Why Meta Platforms Stock Was Gaining on Tuesday

Shares of Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) moved higher on Tuesday as the social media giant benefited from the broader recovery in the market following a brutal three-day decline, received a bullish analyst note, and seemed to benefit from a ruling that rival found Alphabet had violated antitrust laws.

As a result, Meta stock finished the session up 3.9%.

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Meta outshines the competition

A number of new items were pushing Meta stock higher today. First, the company benefited from a broad recovery in the market as fears of a recession seemed to subside and U.S. stocks followed the Japanese Nikkei , which surged after plunging on Monday as the carry trade unwound.

Loop Capital also raised its price target on Meta from $550 a share to $575 and maintained a buy rating on the stock in response to last week's beat-and-raise report, and noted that Meta's ad business growth outpaced both Amazon and Alphabet in the recent quarter.

Finally, the stock also seemed to benefit from an antitrust ruling that found Alphabet's payments to companies like Apple to be the default search engine on its devices to be illegal. That decision could have positive repercussions for Meta as it could hurt both Google's reach and Apple's bottom line. Meta considers both companies to be close competitors.

Can Meta stock keep climbing?

Investors should expect Meta to be subject to the broader swings in the market as the macro economy remains volatile, but the stock seems to be well-positioned for further gains given its strong Q2 numbers, reasonable valuation, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's own prediction that Meta AI would be the leading AI chatbot by the end of the year.

The stock continues to look like a solid buy.

John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Jeremy Bowman has positions in Amazon and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .