Tech

Munster: This is how Facebook will monetize

Why Facebook goes higher: Top analyst
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Why Facebook goes higher: Top analyst

One major theme to watch for this week at Facebook's F8 Conference will be its shift from a social network of 1.4 billion people to a platform that can monetize those users, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster said Monday.

His firm raised its price target on Facebook on Sunday to $92, about 10 percent above where it traded on Monday morning. He pointed to a wave of monetization not just for Facebook's legacy social media site, but its Instagram photo-sharing app, its WhatsApp messenger and its Oculus Rift virtual reality goggles.

"Part of the valuation is the hope of what they can do with a lot of those big catalysts over the next several years," Munster said on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

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Munster said he sees Facebook making money on Instagram in 2016, and then moving to drum up cash from WhatsApp. He added that analysts are underestimating the potential earnings from Oculus Rift because it will become a big deal in the augmented reality space.

Facebook will likely start to monetize its own Facebook-branded messenger app sooner than later, Munster said. The company will do this by allowing developers, to build games, rich media and premium services that can be accessed from within the app—a strategy that has worked for the highly successful WeChat program in China, he said.

Those in-app services can make money through advertisements and impressions, Munster explained.

DISCLOSURE: Neither the analyst nor his family own shares of Facebook. Piper Jaffray does not own more than a 1 percent share of Facebook. The firm does provide investment banking services to the company.