Key Highlights

● Meta snapped a five-session losing streak, trading near $629.16 at midday.

● The $25 billion share offering was priced at $625.

● Bill Ackman called the stock incredibly undervalued in an interview.

● Meta raised Capital spending guidance to between $135 billion and $145 billion.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) snapped a five-session losing streak, rising on a day when the rest of Big Tech was in retreat, after pricing a $25 billion share offering and drawing a vote of confidence from Bill Ackman.

Breaking the slide

For five straight sessions, Meta's shares had been under pressure. The stock slid after the company unveiled a roughly $97.5 billion Equity Financing plan, including a $25 billion share offering priced at $625, and raised its capital spending guidance to between $135 billion and $145 billion.

On Thursday, October 29, Meta finally turned around. It climbed solidly, trading near $629.16 at midday according to market data, just above the offering price. That made Meta one of the few mega-cap tech names in the green on a day when the Nasdaq-100 fell to 29,402.51.

Ackman weighs in

Part of the lift came from a high-profile endorsement. Pershing Square's Bill Ackman called the stock "incredibly undervalued" in a television interview. Comments like that can carry weight with investors looking for a reason to buy after a sharp pullback.

The offering had been priced before Thursday's session. In general, once a large share sale is priced, investors know how much new stock is coming and at what level, which can ease some of the uncertainty around it.

Winners and losers in Big Tech

Meta's rebound stood in stark contrast to Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)'s collapse. Alphabet closed at $283.82 after its worst day since its 2004 IPO, erasing roughly $500 billion in market value, according to market data. Its third-quarter results disappointed on Revenue and earnings, and negative free Cash Flow revived worries about AI costs.

Investors appeared to be sorting the AI spenders into winners and losers rather than selling the whole group. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) also rose at midday, while Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) slid ahead of its report and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) gave back an early gain.

One market analyst put it bluntly: "markets are no longer rewarding companies simply for investing heavily in AI." Meta, which has its own enormous spending plans, now has to prove that its investments pay off as the market grades on cash flow.

A divided market

The broader session was a study in contrasts. The S&P 500 slipped 23.59 points to 7,720.39 and the Dow lost 132.54 points to 52,342.56, yet more than 400 S&P 500 stocks closed higher. The Russell 2000 jumped 28.71 points to 2,859.22. Health care, real estate, staples and utilities led, while communication services, Meta's own sector, was the worst performer thanks to Alphabet.

That makes Meta's gain more notable. It rose despite sitting in the weakest corner of the market.

The capex question

Meta's spending guidance remains the central debate. Funding a capex plan of that scale partly through equity means existing shareholders are sharing the cost. The rebound suggests some investors believe the market had already priced in the dilution, but the stock still trades only slightly above where the new shares were sold.

What to watch

Watch whether Meta can hold above its $625 offering price in the coming sessions, a level that may now act as a reference point for traders. Watch Friday's Employment Cost index and the market's reaction to Amazon and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), which both slid after hours on Thursday. Any further shift in the AI spending debate will feed directly into how investors value Meta's ambitious capex plans.