Prediction: Mark Zuckerberg Will Announce Major AI Strategy Shift on July 29, Boosting Meta Stock

This Motley Fool analysis predicts that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will use the company's July 29 earnings call to announce a major strategic shift, likely involving leasing spare data center compute capacity to external clients. The article argues that Meta's heavy AI capital expenditures have compressed free cash flow and pressured the stock, despite strong underlying ad revenue and user engagement. The author suggests that monetizing data center capacity would diversify Meta's revenue away from cyclical advertising, providing a more predictable income stream and transforming Meta into an infrastructure enabler. This announcement is seen as a potential catalyst to reverse the stock's year-to-date decline of 2% (after a 20% drop). The piece also highlights Meta's existing AI success in advertising through tools like Advantage+.