Meta Platforms stock fell Tuesday, breaking a 20 days straight streak of trading days with gains for shares of the Facebook parent company.
On the stock market today, Meta stock fell 2.8% to close at 716.37. It is the first time Meta closed in the red since Jan. 16. Meta stock rallied more than 20% over the course of the streak. Prior to this rally, Meta's longest steak of gains on the stock market was 11 in September 2015, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
The stock rally included positive reaction to Meta's fourth-quarter results late last month, which beat expectations for earnings and sales. Before that, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta would spend $60 billion to $65 billion on capital expenditures this year with a focus on AI infrastructure, well ahead of previous estimates.
Meanwhile, Meta's 23% gain so far this year is easily tops among Magnificent Seven stocks.
Meta Robotics Push
The cause of Tuesday's decline is unclear.
On Friday, Meta announced plans to build a massive undersea internet network cable. The tech giant is also reportedly forming a team within its metaverse-focused Reality Labs division that will focus on robotics. That includes investments into developing humanoid-style robots, according to a Bloomberg report Friday. But shares closed higher Friday, after both news items.
Analysts with Morgan Stanley were positive on the robotics idea in commentary for clients on Tuesday.
"Meta's reported robotics team formation speaks to its physical AI opportunity across wearables and robotics, and its growing and underappreciated presence in the race to capture more real-time offline data to train/develop future differentiated language models and GenAI enabled products," wrote Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak. Nowak rates Meta stock a positive overweight.
Meanwhile, Meta stock is extended past a flat-base buy point of 638.40, according to MarketSurge. Meta is also an IBD Leaderboard stock.
