Meta Shares Surge as Muse AI Assistant Drives Valuation Gains Ahead of Earnings

Meta Platforms shares surged up to 25% across September following the early-September launch of Meta Muse, an agentic AI assistant led by AI division head Alexandr Wang. Muse held the No. 1 spot on Apple's App Store for two consecutive weeks, aiding everyday consumer tasks like scheduling and travel booking. The strong adoption improved investor sentiment around Meta's heavy AI capital expenditures, driving the stock's valuation from under 18 times forward earnings to around 23 times forward earnings ahead of its third-quarter financial report in late October.