WhatsApp has long been a sleeping giant for Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) but it’s finally coming out of its slumber now, according to analysts at Wolfe Research.
Wolfe expects business messaging on WhatsApp to serve as a meaningful driver of future growth for Meta in the coming years.
Revenue from that service could soar from about $1.5 billion at writing to $7.3 billion by the end of this decade, the investment firm told clients in a research note today.
Meta stock has lost nearly 18% in recent weeks amidst the tariffs-driven rout in the US tech stocks.
Business messaging a large enough TAM
The business messaging market was worth $26 billion at the end of 2024 – a number Wolfe expects will sit comfortably above $40 billion by 2040.
As the total addressable market continues to expand in the coming years, Meta will capture a much bigger chunk of it than the mid-single-digit percentage it has today, its analysts argued in their report.
In fact, they believe Meta’s market share in business messaging could soar to nearly 17% in 2030.
While revenue from WhatsApp’s messaging service for businesses will remain rather small when compared to the company’s core advertising segment, it’s still an underappreciated opportunity that could help unlock significant upside in Meta stock that stands to benefit from TikTok ban as well.
WhatsApp could help push Meta stock to $730
In its research note, the investment firm said Meta shares could benefit as the management makes good on its promises of introducing AI agents for small businesses as well.
Its analysts remain positive as the titan has a strong advantage on that front: WhatsApp already caters to a massive number of businesses worldwide, which spells a huge opportunity to monetise a built-in customer base.
Wolfe Research currently rates Meta Platforms at “outperform” and sees upside in its stock price to $730 by early next year that translates to potential upside of well over 20% from current levels.
Note that META also pays a dividend yield of 0.35% at writing that makes it all the more exciting to own in 2025.
Wolfe is bullish on Meta’s latest app ‘Threads’
Wolfe analysts recommend buying Meta stock as they see a big future for “Threads” as well that’s currently in initial levels of monetisation only.
Meta launched this platform in 2023 to rival “X” that billionaire Elon Musk bought for $44 billion.
“Between WhatsApp and Threads, Meta Platforms has two untapped verticals that if successfully monetised can provide an incremental boost to revenues,” according to Jeff Marks, the director of portfolio analysis at Jim Cramer’s Investing Club.
There are about 320 million monthly active users on Threads currently.
But on the company’s latest earnings call, its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Threads will “continue on its trajectory to become the leading discussion platform and eventually reach over 1 billion people over the next few years.”
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