial returns by decreasing reliance on expensive external chips and optimizing energy consumption—critical considerations in AI’s economics-of-scale equation. This internal infrastructure development is precisely why Meta qualifies among the best stocks to buy for investors believing AI infrastructure becomes a competitive moat.

B2B AI: Expanding Revenue Streams Beyond Advertising

Meta’s business AI agents represent an underappreciated monetization vector. On WhatsApp, Meta’s business AI currently supports over 1 million weekly customer-business conversations across Mexico and the Philippines alone.

The company plans to expand these AI agent capabilities to additional international markets throughout 2026 while enhancing functionality. This B2B AI service diversifies Meta’s revenue beyond consumer advertising, creating recurring revenue streams from enterprise customers seeking to automate customer service and business operations.

For portfolio managers evaluating growth potential, this emerging revenue stream demonstrates Meta’s ability to monetize artificial intelligence across multiple business models, reducing dependence on advertising cyclicality.

Reality Labs: Losses Moderating, Profitability Improving

Reality Labs, Meta’s augmented and virtual reality division, has been a significant profit drag. In Q3, the segment posted a $6 billion loss—a figure that suppressed overall company profitability materially.

However, management provided encouraging guidance during the recent earnings call. While 2026 losses will likely remain substantial relative to 2025 levels, Meta expects meaningful improvement in subsequent years. The company is strategically reallocating Reality Labs investments toward AI glasses and wearable devices rather than pursuing broader metaverse development.

This recalibration is significant: AI glasses represent a more immediately commercializable product category than speculative metaverse infrastructure. As these focused investments mature and generate revenue, Reality Labs’ path to profitability becomes increasingly plausible, potentially unlocking substantial upside for patient shareholders.

Making Your Investment Decision

The question facing investors considering Meta’s candidacy as one of the best stocks to buy isn’t whether the company possesses AI capabilities—clearly it does. Rather, the relevant question concerns whether Meta can translate these technological advantages into sustained competitive advantage and shareholder returns.

The evidence suggests affirmatively. AI is already measurably improving advertising returns, accelerating product development, and creating new revenue opportunities. Hardware innovation through smart glasses is gaining real momentum. Internal infrastructure investments promise cost advantages and strategic autonomy.

While Motley Fool Stock Advisor has identified other candidates they believe represent stronger opportunities in 2026, Meta’s positioning in artificial intelligence—across advertising, productivity, hardware, infrastructure, and B2B applications—merits serious evaluation by investors seeking exposure to the AI transformation.

Before committing capital, investors should conduct their own analysis of Meta’s valuation relative to growth prospects and risk tolerance. The company’s trajectory, however, suggests it deserves consideration among compelling AI-driven investment opportunities for 2026.