Jim Cramer Said Meta “lost its way”- Here’s Why

Jim Cramer had some frank words for Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META | META Price Prediction) CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Cramer said the market was losing confidence in him and the company “lost its way”. However, there are some nuances regarding what Cramer says and believes about the META stock.

The company has been doing well financially, but the high spending and opaque AI prospects have made investors uneasy. Many fear that growth will turn anemic if the advertising sector takes a dive, and this will leave Meta Platforms without the funds it needs to build out its AI infrastructure.

After all, this is a company that is now in net debt. It has $44.5 billion in cash against over $51 billion in debt. Doesn’t look like much until you realize that Meta had $77.8 billion in cash against $49 billion of debt in Q4 2024.

Here’s what Jim Cramer has to say about where it’s heading.

What Jim Cramer thinks about Meta Platforms right now

On Mad Money’s January 22 show, he made an example out of Meta when stating that the “Magnificent Seven and their buddies” were bereft of friends in this market.

He pointed out that “People were paying 30 times earnings high for the stock as recently as a year ago. Now, they’re paying just 22 times earnings. Whoa!” He explained, “That’s a sign the market has gotten skeptical of Mark Zuckerberg and the company’s growth rate… the most important quality you factor in when deciding what to pay for the stock.”

And finally, he said, “It’s a sign that Meta has lost its way. There, I said it.”

While he did single out META stock for the “shrinking” price-to-earnings ratio, he did add that this was something seen “across the board” with all other Magnificent Seven stocks. That said, the situation is particularly acute for Meta, since the stock has been going down rapidly.

Cramer is still bullish on the stock

Back during his January 6, 2026, show, he said that he has “a ton” of confidence in Mark Zuckerberg and owns the stock for his Charitable Trust.

Cramer did point out that Meta lacks “…a clear AI strategy.” This is because “They don’t have a leading generative AI platform that can compete with Google’s Gemini or OpenAI’s ChatGPT. They don’t have a cloud infrastructure business that can rival Amazon, Microsoft, Google, or even Oracle.”

The contradictory statements about the market losing confidence in the stock, the company not having a clear strategy, but then expressing confidence in the company’s CEO, likely mean that Cramer sees some potential here.

And it’s not hard to see why. Meta Platforms does not have anything going wrong at the moment. The biggest issue for shareholders does not involve growth or profits. It is mostly due to how aggressively Zuckerberg is betting on AI. One can argue that if Meta didn’t involve itself with AI, it would be worse off valuation-wise.

So, should you buy META stock too?

The market has answered “yes” in the past few trading sessions. Since the Mad Money show on January 22, META stock has gained nearly 14%. META stock is up by double digits on January 29 (as of this writing). This is thanks to a Q4 earnings beat.

EPS came in at $8.88 and beat analyst expectations of $8.16. Revenue also reached $59.9 billion and came in above the $58.4 billion consensus estimate due to strong advertising revenues. This has alleviated the stock market’s fears that Meta Platforms is slowing down or that an advertising slowdown could derail AI spending plans.

I’d buy META stock despite the recovery, as it is still below its peak. If Meta keeps beating, you’re likely paying less than 20 times earnings for this year. This leaves room for a ~40% move to the upside if the market starts paying a premium close to the historical median of 28x.