One of Wall Street’s biggest players in Meta Platforms believes its business could easily grow during a Trump presidency. Jefferies’ Brent Thill says Facebook is vital despite President Donald Trump calling it an “enemy of the people” on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday. “I don’t agree with the idea that this is the enemy. The opposite has happened to small businesses,” the company’s technology executive said on CNBC’s Fast Money. “The reality is that the economic value of advertising for all these small businesses is through the roof.” But President Trump’s comments appear to have triggered profit-taking today. Facebook parent Meta had its worst daily performance in nearly a year. Shares fell more than 4% to $483.59 per share. “Is there a major risk and a political risk? Absolutely. But at the end of the day, I think the value created for these small businesses is so great that it’s hard to deny the facts,” Till said. “This is not a fundamental risk.” Till is particularly bullish on Facebook’s advertising business. “Every advertiser we’ve spoken to in the last six months has seen additional budgets shift from Google to Meta due to quality of product, quality of targeting and quality of revenue,” Till said. “We think they can get 40 to 50 percent extra ad spend this year.” “I would buy this stock for that kind of weakness.” Even with a tough trading day, Meta is up about 37% this year alone. “I would buy this stock because of this weakness,” Till said. “Meta is one of the cheapest names in our universe right now… It’s one of the cheapest names.” He has a Buy rating and a 12-month price target on Meta of $550 per share. That suggests an increase of about 14% from Monday’s close. Disclosure: none
