Meta (NAS) posted its biggest monthly stock gain in nearly four years, lifted by the strong reception for its artificial intelligence agent Muse.
Meta shares rose 27% in September, closing at $725.18 on the 30th, CNBC reported.
That marked the fifth-largest monthly gain since Meta went public and its best performance since November 2022. Over the same period, the Nasdaq composite index rose only about 2%, meaning Meta far outpaced both the broader market and other major Big Tech stocks.
The rally was triggered by Muse, a personal AI agent app launched on Sept. 8. Shortly after its debut, Muse overtook OpenAI's ChatGPT to become the top download on Apple's iOS App Store.
Meta plans to develop Muse not merely as an AI app but as a core platform linking its future products and business strategy.
At the company's recent annual developer event, Meta Connect, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg placed Muse at the center of Meta's product and business strategy and unveiled related new products, including an AI pendant called Muse Charm. The announcements were read as a move to expand beyond AI software into a hardware ecosystem, fueling investor optimism.
Meta is also moving quickly to target the enterprise AI market beyond consumers. The company hired MongoDB Chief Executive CJ Desai to lead a newly created Meta Enterprise Platform organization. It also unveiled a technology called Muse for Small Business, stepping up its push into the business-to-business market.
Investors are watching whether Meta can connect the vast user base built through its social media and messaging services to its enterprise AI business.
Analysts at BofA Global Research said in a recent report that the market for enterprise AI solutions, including cloud capacity, will exceed $1 trillion by 2028.
