Meta Platforms shares have rebounded about 22% from their August low but remain roughly flat in 2026 after a settlement with several U.S. states reduced a major legal overhang. The company could pay up to about $18 billion over claims involving social-media addiction among young users and will introduce tighter limits for teenagers on Facebook and Instagram. JPMorgan upgraded Meta to Overweight, citing early performance from Muse, the company’s AI agent, and Meta’s reach across roughly 4 billion users. Morgan Stanley’s Brian Nowak said future AI products could add more than $10 per share to earnings. Meta trades at about 18 times forward earnings, below its 10-year average of about 20 times, while analysts expect revenue growth above 25% and earnings-per-share growth above 30% this year. Investors remain focused on capital spending that could reach nearly $140 billion this year and approach $200 billion by 2027, potentially pushing free cash flow to negative $6.3 billion and near negative $30 billion, respectively. The stock closed Monday at $665.60 after rising 2.7%, with Dan Russo saying it must hold above $700 to confirm stronger momentum.