If you're still looking for "Facebook" on the Nasdaq, you're technically a few years late to the party, but we all still call it that. Honestly, everyone does. But when you look at the price per share of facebook stock today—trading under the ticker META—you aren't just buying a social media app. You're buying a massive, expensive, and somewhat controversial bet on the future of human interaction.
As of mid-January 2026, the stock is sitting around $620.25.
It’s been a wild ride. Just last year, in August 2025, the price hit an all-time high of nearly $796. Since then? It’s been a bit of a localized "ouch." The price has pulled back about 20% from those peaks. If you're wondering why a company making billions in profit is seeing its share price stumble, you've gotta look at the spending. Mark Zuckerberg is pouring money into AI like it's going out of style.
Why the price per share of facebook stock is acting so weird
The market is currently in a "show me the money" phase with Meta. In 2023, Zuck gave us the "Year of Efficiency," and the stock tripled. Everyone loved the cost-cutting. But 2025 and 2026? This is the "Year of Spending a Metric Ton of Cash."
The company’s capital expenditure (capex) is expected to be significantly larger this year than it was in 2025. We're talking about a midpoint of roughly $71 billion spent on servers, chips, and data centers. That is an astronomical amount of money. For context, that’s more than the entire market cap of many S&P 500 companies.
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Investors are basically split into two camps right now:
- The Believers: They see the 3.5 billion daily users across Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads and think the AI spending will eventually make ads so efficient that the stock hits $1,000.
- The Skeptics: They look at the $4.4 billion quarterly loss in Reality Labs (the metaverse and VR arm) and wonder if this is just a giant money pit.
The Real Numbers Right Now
Let's get into the nitty-gritty. If you look at the valuation, Meta’s Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratio is hovering around 27x. Is that expensive? Kinda. But compared to its peers in the "Magnificent Seven," it’s actually relatively modest. Some analysts, like those at Simply Wall St, argue the stock is actually undervalued by as much as 40% based on future cash flow projections.
They think the "fair value" is closer to $835 per share.
But that's the thing about "fair value"—it doesn't pay the bills if the market sentiment stays grumpy. The stock has lagged behind the S&P 500 recently. While the broader market was up 17% last year, Meta only managed about 11-13%. It’s a classic case of a company outperforming its own business goals while its stock price stays stuck in traffic.
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What’s actually driving the price in 2026?
It’s all about the "Llama." No, not the animal. Meta's open-source AI model, Llama, is becoming the backbone of a lot of new tech.
Whenever a new version drops, the stock moves. We’re expecting a massive new frontier model in the spring of 2026. Morgan Stanley analysts are particularly bullish here, suggesting that the market is completely undervaluing Meta's "Superintelligence" team. They’ve kept an Overweight rating even as they lowered their immediate price target to $750.
The Advertising Engine
Despite the talk about VR goggles and AI bots, Meta is still an advertising company. Period.
In late 2025, ad impressions rose by 14%. Even better for the bottom line, the average price per ad jumped 10%. This is where the AI spending is actually working right now. It's making the ads you see on Instagram Reels scarily accurate, which means businesses are willing to pay more to get in front of you.
Revenue last quarter hit over $51 billion. That is a 26% jump year-over-year. For a company this size to grow at 26% is, frankly, absurd.
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The Bear Case: Why it could go lower
It’s not all sunshine. There are real risks that could tank the price per share of facebook stock back toward the $500 level.
- Regulatory Hammers: Europe is always looking for a reason to fine Meta, and the US isn't far behind with various antitrust and child safety probes.
- The TikTok Factor: Even though Instagram Reels has done a great job fighting back, competition for the "attention economy" is brutal.
- The Spending Spree: If the 2026 capex guidance keeps going up without a clear "AI revenue" line item on the balance sheet, investors might stage a mutiny.
Honestly, the biggest threat is just fatigue. Investors might get tired of waiting for the Metaverse to happen while Zuck spends billions on VR headsets that most people use for a week and then throw in a drawer.
Actionable Insights for Investors
If you're looking at that $620 price tag and wondering whether to click "buy," here is the play:
- Watch the Earnings Calls: Specifically, listen to CFO Susan Li. If she mentions "efficiency" again, the stock will likely pop. If she says "increased capex," expect a dip.
- The $600 Support Level: Technically speaking, $600 is a big psychological floor. If it breaks below that, the next stop could be the 52-week low near **$480**.
- Think Long-Term: This isn't a "get rich quick" stock anymore. It's a "bet on the infrastructure of the future" stock. If you believe AI will change everything, Meta is one of the few companies actually building the hardware and software to run it.
Check your portfolio's exposure. Many people own Meta through ETFs like QQQ or VOO without even realizing it. If you're buying individual shares, maybe don't go all in at once. Dollar-cost averaging (DCA) is usually the saner way to handle a stock this volatile.
Next Steps for You
To stay ahead of the curve on the price per share of facebook stock, you should:
- Set a Price Alert: Put a notification on your phone for $600 (to buy the dip) and $750 (to evaluate taking profits).
- Monitor the AI Model Releases: Follow Meta’s engineering blog. When "Llama 5" or whatever comes next is announced, watch the market reaction in the first 30 minutes.
- Review Your Tech Weighting: Tech has had a rough start to 2026. Ensure you aren't over-leveraged in just the "Magnificent Seven" stocks.
The reality is that Meta is a cash-generating machine that is currently choosing to spend its lunch money on a very expensive science project. Whether that project turns into the next iPhone or the next Segway is what will determine if you’re looking at a bargain or a trap.