Meta shares rallied sharply on Monday, with reports showing gains ranging from roughly 6% to 9% as investors reacted to a combination of AI optimism, analyst upgrades, and a major infrastructure announcement. The stock reached its highest level in more than seven months ahead of Meta Connect 2026.
Wells Fargo raised its Meta price target from $640 to $796, keeping an Overweight rating and pointing to stronger momentum around Meta's AI products, including early adoption of its Muse personal AI assistant. The new target implies about 19% upside from Meta's previous close.
Meta used the pre-event window to unveil Petal, a new subsea cable that will link the United States and France across roughly 7,000 kilometers, or 4,300 miles. The system is designed to carry 1 petabit per second, making it the first transoceanic cable built for petabit-scale capacity. Petal is expected to enter service in 2029. Meta says it will provide twice the capacity of today's leading transoceanic systems without requiring a proportional increase in power or physical infrastructure.
Subsea cables carry about 99% of intercontinental internet traffic, so direct control over that infrastructure can improve reliability, bandwidth, and operating efficiency for companies moving large amounts of data between regions. The announcement fits Meta's broader push to control more of the infrastructure beneath its AI business. The company has already guided 2026 capital expenditures as high as $145 billion.
Attention now shifts to Meta Connect, scheduled for September 23-24 in Menlo Park and virtually. The event is expected to focus on AI, augmented and virtual reality, and smart glasses, with investors watching usage metrics for Muse and Meta's latest models.
Meta launched Muse on September 8 as a personal AI agent designed to perform tasks rather than simply answer questions. The company says Muse can send emails, book travel, fill out forms, and continue working after a user closes the app. It is powered by Muse Spark, which Meta describes as its most capable model for agentic work. Muse is rolling out in the US through iOS, Android, muse.ai, and WhatsApp, with support for AI glasses planned. Most features remain free, while subscription plans will provide higher usage limits.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg described Muse as a personal agent that understands users' goals and works continuously to complete tasks on their behalf. Meta has also released Muse Spark 1.3, which includes improved performance on long-running agentic and coding tasks.
Analysts are split on the revenue impact. Oppenheimer's Jason Helfstein estimated that Meta would need around 115 million paying Muse subscribers at $20 per month to generate roughly $27.5 billion to $28 billion in annual AI-agent revenue, while expressing skepticism about paid conversion, competition, and consumer trust. Wells Fargo's higher target reflects a more constructive view, though near-term trading will likely depend on AI adoption, margins, and product announcements at Meta Connect.
Meta also reached its dividend ex-date on Monday, with a $0.525 per-share cash dividend scheduled to be paid on September 28 to shareholders of record as of the close on September 21.
