Shares of Nvidia have advanced 29% year to date, leaving the chipmaker with a market value of $4.2 trillion. And shares of Palantir Technologies have surged 104% year to date, bringing its market value to $365 billion. That means the companies are collectively worth $4.6 trillion.<\/p>\n
I think Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) can surpass that figure in five years. The company is currently worth $1.9 trillion, so its market value needs to increase 150% to $4.7 trillion by 2030 to satisfy my prediction. In that scenario, the stock would return about 20% annually.<\/p>\n
My forecast is aggressive, but investors have good reason to think Meta is equal to the challenge. Here’s why.<\/p>\n
Image source: Getty Images. <\/p>\n
Meta Platforms owns three of the four most popular social media platforms<\/a> in Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp as measured by monthly active users. Those three platforms also ranked among the four most downloaded social applications for mobile devices last year, meaning the company is successfully defending its dominant position in the industry.<\/p>\n Meta currently earns the vast majority of its revenue from advertising. Its ad tech<\/a> tools help brands reach consumers with relevant ads across its social media platforms, as well as third-party websites and mobile applications. What advertisers are willing to pay depends on user engagement and campaign performance, and the company is leaning on artificial intelligence (AI) to improve both metrics.<\/p>\n CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently told analysts, “AI is significantly improving our ability to show people content that they’re going to find interesting and useful.” Improved recommendations led to a 5% increase in time spent on Facebook and a 6% increase in time spent on Instagram in the second quarter. Also, more brands used Meta’s AI creative tools, leading to 3% more ad conversions on Facebook and 5% more on Instagram.<\/p>\n Here’s the bottom line: Meta Platforms is the second largest ad tech company, behind only Alphabet’s Google, and it is successfully using AI to strengthen its value proposition for consumers and brands. Ad tech spending is forecast to increase at 14% annually through 2030, according to Grand View Research. That gives Meta a good shot at similar earnings growth within its advertising segment.<\/p>\n Story Continues <\/p>\n Meta Platforms is currently the leading supplier of smart glasses. The company accounted for over 60% of shipments last year as the market tripled in size. And growth is projected to remain robust in the years ahead. Counterpoint Research says smart glasses shipments will grow faster than 60% annually through 2029.<\/p>\n Other analysts are a little less optimistic. Grand View Research estimates smart glasses sales will increase at 27% annually through 2030. Nevertheless, CEO Mark Zuckerberg thinks smart glasses could slowly replace smartphones (or at least reduce their importance) in the next 15 years, especially once lenses are embedded with augmented reality displays.<\/p>\n That could make Meta Platforms the Apple of the 2030s. To elaborate, whereas Apple was a sensational investment over the past two decades in large part because of the success of the iPhone, Meta could see similar success in the next two decades if smart glasses do indeed become the form factor of choice in personal computing and mobile communications.<\/p>\n To summarize, Meta Platforms is using artificial intelligence to strengthen its advertising business, and the company is also an early leader in the smart glasses market. In turn, Wall Street analysts expect its earnings to grow at 17% annually over the next three to five years. That makes the current valuation of 27 times earnings look reasonable.<\/p>\n However, Meta Platforms beat the consensus earnings estimate by an average of 18% in the last four quarters, meaning Wall Street has routinely underestimated the company. If that trend continues, earnings could grow at 21% annually over the next five years, in which case its market value could hit $4.7 trillion (more than Nvidia and Palantir combined today) while its valuation fell to 26 times earnings.<\/p>\n Importantly, while I am moderately confident in the scenario I’ve outlined, Meta Platforms is still a smart long-term investment even if its market value does not reach $4.7 trillion in five years. Patient investors should consider buying a small position today.<\/p>\n Before you buy stock in Meta Platforms, consider this:<\/p>\n The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the\u00a010 best stocks<\/a> for investors to buy now\u2026 and Meta Platforms wasn\u2019t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.<\/p>\n Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation,\u00a0you\u2019d have $624,823!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you\u2019d have $1,064,820!*<\/p>\n Now, it\u2019s worth noting\u00a0Stock Advisor\u2019s total average return is 1,019% \u2014 a market-crushing outperformance compared to 178% for the S&P 500. Don\u2019t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.<\/p>\n See the 10 stocks \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n *Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025<\/p>\n Trevor Jennewine<\/a> has positions in Nvidia and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, Meta Platforms, Nvidia, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n