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Fundamental Equity Portfolio Manager, Outperforming the Market Newsletter
Meta's billions of users, distribution and integrated ecosystem could let its increasingly capable AI models reach extraordinary scale. Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full bring memory, focus and task execution, though Meta's reported model results still need independent validation. Meta is one of the highest-conviction stocks: as a megacap its upside may be less explosive than smaller names, but its risk/reward looks more favorable with potentially less downside in this environment. x.comÂ
Meta's Muse looks like the new ChatGPT moment, reportedly outpacing ChatGPT's mobile launch on several metrics, and Meta's stock should run to a bigger percentage gain. x.com x.comÂ
Meta looks unattractive because its fines, capital raises and AI capex make the math ugly. The stock could trade back to the $500s, while hyperscalers probably have to make those raises with equity down 15-25%. Muse looks like a fad and average users may not need AI agents, matching LogicalThesis's view. x.com x.com x.comÂ
Meta's earnings offer little near-term upside because Muse user growth is mostly priced in and monetization remains vague. The market wants AI compute to turn into profit. Retention or paid-share commentary could help, but Zuckerberg is unlikely to provide it; SpaceX says Grokbot has 800K paid users, a high bar. Meta remains attractive long term. Higher AI capex guidance would show confidence Muse can repay the spending and be bullish for the whole AI infrastructure stack. x.comÂ
Meta's Muse can bring AI to the masses by making it easy for everyday people, including non-technical users and those who do not yet trust AI, rather than by topping every benchmark. Meta already reaches 3.6 billion people a day across its apps, an enormous distribution advantage, and paired with a great user experience and reliable results, Muse could become a huge business. x.comÂ
Meta's hundreds-of-gigawatts compute ambition looks hard to justify against the revenue a much smaller build might support. If Anthropic can generate over $70B in annualized revenue on 3GW or less, including training, hundreds of gigawatts is not a serious figure. Earlier Muse monetization than in past product cycles also makes little sense without direct integration into ad recommendations or an immediate shift in user behavior. x.comÂ
Muse's appeal to people who want to win will make it Meta's biggest win ever, as long as Meta keeps updating it and keeping it a priority. Kalshi reports Zuckerberg said Muse AI could generate higher revenue per user than Meta's family of apps. x.comÂ
Meta's established consumer distribution could give Muse an advantage in bringing AI agents to everyday users. The stock looks increasingly constructive heading into tomorrow's earnings. Muse has 10 million downloads, while Meta's apps reach billions and its ad network connects millions of businesses. If agents become a consumer interface for discovery and transactions, the economics could extend into commerce, advertising and business services. x.comÂ
A small advertising beat may not sustain Meta's stock after earnings if Muse cannot show durable use and paying customers to justify rising AI spending. Muse could monetize Meta's existing merchant base through subscriptions and more ad spend, but service costs and whether users keep paying remain unproven. Strong fourth-quarter guidance or firmer Muse usage and payment data would make the outlook more positive; September's rally alone does not establish a sell-the-news outcome. x.comÂ
Meta is a winner from the AI safety backlash, because a frontier slowdown lets it catch up while a profitable ad business funds it. Mark Zuckerberg's messaging around Muse should be studied by other AI labs. The labs' pivot to warning that AI could kill people, with AI already polling badly, may dry up investment for players with no business model beyond AGI. x.comÂ