Meta ‘s Thursday rally on the back of a layoff report is warranted and should be the start of more upside to come, according to Stephanie Link , chief investment strategist at Hightower Advisors. The Facebook parent’s stock jumped nearly 4% in the session after Bloomberg reported , citing people familiar, that CEO Mark Zuckerberg was planning to cut as much as 30% of its metaverse division’s budget. Bloomberg reported that the move would include job losses, which would likely impact the virtual reality unit. “This is what Zuckerberg does,” Link said Thursday on CNBC’s “Halftime Report.” META 1D mountain Meta Platforms, 1-day Zuckerberg’s formula begins with a quarterly earnings report, in which the company says it will increase capital expenditures with more spending to come in the following year, Link said. The stock falls as a result. Then, she said, Zuckerberg announces cost cuts in part of the business, resulting in a rebound. According to Link, Reality Labs would have burned through $19 billion this year and $24 billion next year. Thursday’s announcement shows Zuckerberg is getting “more disciplined” on spending amid a shift in focus toward artificial intelligence, she added. “He is going from hardware to AI and data center,” Link said. “It’s very, very clear.” Zuckerberg needs to show he can continue to increase revenue while also keeping margins steady or growing, Link said. Despite Thursday’s pop, she pointed out that the stock is still down around 20% from highs. Meta stock has added more than 13% in 2025, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite has jumped more than 21%. “I’ve been adding and I will continue to buy,” Link said. “It should be up way more than this in my opinion.” Wall Street agrees with Link. The average analyst polled by LSEG has a buy rating and upside of more than 25%. Joseph Terranova, senior managing director at Virtus Investment Partners, added that the departure of Apple ‘s user interface design head, Alan Dye, to Meta as another positive sign. “Zuckerberg is incredibly competitive. I think he’s showing that today,” Terranova said. “In 2021, when he introduced Reality Labs, it probably didn’t go as planned. And I think this is an admission of that.”
