Meta was the big loser of 2026. While the Nasdaq 100 was up more than 16% during the year, Meta’s stock was practically flat. Stagnant. Analysts were talking about excessive AI spending and asking when they would finally see results.
And then suddenly? +6.6% in one day, another 3% the next day, and an upgrade from JPMorgan.
All of this because of a single product. An AI agent called Muse.
Let’s break it all down.
WHAT IS MUSE?
Muse is a personal AI assistant. But pay attention, it is not a chatbot that simply answers your questions.
What is it exactly? In very simple terms, it is a program that does things for you. It connects to the apps and services you allow it to access and performs tasks. It sends emails. Makes purchases. Organizes things.
And the most interesting part? Meta says it can take your long-term goals and turn them into action plans. In other words, you are not just telling it, “Do this now.” You tell it what you want to achieve, and it takes care of the steps needed to get there.
You decide which apps it can access. And you can disconnect them whenever you want. The interface is designed to be easy for anyone to understand, without needing to be particularly technical.
So far, it sounds perfect. But there is one big “but.”
AND WHAT ABOUT SECURITY?
“So I’m supposed to give my emails and credit card to a Meta robot?” you might be wondering.
And you are absolutely right to ask. Because this is not a program that simply writes text. We are talking about something that can access personal data and spend real money.
Meta appears to be taking this very seriously. Zuckerberg himself publicly explained how it works. The user’s data and credentials are stored on an isolated virtual computer, completely separate from everything else. There is also a second, independent security system that checks every piece of data and every action before anything reaches the internet.
“The model, the Muse harness, the code, and a team of classifiers work together to identify threats,” Zuckerberg said. The goal? To block attacks before they even reach the model.
Credentials are stored separately, so the agent itself cannot read them. And before carrying out any sensitive action, Muse asks for permission. The company was also running a bug bounty program during development, and is now opening it up to everyone and paying anyone who discovers security vulnerabilities.
AND NOW THE MONEY
The consumer AI agent market is estimated at $30 trillion. Yes, you read that correctly. Trillions.
And Meta is entering this race with an advantage that nobody else has. Approximately 4 billion users.
The competition includes Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude, but they do not already have half the planet inside their apps.
“Distribution and data give Muse an advantage from day one,” writes Justin Patterson of KeyBanc. And he sets the bar as well: if Muse reaches hundreds of millions of users over the coming months, that would be considered a success.
Engagement first, he says. The money comes later.
Brian Nowak of Morgan Stanley takes it a step further. He says Meta has the advantage when it comes to building a more personalized agent with new behaviors that could generate revenue. And that is exactly what could offset the enormous cost of AI investments and the pressure on cash flow.
You might be wondering now... how big could this actually become?
In KeyBanc’s bull case, Meta’s revenue grows at a rate of 20% or more, and the stock could trade at 25 times its 2028 earnings.
In other words? Analysts are saying investors misunderstood Meta. That the billions being spent on AI were not a burden. They were a down payment.
THE JPMORGAN UPGRADE
And this is where the big move comes in.
JPMorgan upgraded Meta to Overweight from Neutral.
Analyst Doug Anmuth raised the price target to $820 from $640. That implies more than 25% upside from current levels. And to put that into perspective, the average price target across the market is around $750.
But why such a major change in opinion?
Because Muse reached #3 on the U.S. App Store on its second day.
“Meta is in the early stages of bringing frontier models and AI products beyond advertising,” Anmuth writes.
And he adds something very important: Muse is built around security and privacy, and that could become the biggest obstacle for competitors.
Because trusting an agent with your passwords and credit cards takes time.
Today, more than 90% of analysts have a Buy rating. The rest say “Hold.” Nobody says “Sell.”
But let’s put that into perspective too.
Just six weeks ago, the picture looked completely different. July’s results came with disappointing revenue guidance, and investors were worried about spending.
The stock hit bottom in August. Since then, it has risen 20%.