The Best Trillion-Dollar Stock to Buy Right Now, According to Wall Street

Just over seven years ago, Apple became the first trillion-dollar company. Since then, nine other publicly traded companies entered the $1 trillion club.

The list is full of technology giants who have seen their fortunes soar amid the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. And while many of them still look appealing despite their massive market caps, one stands out as the best stock to buy right now based on Wall Street analysts' price targets.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) stock has a median price target of $880 per share, representing 22% upside from today's share price. That beats any other stock with a market cap of $1 trillion or more. Here's why the Street is so bullish on Meta.

Meta Platforms is spending big and winning big with AI

Meta Platforms is one of the biggest spenders on artificial intelligence in the world. Management expects to spend roughly $67 billion on capital expenditures this year, most of that going toward building and outfitting AI data centers. While other hyperscalers are spending even more, Meta doesn't rent out any of its compute like the three big cloud computing giants. All that spend goes toward training and running its own AI.

There's good reason for Meta to spend so much on AI: It could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of advances in generative AI in both the near and long term.

In the near term, Meta's machine learning algorithms are essential for optimizing content feeds in its social media apps. The algorithms are responsible for both what content users see, what ads they see, and when they see it. The end result is a well-designed machine for maximizing time on its apps and ad revenue per minute spent on those apps.

With the advancements of generative AI, Meta can supercharge its ad business. CEO Mark Zuckerberg envisions generative AI getting to the point where an AI agent can practically manage advertising campaigns for a business, saying, "Our goal is to make it so that any business can basically tell us what objective they're trying to achieve ... and how much they're willing to pay for each result, and then we just do the rest."

Such a product would make it easier for small businesses to advertise on Facebook and Instagram and put more of their budgets toward winning customers instead of developing new ad campaigns. Putting AI in charge of ad creatives could also make them more effective, as Meta can tailor-make ads for each user in order to maximize conversions.

In the long run, generative AI could be instrumental in expanding the use cases of augmented reality headsets. An AI-based user interface would not only allow users to interact with AI, but AI to interact with the user's environment. Meta is arguably the current leader in augmented reality and virtual reality technology, but AI could unlock a broader user base for its platform.

Meta's stock valuation is still attractive

Meta has seen excellent financial results even as it spends heavily on AI infrastructure. Revenue grew 22% last quarter, while operating margin expanded, resulting in 36% growth in net income. Meta also generates more than enough free cash flow to both invest in AI and buy back its shares, which means earnings per share grew somewhat faster, at 38%.

But some may worry all that spending will catch up to Meta in the near future. As capital expenditures grow, so do deferred expenses (i.e., depreciation). Those will hit Meta's income statement starting next year.

Meta estimates the useful life of its non-AI and AI servers to average 5.5 years. But if Meta has to replace servers more quickly than that, it could cause a significant spike in expenses down the line as it adjusts its calculation and buys more AI chips.

Meta is also reportedly paying hundreds of millions for top AI talent. Combined with the rising depreciation expenses, management is forecasting a sharp uptick in operating expenses next year. Still, strong revenue growth could more than offset it and support excellent earnings-per-share growth.

Right now, analysts expect EPS growth to slow significantly in the back half of the year. Even so, they expect earnings to reaccelerate to double-digits in 2026 and 2027. Meanwhile, the stock trades for just 25 times analysts' expectations for 2026 earnings. That's a great price for a company that's well positioned to benefit from the advancements in AI and is spending in an effort to control its destiny in that regard. It's no wonder Wall Street analysts expect the stock to keep climbing over the next year.

Adam Levy has positions in Apple and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.