Why Meta Platforms Stock Outpaced the Market Today

Key Points

• A recent, high-profile court decision bodes well for the social media titan.

• It was also aided by a new analyst note on tech companies that should benefit from artificial intelligence takeup.

• 10 stocks we like better than Meta Platforms ›

Investor sentiment on Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) stock, in addition to other big tech industry titles, was rather positive on Thursday. Many of these companies were basking in the glow of what was perceived to be Alphabet's big victory in an antitrust case brought by the federal government.

Additionally, a prominent researcher flagged Meta as one of the sector's stocks best positioned to take advantage of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. With this winds at its back, Meta's stock booked a 1.6% gain on the day, almost exactly double the percentage rate increase of the S&P 500 index.

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Favorable ruling

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google, Alphabet's core business, need not break itself up with the sale of its Chrome web browser. Although the ruling mandates that the company share some of its data with certain peers, among other minor punitive measures, it falls well short of the business split the government was seeking in the antitrust suit.

Image source: Getty Images.

That came as a relief not only to Alphabet and its many shareholders, but to other tech giants that have also felt the hot gaze of federal regulators. Meta, the owner of foundational social media site Facebook, photo-sharing incumbent Instagram, and popular messaging service WhatsApp, felt to many as if it presented a juicy target.

While there's no guarantee that regulators will abruptly halt their scrutiny and pursuit of Big Tech, the Alphabet ruling makes this prospect significantly more unlikely. It's no wonder investors continued to breath a large, collective, sigh of relief on this latest development.

A side play on AI

Meanwhile, one of the more closely followed tech industry researchers named Meta a top pick to take advantage of a sweeping trend.

Thursday morning, Wedbush Securities released a new analysis, broken down into categories, on what it feels are the No. 1 stocks that will benefit from the feverish adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) functionalities. Meta was named as the "Consumer AI name set to dominate the landscape."

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Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.